that was really good slur thank you so
much
you're a pro slurper
[Music]
soup noodles toppings this basic formula
for ramen has been intact in Japan for
over 100 years but as ramen continues
its global Renaissance the dish has
become the perfect blank canvas for
regional variation and chef led
experimenting no one understands this
better than self-professed ramen freak
kaizo shimamoto kazoos go ramen blog
obsessively catalogued thousands of
bowls of ramen across Japan and the US
and his legendary noodle shop ramen
Shack became hallowed ground for ramen
freaks in New York City today
ramaa track has closed its doors for
good but Sakura and I are heading to the
shop for one final journey through some
of Japan's most recognizable ramen
styles welcome to the last sitting of
ramen Shack I can't wait all right so we
have to do something special what do you
have for us today so today I want to
give you three styles of ramen the first
will be a shoyu ramen which is my
favorite style Tokyo style and then the
second will be a Hakka Tonko - okay and
then the third will be a ganja style
chicken which is a thick rich fish pork
broth I'm so good all right we have
three bowls of offering today I'm ready
[Music]
it smells so good
[Music]
all right this is my classic style show
you Robin
thank you it's so picture-perfect and
it's actually my favorite style the
Tokyo style and it consists of a soy
sauce flavoring so there are many ways
to make it but blending different styles
of soy sauce and adding like little
meeting to it is traditionally a Tokyo
style show you the soup consists of a
chicken and dashi
Chintan so clear soup and the noodles
are wavy typically that clear Chintan is
a lighter soup so the wave your noodles
help bring the soup and the aromas into
your Slurpee captures it and goes next
yeah and we got pork belly mmm
scallions and Naruto and I just tell my
okay so I can't wait shall we
so this is my favorite style so I'm
gonna join you guys over just the way
you want it the noodles feel perfect
I really have that springiness to have
it's such a perfect classic ramen and
it's just I don't know it's like hitting
all the notes for me it's comforting
it's like warm it's just perfect
yeah I think the first ramen I ever had
was a showy ramen with my grandma but
you know with in Japan they have those
like steel boxes on the bike on the -
yeah for to go or a really really tight
saran wrap it comes in a real toy so I
know that in general regional ramen is
just really dependent on what
ingredients are available in that area
of Japan
what makes Tokyo shoyu ramen I feels
like show you can be almost like
available anywhere but like I'm
wondering what makes it Tokyo it's a
good question back when the first people
from China it's brought over ramen they
started you
different types of bones for broth and
that first shop called died I can was
you know considered as the originator of
like ramen shop before that everything
was like a yacht diet food stall so they
started pumping out like a thousand
Bulls a day and you know their broth was
pretty light and they added to show you
too that you know show you it was pretty
common ingredient in Japan at the time
and it still is yeah so that sort of
became the standard Tokyo style and from
Yokohama to Tokyo to all around Honshu
became like a chicken stock with pork
gene time like a lighter clear broth
right with a shortened flavoring
speaking of right I can in Yokohama I
know your restaurant is that I can here
in New York that's right
we opened in 2000 in the East Village
definitely way before the ramen crazy
hmm my father opened up Ryan right Ken
because he wanted to pay homage to the
Rye Rye canon Yokohama he's very
particular about staying true to the
true form of ramen I see authenticity is
kind of our middle name right I can
hopefully is a place that our Jordan son
or you know our patrons can eat I'll
show you every day yeah kind of the
lightness that we want to achieve that's
kind of I feel like the definition of
perfection or shoyu ramen is the fact
that you can eat it every day and not
get bored
hi I'm Sakura
yagi I am a CEO of TSE Restaurant Group
and this is my father
hello my name is Bo yogi I'm the
responsible person and kic Restaurant
Group right I can I think is the oldest
ramen shop in New York City that's still
standing today David Chang you know from
Momofuku I heard that he used to come in
the lilac and all the time before he
opened up first 11:00 sharp
well I like in its originally open
because I felt ill Amon is you know it's
gonna be their future in New York late
70s and beginning of 80s there was a one
national chain in Japan they came and
didn't do too well but then 1985 the
Tampopo of the movie hit around the
world so I study tanpopo I study many
other restaurants then mm I opened up
and I like him I like it means please
come into our house you know welcome
anytime
and enjoy it that's the name of the lie
like
[Music]
all right here's number two tonkatsu
this is a Hakata style tonkatsu so
Hakata is the city in Kyushu where
tonkotsu ramen became popularized and if
you ask someone from Kyushu what ramen
is they'll say this and if you show them
I show you ramen
they'll be like that's not ramen so Tong
co2 is known for a cloudy milky broth
and you get that by taking pork bones
like the femurs and the backbone and the
heads in some cases and you just boil
the heck out of them and after a while
all the gelatin from the marrow and the
bones will start to break down and make
this cloudy soup ya know go up very rich
but still clean mmm so the tonkatsu is a
thicker broth so the thin noodle is
