Oshare Ramen

It's been quite a while since I have talked about ramen. The noodles, the soup, the atmosphere, all great things. When it is time to grab a bowl of ramen, you usually go into a ramen place, buy your ticket, wait for your ramen, and enjoy. The place I will talk about today has all that but not in a typical ramen restaurant kind of way. A place where you can get a bowl of ramen and feel like you are at a fancy restaurant. Today, I will talk about Hachi To Cho.

Hachi To Cho

Hachi To Cho, which means bee and butterfly, is located in the Hongo area of Ami town. It just opened up last October so it is a fairly new place. I found out about this place while watching YouTube one evening and there was a commercial for the place. My wife heard the name of the ramen place and wasn't sure if we should visit. She said the name was weird and it sounded like it was a snack bar. But we did end up going on one cold night in November to have a hot bowl of ramen.

Inside

We arrived during dinner time and there was already a line out the door. We were instructed by the staff to buy our ramen tickets at the ticket vending machine and then to join the line outside. We waited for a while and then we're ushered to the inside waiting area. That's right. There are two lines. I should mention we were sitting down the whole time so we weren't uncomfortable or anything. We did have to wait 30 minutes to be seated though. This ramen place is pretty big, but it only has a ramen counter, no tables. It is a lot of wasted space in my opinion.

This place does feel different from other ramen places. It has rock art (I think), low lighting, and ambient music which isn't in your typical ramen restaurant.

The Menu

As I stated earlier, you first buy your ramen ticket at the entrance and then get in line. The first row of buttons is a miso shoyu mix ramen. The second row is all chicken ramen. The next two rows are all about the tsukemen. You have the light flavored tsukemen and the next row is the heavy flavored chicken tsukemen. After that, you have a row of white buttons. They aren't really labeled so you have to look to your left at a small black board that explains everything. These white button options are your second helping of ramen noodles but there is a twist. You get no ramen broth! Instead, the noodles are brought to you on a plate, pasta style. I know what you are thinking. "What ramen blasphemy is this!?" I thought the same thing too. But don't knock it till you try it.

The other buttons are extra toppings, rice, and deer meat (yeah, deer meat).

The Fancy Water

Before you sit down, make sure to grab a glass of flavored water. The one all the way to the right is regular water, the next one is apple cinnamon water, the one after that is pineapple ginger water, and finally green tea. I tried the apple cinnamon water and pineapple ginger water. I got to say, the apple cinnamon water is the best option and quite refreshing.

Chicken Broth Tsukemen

After waiting a while, my ramen arrived. As you can see from the pictures, my noodles and broth came in stylish fancy plates. The noodles were pretty thick and looked very appetizing. I dipped my noodles into the broth and got to slurpping. The broth was excellent and the noodles weren't bad. The broth had that thick chicken soup taste that I like. The pieces of chicken were OK. The chasu was extremely thin but amazing. It had a charred flame broiled taste to it that I had never experienced with chashu. I was quite impressed but again, way too thin. The white bowl where my broth was was really fancy but completely unnecessary. I couldn't really get the small pieces of noodles at the bottom because of the bowl's shape.

I had gotten the small sized tsukemen because I wanted to try the other noodles. When I was half way done with my ramen, the staff started making my extra noodles. When I was done with my ramen, my noodles had arrived.

Chicken Broth Ramen

Before we get to my extra noodles, let's talk about my wife's ramen. She ordered the same ramen I did but not the tsukemen version, and the soup was not as heavy as mine. Her noodles were also thinner. Her noodles went really well with her broth. The chashu and chicken were about the same as mine. All in all, not a bad bowl of ramen. My wife also ordered an extra serving of noodles.

Crab Ramen Noodles

This was my extra serving. Ramen noodles with crab sauce. I got a chopstick full of noodles and slurrped. These noodles were amazing and the crab sauce was delicious. I loved my extra noodles. While enjoying my noodles, the owner came by and told me to put some lemon vinegar and black pepper in it. I did that, and the noodles instantly became 10 times more delicious. I highly recommend trying these ramen noodles and please don't forget that amazing lemon vinegar and black pepper.

Pesto Genovese Ramen Noodles

This was my wife's extra serving of noodles. Since it was genovese, it felt like having pasta. But not pasta, because they were ramen noodles. Point being, it was weird but delicious. I liked my wife's genovese noodles but I thought my crab noodles were better. Both noodles only bring noodles and some vegetables. Sorry no meat.

Hachi To Cho is a unique ramen experience. I had never felt more fancy and weird in a ramen place before. I thought the ramen was good, but the extra serving of ramen noodles is where it's at. My crab noodles were amazing and I wouldn't mind having more. I hope to come back sometime to grab some ramen and feel like I'm in an oshare ramen place.

So if you are in Ami town and feel like having some oshare ramen, why not give Hachi To Cho a chance. Who knows, you might see me there, sipping on fancy water while slurrping some crab noodles.

Enjoy!

For more information on Hachi To Cho, check out their Twitter page:

https://twitter.com/hachitochou1101?t=-f9uNILSPtDKC7Ua3upaBg&s=09

Oh! Before you go!

Burger Baka Vol 8

Don't forget about Burger Baka Vol 8 happening tomorrow, Sunday at Geijutsu no Mori Park in Kasama city. Event is from 10:00-3:00. Get ready to get your burger on!

And!

Ryuusuke

Tsuchiura's famous ramen restaurant has opened a new shop in Tsuchiura station. Ryuusuke, my favorite ramen place, opened this location last week and business is booming. The new ramen place is right by the ticket gate to the station. It is open from 7:00am-9:00pm. So you could have ramen for breakfast!

Chicken Ramen Tsukemen

The ramen ticket vending machine is in both Japanese and English to make ordering easier! Make sure you try Ryuusuke's famous chicken ramen in either regular or tsukemen style. Enjoy!