“Totoro” restaurant in non-touristy Tokyo serves up very inexperienced matcha ramen【Style take a look at】

Inexperienced tea is barely one of many two uncommon components in Kitchen Home Totoro’s inexperienced ramen.

There’s no means {that a} restaurant that calls itself “Totoro” wasn’t going to pique our curiosity, so once we discovered about Kitchen Home Totoro, situated within the Inagi Metropolis district of Tokyo, we knew we needed to strive it. And whereas the eatery might not have any precise connection to the well-known Studio Ghibli anime forest spirit of the identical title, our taste-testing reporter Takuya Inaba was nonetheless in a position to take his style buds on a whimsical journey that he received’t quickly overlook.

“Kitchen home” is a reasonably obscure designation, however Totoro is a reasonably eclectic tempo. You’ll spot an extended line of bottles of shochu, wine, and different kinds of alcohol on a shelf as quickly as you stroll in, and you need to use the place like an izakaya pub, ordering drinks and small plates of snacks to munch on with them. However you may also use Totoro like an everyday restaurant, because the menu has a complete bunch of teishoku (set meals) on it, with major dishes like karaage fried rooster, hamburger steak, and pork cutlet.

On Takuya’s go to, he received to strive each the shogayaki (ginger pork) and kamikatsu pork cutlet meals, every priced at 930 yen (US$6.65). They have been each scrumptious, and like all of Totoro’s set meals, include a bowl with a mix of abnormal white rice and barley, and in addition a bowl of tororo, or grated sticky yam.

Along with teishoku, Totoro additionally serves ramen…and we’re not speaking a few single, easy selection, both. There are such a lot of sorts to select from that the ramen is by itself separate menu sheet, and it’s double-sided besides!

There are a complete of 41 several types of ramen to select from, from fundamentals like shoyu (soy sauce broth) and shio (salty broth) ramen to extra complicated recipes like chili shrimp and, in fact, tororo ramen. Takuya had no hassle making up his thoughts, although, as a result of as quickly as he noticed this…

…he wished to know if ramen so weird-looking, so very, very inexperienced, might nonetheless style good.

That’s the 850-yen Matcha Cream Shio Ramen, and it truly will get much more uncommon, as a result of, as talked about in its written description on the menu, it’s made with mascarpone cheese too!

Cheese is an uncommon, although not utterly unprecedented, ingredient so as to add to ramen, however mascarpone is an particularly uncommon addition. Nonetheless, mascarpone is a key element of tiramisu, and matcha tiramisu has confirmed in style at Japanese patissiers, so possibly this simply may work?

Following commonplace ramen-tasting protocol, Takuya lifted a spoonful of broth solely to his lips, took a sip, and…

…was immediately overjoyed at how good it tasted!

There was undoubtedly a robust creamy sensation from the cheese, and this meshed fantastically with the saltiness of the shio ramen broth. There was nonetheless room for the mellow bitter notes of the matcha to make themselves instantly felt, although, and the interaction between all these flavors was astronomically pleasant to Takuya.

We’re used to stumbling throughout nice ramen in Tokyo’s metropolis heart, the place the extraordinary competitors between noodle joints helps breed one of the best of one of the best flavors. Kitchen Home Totoro is a reminder that there are nice meals ready even in less-touristy elements of Tokyo like Inagi, and now that Takuya has a love for the mixture of mascarpone and matcha, possibly a visit to Kyoto to check out the brand new matcha Margherita pizza is so as.

Restaurant info
Kitchen Home Totoro / キッチンハウス トトロ
Tackle: Tokyo-to, Inagi-shi, Hirao 2-9-7
東京都稲城市平尾2-9-7
Open 11 a.m.-2:30 p.m., 6 p.m.-10:30 p.m. (Monday, Wednesday, Thursday), 11 a.m.-2:30 p.m., 6 p.m.-11:30 p.m. (Friday, Saturday)
Closed Tuesdays and Sundays

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