英語でラーメンレビュー書いてみた

浄心家 (名古屋)

日本にいた時から通いつめていて、帰国時には真っ先に食べに行くラーメン屋。
完全無化調、出汁の旨味で食べさせる絶品の中華そばです。

tabelog.com

レビューはこちら。
無化調の魅力を伝えたかったんですがあまりうまく書けず。

Ramen File #1
The Best Authentic Ramen in Nagoya.

Johsin-ya(浄心家)’s Premium Chuuka-soba(Chinese noodle) is the best authentic ramen which I can recommend for all those come to Nagoya.

Some people think ramen’s soup is salty, oily and thick. It is not wrong, but it describes only an aspect of ramen. The world of ramen is much deeper than what they imagine.

The taste of Johsin-ya’s soup is like a traditional Japanese cuisine. The color is beautifully clear. You can enjoy the delicate flavor of the chicken and soy source.

At the first time, you may feel the taste is too light because the soup is not as salty as general one, but as going on eating, you will find the great harmony played by the complex combination of many ingredients. As the owner chef says, he uses more than 30 ingredients to cook the soup.

I have one more important thing to tell you. You can choose one of two kinds of noodle; straight and waved. My favorite is waved because of its vivid flour flavor. Of course, straight is also nice. Its smooth texture goes very well with the soup. Both of them will make you happy.

(to be continued?)

添削ポイントはこちら。

Before: You can choose one of two kinds of noodle; straight and waved.
After: You can choose one of two kinds of noodles; straight or waved.

noodle は、麺ひと玉のようにまとまりで扱うときはsをつける。
また、日本語では「AとBのどちらか」もしくは「AかBかどちらか」と言えますが、英語では「A or B」しか使えないんですね。

添削してくれた人が
「なんでもっと早くレビュー書かないんだ！ちょうど日本にいたってのに！！」
と怒ってました、笑

カナヤマ55 (名古屋)

ガッツリ系のつけ麺が食べたくなったので。
こういうつけ麺ってクライストチャーチにはないので、恋しくなるんですよね〜

tabelog.com

Ramen file #2
Invitation to the World of Tsukemen.

Tsukemen(つけ麺) means ‘dipping noodle’. This is one of the most modern style of ramen. Different from the usual style, noodle and soup are separated on tsukemen. Besides, generally, tsukemen noodles are very thick and soup has strong taste to maximize its flavor on the dipping style.

Another unique point of tsukemen is that the noodle is cooled, despite the soup is hot. By cooling water, the noodle get the firm texture like al dente pasta.

Kanayama GoGo (カナヤマ55) is a popular tsukemen restaurant located in front of Kanayama station, Nagoya. The small shop is always filled with customers, steam, and the soup’s nice smell.

The main ingredients of its soup are pork bones and dried fish. This combination may sounds wired for Western people. However, once you try it, you will know why this soup attract Japanese people so much.

I would like to recommend ordering rice and cheese with tsukemen. After finishing noodle, let’s put rice and cheese into the soup, then heat them up by the heater on the table. Yes, that’s right… it is risotto. The cheese make the soup mild and add extra rich flavor. Now you can finish the excellent soup. You should keep yourself hungry enough to enjoy this gimmick!

文法的な間違いは指摘されませんでしたが、weird (奇妙な) を wired (針金を巻いた) とミススペルしたのが恥ずかしい……。

豊来軒 (豊橋駅)

青春18きっぷで東京に行く途中に立ち寄った豊橋のラーメン屋さん。
なぜか富山ブラックがおいてありました。安くておいしい！
この季節、しょっぱいものがほしくなりますよねー。

tabelog.com

Ramen File #3

There are 47 prefectures in Japan. Each of them has its original local foods. This is one of points attracting travelers from overseas. Ramen is not an exception. We have a number of local styles of ramen. Today, I would like to introduce Toyama Black (富山ブラック) ramen.

As you see, the color of the soup is the main feature of Toyama Black. Deep black, like a black onyx. Yes, as you may imagine, this color comes from soy source. Toyama Black is a style to maximize the taste of soy source. Don’t worry, this is not just salty but has rich seafood flavor.

Originally, Toyama Black was invented for manual laborers working for the recovery from the WWII in Toyama prefecture, located in the central area of Japan, Japan Sea coast. Because of that, its taste was more salty than usual so that customers could get mineral they lost during the hard labor. Later, the unique taste was accepted by many people then became a popular local food of Toyama.

It is getting hotter and hotter in summer of Japan. After sweating, eating Toyama Black and supply sodium is a really good idea.

添削のポイント。

• soy sauce を soy source とスペルミス、これも恥ずかしい。
• 「種類がたくさんある」と言いたいときは a variety of を使うとより自然になる。
• 一杯のラーメンは a bowl of ramen 。

鬼そば藤谷 (渋谷)

お笑い芸人のHEY!たくちゃんが経営するラーメン屋さん。
ここの塩ラーメン絶品でした。また食べたい！！

tabelog.com

ラーメンが美味しかったのと、佐野実さんとの思い出が感動的で、思わず長文になってしまった。

Ramen File #4
A Spirit of the Artisan Never Dies.

In 2014, Minoru Sano (佐野 実), a legendary artisan of ramen, passed away at the age of 63. However, his spirit is still alive in Shibuya (渋谷).

It may be a little bit hard to find Onisoba Fujiya (鬼そば藤谷) because this restaurant is on the 4th floor of a building nearby 109 shop, one of the most crowded area in Shibuya. Surprisingly, all of five shops in this building are ramen restaurants. It must be challenging to run a ramen shop in such a hard competing place, however, Onisoba Shibuya has attracted many customers more than three years.

