ラーメン二郎の魅力
Welcome to Kevin's English Room Podcast.
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What is that? Is it going to be the last shout out for the podcast?
Actually, the last shout out is the 29th, which is like a day before the show is ending.
Well, I guess we got to do it though.
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ラーメン二郎の体験
So last week, I went to ramen Jiro.
Really?
Yes.
Finally.
Yeah.
Which one?
Meguro.
Oh, yeah. Meguro. Yeah.
You've been to Meguro?
Not yet.
Okay.
Yeah.
With a friend.
I don't know who.
The friend that we don't...
You do...
Which one?
The...
Okay.
Quiz time.
Yeah.
The sauna.
Love sauna.
I don't know.
Yeah.
All right. Next hint.
Okay.
What's his job?
Okay.
Is that too easy?
Yeah, too easy.
Okay.
I'm going to try to find a way to not have the audience notice it, but only you.
Yeah.
And who loves Jiro?
What?
Who loves Jiro?
Who loves Jiro? Yeah.
Okay.
But he said it was the first time for him as well.
Oh, okay. Okay. Okay.
Yeah. We went to Nagashi.
I see.
First timers.
Okay. Okay. Okay.
He sings.
What?
He sings.
You know, this is too hard.
He just did a show with a programmer and a long-haired guy.
Oh, I see.
Okay. Okay.
I see.
Oh, I see. I see.
Okay.
Yeah. Well, yeah.
For the first time, yeah.
I didn't know. It's like a...
Okay.
So...
Yeah. How's that? How's that?
So many things.
So many different...
Sure.
Angles I can approach this.
Okay. Okay.
Just try one element, buy one element.
Yeah.
Research online to see what the rule was.
Yeah. Yeah.
Because it seems like there's different rules in different stores.
When to line up, when to buy the shokken, what to say, like which timing.
Yes, it's true.
And if you want your noodles to be half or so, when to say that.
It can't be too late.
Yeah.
You have to say it at the right timing.
Sure.
And you can't say what toppings you like at the wrong timing.
If you say it too early, they're going to be like,
hey, we're not asking for that now.
Just tell me later.
Well, yeah.
We didn't want to be disrespectful to the culture.
Yeah.
So we searched online, but we did not find...
Well, we found some information and we followed that rule.
But still, we probably did something wrong.
Okay.
We did something wrong because there were so many rules that people were doing
by pattern recognition, I knew.
But that was not written online and we're not following that.
For example, there's two lines, right?
There's one in front of the store, four by four.
And then there's like, you cross the street and then there's a second line.
Yeah.
You buy the shokken after you get to that four by four.
Okay.
You don't buy it when you're lining up at the line across the street.
Okay, yeah.
And that was...
Yeah.
And then there was like, before you go into the store to sit down,
the employees will tell you,
that was not written anywhere.
Okay.
And I was like, and the guys only say,
Yeah.
And that was not said anywhere.
It was not written anywhere on the store.
And it really did feel like...
Okay, and not knowing the culture, that's a natural thing.
Right?
But no one was helping people.
No one was helping us.
We were kind of lost in what to do.
We didn't know there was a line behind it.
Yeah, and so we were kind of lining up.
And the guy that was already lining up, he kind of...
He didn't say that.
He just went in front of us, just kind of shouldered us to the front.
There was this whole vibe of that.
Yeah.
And then people keep like, oh, these guys don't know the store.
Kind of like, just kind of peeked.
Yeah.
Time to time.
And that was kind of uncomfortable.
Oh, yeah.
That was.
I love, yeah.
That was.
And...
Okay, okay.
So that's one thing.
Okay.
The culture at the store, it kind of felt...
I don't know.
Yeah, it was not welcoming, I would say.
That's one.
ラーメン二郎の雰囲気
Yeah.
I totally...
Yeah, I get you.
Like, if you don't know the culture,
you don't fucking belong here was the vibe that I was feeling.
That's one.
Okay, that's one.
Okay, okay.
That's one.
Okay.
Two, the employees, they were very nice.
Yeah.
They were very bright.
They spoke very...
You know, they were smiling.
Oh.
They were smiling.
They were like,
お客様、ニンニク入れますか。
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yeah.
They were smiling.
And the employees were chatting, which was kind of heartwarming to see.
Yeah.
