★★ らーめん 香月 (Kazuki) - Tokyo

Kazuki is one of the veterans of Tokyo style ramen that has continued the same method of making ramen for over 30 years. The ramen style of Kazuki is simple and straightforward, a good chance for you to taste the ramen of the old days. This day I ordered the しょうゆラーメン (shoyu ramen) which is basically the soy sauce flavored ramen.

The Soup - is a nice transparent brown color, with little bits of white se-abura (pork fat) floating on the surface. The pork stock soup itself is really light and flavorful, the pork fat doesn't really make the soup taste too greasy, though I would prefer a simple a soup like this with no pork fat at all. The ramen comes in a large bowl and a lot of soup, Kazuki is one of the few places that I wasn't able to finish the whole meal.

The Noodles - are of the thick, straight variety. Not as firm, but deliciously chewey none the less. The flavoer of the soup wraps itself onto the noodles well (from the pork fat I assume).

The Toppings - are your standard cha-shu pork, menma bamboo and sliced green onions. Very standard, nothing special here.

Overall - it was a nice break trying out an old school ramen for a change. Kazuki is simple, inexpensive and quite good. I enjoy it because it reminds me of the ramen I had growing up as a kid in Asia, you might enjoy it because it is a good introduction to the history of ramen in Japan and how it has evolved to the large variety today. The original Kazuki is located near Ebisu station in Tokyo, please refer to the map below on how to get there.

http://www.kazki.com/entrance.htm