ソラノイロ Sora no iro: ramen prix fixe

To celebrate a special occasion, Lum and I decided to splurge on a meal a little more extravagant than what you're used to reading here. But the insatiable ramen demons inside of us were also begging for a hot bowl. What were we to do?

Answer: a 9-course tasting menu at Soranoiro, one of our favorite shops. Miyazaki-san, the ramen master of Soranoiro, is in Paris as I write this, serving up his mad bowls for a special Ramen Week, so this will be also a mini shout-out to him.

I ordered a Coedo craft brew and we started with some seasoned burdock roots and minced carrots…

…followed by a bowl of winter vegetables simmered in a hot broth.

One must respect Soranioro's use of locally-sourced vegetables. Both of these appetizers were light and served as palette-whetter for the more substantial dishes to come.

A tomato stew full of chicken, mushrooms, and onions…

This hearty dish alone could have served as the main entree at many a Japanese diner, but this was followed by…

A giant caesar salad topped with several large slices of prosciutto. This salad could have fed two extra normal-sized people, or five extra Lums. In between the stew and the salad, we were approached by the kitchen staff and asked how many homemade steamed and pan-fried dumplings we would like to eat. We initially said 3-4 each should be fine, but we began to feel the pinch of the massive portions and decided to scale things down a bit. Good thing, because…

…holy cow were those steamed dumplings huge. Delicious and juicy, but larger than your average dim sum, that's for sure.

What followed was a plate of goya chamburu, or bitter melon with scrambled eggs, that we barely touched.

This is hearty food typical of Okinawan cuisine, but we hadn't even been served our main course yet and we were already loosening our belts and ripping the seams of our underwear.

Pan-fried dumplings, also scaled down to fit our needs. At this point, there was only one thing we had room in our stomachs for…

…Soranoiro's trademark chukasoba, a warm and nourishing bowl of shoyu ramen, sized a bit smaller as a finishing touch to an outstanding meal. We had room for nothing else. Almost nothing else…

Homemade tiramisu

Soranoiro is a great ramen joint, but it's also a great restaurant, period. At night, the atmosphere becomes more laid back, and Miyazaki-san serves the type of home-cooking that he grew up with and that's perfect for the cold winter months. It's yet another reason why this cozy and inviting shop is so popular in this commercial part of town.

Tokyo, Chiyoda-ku, Hirakawacho 1-3-10, Blue Bldg Honkan 1B
Closest stn: Kojimachi

Dinner from 6-1015pm (closed on weekends)

Hearts