actually a paired better with it because
the the thick broth will stick to the
thinner straight noodle and bring up not
too much soup but just enough mm-hmm
Tong Kota has been on a very extreme
rise I'd say almost globally in Japan as
well but also in New York City there are
so many different like tonkatsu specific
ramen restaurants and what do you think
that is from like how did it kind of
become the new booming flavor of ramen
personally I just think that it's easier
flavor profile to understand it's kind
of more of a punch in the face and it's
like wow it's delicious yeah I think
definitely a creamier broth is very
attractive to Americans for some reason
and tonkatsu has a lot of impact you
know that first sip it's like wow you
know I think that's the wow factor that
has kind of spread across New York and
across America yeah and it's good
[Music]
all right the last bowl is a chicken so
this is a more recent style thick to
come in so thick broth thick noodle and
it's a tonkatsu yokai which is fish and
pork bones what's significant about it
is this Gill food the fish powder on top
back in the 60s
there's a guy named yamagishi who
invented this style and then in the
2000s another shop called ganja invented
this thicker broth thicker noodle style
with the fish powder and this style is
now the more popular style - ghemon in
Tokyo in the world thank you master
so to commend the broth is hot but the
noodles are cold so we rinse them in
cold water and shock them and the way
you eat it is you take a little bit of
noodles and you dip it into the soup
immensely
so the inventor of ticket men or what
they called morty silva back then mmm is
kazuto yamagishi and he's basically a
ramen legend now I mean he passed away a
few years ago so rest in peace but he is
idolized by ramen freaks everywhere he's
had about 50 or more apprentices at one
point Wow so he really taught all these
young Chefs to like keep the legend
going yeah I heard he was a very loved
by his customers and clients as well
because he would like go outside and
greet his customers while they were
waiting in line how important would you
say the personality behind the ramen
chef is like a McGee so for example I
would say it's very important because
all these bowls although they're called
ramen they're all different because of
the chef the chef puts his own
personality into the wall his own style
and that's what makes it unique and
that's why ramen has so much appeal I
think because people can take this
simple Bowl and really make it their own
and really showcase that to a customer
and we've talked about Ivan kind of
taking ramen and making it new
york-style yeah the raw noodle - I think
the next step for ramen in America is
really to localized ingredients and
create different styles based upon the
region's we have here and that is really
the next step the next evolution of
ramen
[Music]
if there's one person who's become
synonymous with ramen in New York City
its casos former mentor Ivan Orkin Ivan
first made a name for himself after
opening an incredibly popular ramen shop
in Tokyo in 2006 but since 2013 Ivan
ramen on the Lower East Side has been a
hub for New York's growing ramen seen
pairing regional ingredients with more
traditional Japanese techniques you know
when I first lived in Japan in the 80s I
fell in love with ramen and when I moved
back to New York
there was no ramen you could eat he's
not kya food they had yakitori places
you could drink pretty good sake but no
ramen at all nothing and it started this
thing in me which is part of why the
ramen shop thing started in the first
place
how important is regionality and ramen
well I mean up until recently not
particularly I mean I think I mean
Robbins had a real explosion in Japan
until recently I mean Robin was mostly
really popular in Kyushu and
in maybe Hokkaido and Tokyo and not so
much in other areas now it's becoming
popular all over the place and there are
definitely regionality x' there's a real
underlying current of intense creativity
in ramen which is what one of the things
that really drew me to ramen is that
it's this maverick cuisine where you
know it's the chef's personality is
almost as important as what he makes and
it's what makes ramen really really fun
I obviously have some very strong
opinions about how ramen should be made
and how it should be and what it should
be like but the good news is that ramen
is really every shop can be different
and you can go to Tokyo and there's all
kinds of wacky shops doing wacky things
and you know what's great is you don't
have to go to Ivan ramen every time you
can go to Nakamura or you can go to you
know eat Widow or wherever and I always
felt that way in Japan I I had always
you know five or six or ten shops that I
regularly went to for different moods
and and that's and that's what's awesome
about ramen it does it doesn't have to
be either work can be both next time on
go Chi gang i cleaning up with some of
my favorite italian chef's to taste test
a new ramen dish dubbed japanese pasta
if you're gonna take Japanese food and
try to combine it with Italian food the
most logical thing to do is take like
rum and write and make sauces with it
and I'm continuing my ramen Shack
tasting menu by sampling Hazel's famous
ramen burger so this burger is kind of
like a second generation Japanese
American burger it's like you and ramen
for it's the season finale of Kochi gang
and I want to see where ramen is heading
next stay tuned
[Music]
thank you so much for watching goatee
gang I so appreciate it Sean should they
like and subscribe like and subscribe or
else thank you