麺Diningセロリの花 Celery no Hana: half-baked

After a long day of work, I was walking around Kichijoji for a change, and remembered that there was a ramen shop nearby targeted towards women. Serori no hana, or "Celery's Flower," is a chain ramen shop produced by the Japanese beef bowl chain, Matsuya.

The menu is full of Italian dishes such as basil & tomato tsukemen or tomato soup ramen. I ordered the tomato and mozzarella ramen because it sounded healthy and fresh.

Tomato and mozzarella ramen (830yen)

The appearance of the bowl is beautiful, like a margarita pizza ramen, but the first sip was heavy in artificial MSG flavor. Almost every bowl has a little bit of MSG, but this was too much.

I also expected thin, pasta-like noodles to match the soup, but these were really thick. They didn't match with the fresh tomato soup at all because they were too thick to absorb any of the soup, and thus overpowered the broth. This was half-baked ramen...or pasta?

One more thing: does tomato ramen pair well with rayu chili oil? No! It should be tabasco, but alas, only rayu was to be found.

Despite these complaints, many people came into the shop while I was eating, so they seem to be pretty famous in Kichijoji. But, I don't think it can last. Another chain tomato ramen shop called Taiyo no Tomato-men has also opened up in Kichijoji, so the Celery guys need to step up their game.

Tokyo, Musashino City, Kichijoji Honcho 2-14-28
Closest stn: Kichijoji

Open from 11am-midnight

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