There was an おばちゃん and an お兄さん.
They were like, they were chatting.
I don't know what, but they were chatting and laughing.
It kind of felt...
It looks relaxing.
Nice, yeah.
So that was...
Peaceful.
That was peaceful.
Uh-huh.
That was peaceful.
Um...
So you thought, like, that the てんさん was more, like, serious and, like, punchy to you.
Yeah.
Kind of guy.
Aggressive.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
That's what I was...
That's the image that I had.
But they were nice.
They were polite.
Lovely.
Yeah.
So that's one.
Okay.
That's one.
Uh...
ラーメンの注文方法
The food.
Yeah.
The ramen.
The most important.
Yes, I remember ordering a, um...
Oh, you customized?
Yes.
So I saw this 生地.
Okay.
I just copied that.
All right, all right.
Because that was great.
Okay.
Is that what you did?
That's what I said.
Okay.
Okay.
Can you say that again, please?
Okay, okay.
I see.
Is that good?
Do you think it's good?
Well, yeah.
I don't do it that way, but yeah.
Okay.
Yeah.
And I don't even know what I was ordering.
Like, I was not...
The rule was too complicated.
I was not...
Okay.
I don't know if 少し and 半分.
I don't know which one's more, so...
Yeah, yeah.
I don't know.
It sounds like it's not something you would...
Like, you would actually want it.
Oh, really?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Oh, okay.
Because you halved the veggie, right?
I don't know if saying you halved the veggie means halved the veggie.
I didn't know.
Yeah.
But...
So I did halve the veggie, then.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Okay, okay.
What does that mean?
By the way.
Oh, so...
So you halve the veggies, and then...
Yeah.
That means like...
So first, you put にんにく or no.
That's like first choice.
And if you say just にんにく, and then you got にんにく.
Okay.
You don't say anything.
Or にんにくなし, you don't have any にんにく.
Okay.
And にんにく少し, that means like...
I don't know the exact amount, but less than half.
Okay.
You got にんにく.
And then you say 油.
油.
It's like you got more 背脂.
なるほど。
Yeah.
So if you put it in order, にんにく少し, にんにく半分, にんにく、にんにくまし.
Yeah.
That's the order of like less to a lot.
Yeah.
Okay, I get it now.
Yeah, basically.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Okay.
Yeah.
All right.
Yeah.
And also you have 野菜半分, 野菜まし.
You have 野菜まし.
Or 野菜半分, just your usual 野菜.
Don't say nothing.
And 野菜まし.
Okay.
Yeah.
I see.
Or 油.
油。
If you don't say anything, it's just...
There's no 油?
You have 油.
But if you say 野菜まし, that's like...
Oh, sorry.
油, that's like extra.
Oh, a little bit more than the normal one?
Yeah.
So I don't personally do that.
Yeah, I don't like aburos.
So that's why...
Yeah, I thought you...
We kind of have the same taste.
I thought like we don't...
Half veggies, first of all.
Yeah, okay.
We keep veggies.
And then I wouldn't add any 油.
Okay.
So do you say 油なし?
Or do you just not say anything in your 呪文?
Do you just...
Not say anything.
You don't say anything about it.
Okay.
Maybe にんにく少し.
That's what I would say, maybe.
じゃあ、野菜にんにく少し。
You just say にんにく少し.
にんにく少しだけ?
Yeah.
Okay, I'll do that then.
Or sometimes I'll do that 麺半分.
I sometimes do the 麺半分 and then 野菜まし.
So that you can take veggies and less noodles.
I see, I see, I see.
Okay, well, now I know.
At that time, I didn't know what I was ordering.
You just copied everything.
Yeah, I just wanted to not disrespect the culture.
That's what I wanted to do.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
All right, so comes the noodles.
Okay, okay.
Okay.
It wasn't that good.
For me, it wasn't that good.
It was probably my customization.
Well, yeah, yeah.
Let's put it that way.
It was probably my customization.
But if I had an EAK ramen next to it, I would go to that EAK ramen.
Okay.
My honest, my honest feeling.
Yeah, that's, that's important.
You don't have to hide that.
ラーメン二郎の体験
Yeah, yeah.
But probably it's because, maybe it's because I haven't, I didn't customize it properly.
Properly, that's why.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
But I, it was, to me, it was like, it was, I kind of got the point when you were talking
about that it's sweet.
