Last year, I did my first ramen post about a place in Hitachi Naka called Chashuya. I let everyone on the Ibaraki Group know about my post and someone said that people needed to know about a place in Tsukuba called Aoi. I was very intrigued by that comment and always wanted to go there.
A year later, the wife and I finally made it to Aoi.
Aoi
Aoi is located in the Takezono area of Tsukuba. The place fascinated me right away. The outside of Aoi didn't look like a typical ramen restaurant. I wasn't even sure I had the right place. But you can't miss the big "Aoi" sign at the entrance. Aoi was almost at capacity that night. All the bar stools at the counter were taken. The wife and I were lucky we were able to get a table by the entrance. But before we sat down, we went to the ramen ticket vending machine.
The Menu
Those are a lot of buttons, so I will try to break them down.
The orange buttons are for ramen. You got your regular ramen, oomori (biggest serving) ramen, shrimp flavored ramen and oomori shrimp flavored ramen. The two orange buttons to the right is no soup ramen which is probably maze soba.
The green buttons are for tsukemen. You got the same flavors of ramen but just in tsukemen style. There is one tsukemen button that surprised me. The tamago (egg) kake tsukemen. If anyone has ever tried it, would love to hear what you have to say about it.
The yellow buttons are all toppings that you can add to your ramen or tsukemen. The bottom buttons are all drinks. The white button is the risotto set? Really?
Shrimp Flavored Tsukemen
The wife's tsukemen came first and it smelled devine. The noodles weren't ready yet so we both tasted the broth. It was thick but not too thick and of course, it had a heavy taste of shrimp. There was some chashu in there and negi. When the noodles came, the wife dipped them in and began to slurp. She looked very content.
Aoi's noodles are very interesting. They aren't your regular ramen noodles. They kind of reminded me of fettuccine pasta but way less thick. The noodles were great and went well with the shrimp miso broth.
The Meat Tsukemen
Next came my amazing meat smelling tsukemen. I ordered the biggest serving of noodles so I was going to be super full after this delicious looking meal. I dipped my noodles into the broth, took a slurp and was in bliss. But what really surprised me was the pieces of chashu in the broth. I tried one piece of chashu with my noodles and I swear all time stopped. "Is...is this perfect chashu?" I thought to myself. I was in amazement at how delicious and great this tsukemen was. I couldn't stop smiling, it was so delicious.
The wife and I finished our tsukemen and we were extremely happy and full. I am not sure if I can try Aoi's other ramens. I think I might keep ordering this amazing tsukemen all the time. I really enjoyed it.
Ok. This is the part where I tell everyone to try out Aoi and they are great. I mean that, they are great! Their ramen is amazing. Their staff though, kind of pissed me off when I went.
I understand that ramen places are extremely busy. The rule is make your order, eat your ramen and make way for the next customer. I get that. But when there is no line behind you and this is the first time you're looking at the menu, give me a minute at least. One staff member told us to give her our order tickets before we even finished deciding. Rushing us to decide while we were thinking of ordering gyoza. The wife and I were not pleased. I have been to a lot of ramen places and that has never happened to me before. So besides that unfortunate incident, I really did like Aoi and I want to go back. This will not deter me from having that fantastic meat tsukemen again.
For more information on Aoi, check out their Twitter:
Comentários