HEY!Takuchan (HEY!たくちゃん), the owner chef of this restaurant , is originally a comedian doing a mimic of Minoru. Also he has loved ramen so much since he was a child. Those experiences brought them together. He learned how to cook ramen from Minoru, then, finally opened his own restaurant.

Onishio ramen (鬼塩ラーメン) is the main menu of this shop. Shio (塩, salt) ramen is the most difficult ramen to cook because it is necessary to create excellent flavor with only really simple ingredients and seasonings. Without saying it, Onishio ramen is excellent.

A sensational top note is brought by Yuzu citrus zest on the soup. Once you have a spoon of soup, you will be happy with the taste from the combination of strictly selected scallops, kombu seaweeds, many kinds of salt, and so on. The pork rib is amazingly soft and melts in your mouth tenderly. The same noodle as used in Minoru’s restaurant is also used in this ramen. The rich wheat flavor goes really well with the soup. This ramen is so delicious that it will be very easy to finish the soup even though you know it is unhealthy.

Let me explain the meaning of Oni. Oni (鬼) is the name of a monster in Japanese old fairy tales. Minoru was called Oni of Ramen while he was alive because he was really strict like Oni on the quality of ramen. However, actually he had a warm and kind heart to support those who really want to cook great ramen.

If only you enjoy ramen at Onisoba Fujiya, you will know Minoru’s spirit is still alive here.

ポイント

• 「モノマネをする」は mimic よりも do impersonations のほうがいいらしい。
• 「看板メニュー」は main menu ではなく、signature dish 。
• 「スープ一匙」は a spoonful of soup 。

海老吟醸 じぱんぐ (上野)

海老の風味がとにかく濃厚なラーメン。
ふつうのラーメンと一線を画していたので、これはフュージョンだと表現してみました。

tabelog.com

Ramen File #5
This is not ramen but fusion.

There are a variety of shrimp soup in the world. For example, bisque in France, laksa in Singapore, and so on. However, shrimp ramen is hard to find although it is a common food in Japan. As I infer, probably it is because the shrimp flavor is so strong that it covers other ingredients. But, here is Tokyo. An innovative restaurant is offering an exceptional ‘shrimp ramen’.

You will be surprised at the sensational smell of shrimp if you stand in front of ZIPANG (ジパング), which is a ramen restaurant located in nearby Ueno station. The signature dish of this shop is Ebi-Ginjo (海老吟醸, supreme shrimp) ramen whose soup is combination of strictly selected pig bones and shrimp.

Without saying it, its soup is filled with excellent shrimp flavor. Different from usual salty and oily ramen, the soup is really mild, sweet and tender. If you want some spiciness, add the green paste on the table into the soup. This is yuzu-kosho(柚子胡椒), which is a seasoning made from citrus and chili pepper. It makes soup more refreshing and spicy. You will love it if you are a Thai cuisine lover.

I hesitate to call this dish ‘ramen’ because its taste is similar to French cuisine, like bisque or American sauce, rather than traditional Chinese or Japanese noodle dish. It can be said this is a fusion cuisine of Orient and Occident.

ポイント

• a variety of よりも many varieties of のほうが一般的？らしい。
• 一文の中で、however, although, but など、逆説を意味する単語を2つ以上使わないこと。
• 風味が強くてほかの材料を覆い隠してしまう場合、動詞 overpower が適当。
• 近い将来に確実に起こるできごとは will 、起きるかどうかわからないものは would で表す。

凪ゴールデン街店 (新宿)

新宿カプセルホテルから近く、ここに泊まるときは必ず通うラーメン屋。
朝からラーメン食べるの、まじ至福です。2日連続で朝ラー行って、醤油味と塩味の両方食べました。

tabelog.com

Ramen File #6
Supreme Ramen in a Non-sleeping City

Sinjuku Golden Gai (新宿ゴールデン街) is a tiny area nearby Sinjuku station, which is well known as a non-sleeping downtown in Tokyo. In this alley, there is a non-sleeping ramen shop called Nagi (凪) running 24/7.

The ramen they offer is only the Sugoi Niboshi Ramen (すごい煮干しラーメン, supreme dried sardine ramen). Dried sardine is a common food in Japan. It is often used to cook soup, like miso soup or udon soup. Although some ramen restaurants use niboshi, too, the niboshi flavor in the Sugoi Niboshi Ramen is exceptionally brilliant. If you have a spoonful of the soup, you would be knocked out by its excellent sardine flavor.

The noodle is also unique. The medium thick waved noodles can hold the soup well and its firm texture makes you to enjoy the wheat flavor as you bite them. Besides, the ramen has a super wide noodle like lasagna. The combination of the niboshi soup and this smooth texture noodle would take you to the ramen world you have never experienced.

This restaurant is only 3 minutes walk from Sinjuku Capsule Hotel, which is the cheapest and most popular accommodation in Shinjuku. If you stay there, I strongly recommend that you go to Nagi.

ポイント

• 「徒歩3分」は a three minute walk 。minutes と複数形にならないことに注意！

最後の方は文法的な指摘が随分減って、多少は書くのうまくなったかな？と思いました。
添削された表現も積極的に使うよう心がけました。
なかなかまとまった量の英文を書く練習ってやりづらいので、好きなテーマだと楽しく続けられます。

いつまで日本にいられるかわかりませんが、時間と予算の許す限り、食べ歩きとラーメンレビューはやりたいですね〜。
また数がたまったらブログで公開したいと思います。
ではでは！