Yeah.
I kind of got it.
Yeah.
But like, was it, did it like add on to the like flavorfulness of the ramen?
Okay.
No.
No, you didn't.
No.
No, you didn't.
You didn't?
I, no.
Okay.
Okay.
It kind of felt like I was just eating a bunch of noodles.
I see.
Yeah.
I see.
That's honestly what I felt.
Okay.
Yeah.
Okay.
Was, what about Buta's?
You got like, chashu kind of?
I got some chashu, yes.
I got some chashu, yes.
Did you like that?
No?
It was great.
It was great, yeah.
It was great?
I liked it.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I love that too.
I mean, it wasn't like, super good.
Oh, okay, okay.
It was great, yeah.
It was like, awesome.
But like, it's not like, oh, I want to go for that chashu again.
Okay.
Yeah.
Okay.
It was good chashu though, but sure.
Yeah?
Yeah.
Okay, so what about the soup?
Very oily.
Yeah, probably because I said Abura.
Okay, okay, okay.
But it was very oily.
Yeah, I see.
Very oily.
Okay.
What about Bishi's?
Just normal.
Boiled veggie.
Okay, okay.
Yeah, nothing special.
Okay.
Was what I felt.
What about then, the noodles?
Yeah, it was thick.
Thick, okay.
Hard?
Not that hard.
Not that hard.
It was just, just noodles.
Yeah, just thick noodles was what I felt.
Okay.
Yeah.
Yeah.
What about the, I don't know, it's like, you know, you got a little Abura's on top?
Yeah.
Did you enjoy that?
No?
I didn't know that those were for you to, like, eat on its own.
Well, with veggies, I guess.
Oh, really?
You eat it with the veggies?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I didn't do that.
I didn't.
I didn't.
Yeah, I didn't.
My mind was not set to, like, taste these Aburas.
I just thought they were in there just for, like, I don't know, something.
Yeah, I didn't know that.
Yeah.
I see.
Yeah.
Um, yeah.
Yeah.
That's, well, that's your honest...
That was my honest...
...opinion, right?
That was honestly what I felt.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah, that's what it is.
Yeah.
So, overall, I would not go again because of the atmosphere that it gave me, the culture that was
there.
That did not outweigh the eating experience, the taste of the ramen that was given to me.
So, unfortunately, that is a no-go for me.
Okay.
End of the journey?
Probably.
Okay.
To think that I would have to learn this culture again through different stores, I just don't
think it's worth it.
Like, if I were to go again, I would go to the Meguro store.
Yeah.
Or go with you.
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
With someone who knows the rules.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And just can enjoy the ramen without worrying if I'm not being disrespectful to the culture.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yeah.
Right.
Okay.
The men and the noodles were a lot.
A lot.
Noodles were a lot, by the way.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yeah.
Obviously.
Yeah, obviously.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It's too much.
Yeah.
I do half or many sometimes.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Okay.
Hmm.
Well, yeah.
So, it depends on the stores.
Okay.
The taste.
Ah, okay.
You know, you have your favorite place.
You know, not favorite place.
That's what people say, you know.
Okay.
It's kind of, you know.
Yeah.
So, and I've never been to Meguro Jiro, so I don't know the level.
Okay.
But I'm sure it's not that bad.
Obviously, it's a Jiro.
Yeah.
And it's lining up every day, so.
Yeah.
But, yeah.
I guess that didn't fit you.
Okay.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Am I missing out on anything?
Anything as a Jiro lover, as a Jiro eater?
Would you, do you think what I'm feeling is fair?
Like, is this, am I giving the Jiro a fair, like, assessment?
Yeah.
If I, if I would say one point, that would be like the customization, I guess.
Yeah.
So, you put additional aburas.
Yeah.
And then you cut your side half.
Uh-huh.
So, I guess, I don't know, that made it more, like, farther from your taste, I guess, maybe?
Yeah.
But, yeah.
Okay.
But, you know, it's not that completely different.
Yeah.
You know, it's still the, you know, same taste and same, so.
Okay.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Okay.
Okay.
I'm going to try Meguro Jiro then.
Please do.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Please do.
I'd like to see everything.
Yeah.
Yeah.
All right.
Okay.
Thanks for watching, guys.
Thank you.
Bye.
