The chef’s special, delicious Chinese ramen

From the outside, there is nothing particularly eye-catching about the restaurant. It even looks quite old. You would just pass by it if you didn’t know how delicious their food actually is.

The menu on the outside looks very simple.

The inside of the restaurant is hardly visible from the outside. I open the sliding door and find a vending machine on the right and an L-shaped counter. Ten customers would completely fill up this rather small restaurant.

Great teamwork makes a great ramen

All ramen are prepared by the chef and a lady (his wife or mother?). I see them carefully prepare the ramen with love.

I ordered the regular portion Chuuka-soba, Chinese noodles. The friendly chef is very handsome, so that’s a plus

I look around to find out that… all the customers are male!
It must be rare for them to see a female customer by herself.

There is a fan and a tissue box on the table. All set for ramen!

Delicious and authentic Chuuka-soba

From the other side of the counter, the chef passes me over the Chuuka-soba.

It looks exactly like the old-fashioned Chuuka-soba I like.

The toppings are chashu (roasted pork), naruto (spiral pattern fish cake), daikon radish sprouts, menma (seasoned bamboo), negi leek and nori seaweed on the side. It is obvious that the toppings were very carefully placed on the ramen.

The soup is chicken and vegetable stock. It has a calming, even nostalgic, flavor. The heartwarming soup is truly delicious!!

The thin but firm noodles have an excellent texture!

The noodles and the soup are a perfect combination. As the noodles go down my throat, my appetite only keeps growing!

The chashu is small but extremely tender. It fell apart when I grabbed it with my chopsticks. It has just the right amount of fat and is very tasty!

I eat up the ramen, using the tissue to wipe off the sweat dripping from my face. Aaaand… I’m finally done!!

I learned about a couple of interesting services from the gentleman sitting next to me. He was having tsukemen, chilled noodles with separate dipping sauce. The restaurant offers to reheat the tsukemen sauce if it gets cold in the middle of the meal. Thy will also happily add extra sauce or water it down, depending on the customer’s preference.
I think I will get tsukemen next time and try their special services!

As I left the restaurant, the chef greeted me with some kind words. The customers were very polite as well. All in all, my experience at Agura was very positive. I highly recommend this cozy and heartwarming ramen restaurant!

writer：Yoko