We try Tokyo ramen chain Menya Mushashi’s latest mix of ramen and dessert.
When we heard that ramen chain Menya Musashi was offering a special ramen called the Tsuke Ghana White — The Scent of Strawberries that involves noodles, strawberry sauce, and white chocolate, of course we knew we had to try it! And since it was going to be available for eight days only from March 7 to 14 to coincide with White Day (celebrated on March 14 in Japan as the day when men who received gifts from women on Valentine’s Day give something back in return), we rushed to the eatery’s main branch in Tokyo’s Shinjuku to get a taste of the creative noodle dish.
▼ We’re certainly no strangers to the establishment, having visited it in the past to enjoy some of their more interesting dishes, including green tea ramen and milk chocolate ramen.
They were only serving 15 bowls of the Tsuke Ghana White each day, so we got there early to make sure we were one of the first customers inside when the shop opened at 11 a.m.
▼ There it was on the menu of the ticket vending machine — the Tsuke Ghana White, priced at 1,000 yen (US.8.80). Yay!
▼ And here it is, the ramen we’d been waiting to taste!
▼ Yes, the strawberry sauce really was a pretty pink!
▼ The noodles looked quite appetizing too, topped nicely with strawberries, mint-flavored steamed chicken, seasonal greens, herbs and white chocolate.
▼ We paused briefly to take in all the details.
And now for a closer look at the ingredients. The ruby-red strawberries were gorgeous!
▼ The greens added some nice color as well.
▼ There was also the steamed chicken to give the dish a bit of substance.
▼ And, of course, we had the tantalizing piece of white chocolate!
The dish also came with a sweet, milky, white chocolate sauce that you can add to the strawberry sauce to suit your preference.
But enough observing, it was time to get down to business and start eating! The broth, which contained the juice from ripe strawberries and chicken broth, had a nice balance of tang, sweetness, and saltiness.
The noodles, which were closer to Western-style pasta than conventional ramen noodles, were flavored with bits of prosciutto, celery and onion mixed with olive oil and topped with plenty of Ghana white chocolate powder.
Since this was tsukemen-style ramen, where you dip the noodles into the sauce (hence the name Tuske Ghana), we fearlessly gave them a dunk.
▼ Here’s what it looked like with all the ingredients in the sauce.
And how did it all taste? The combination of ingredients was actually quite pleasant. The salty prosciutto and olive oil mixed well with the taste of the chicken broth, and despite the copious amount of white chocolate powder used, the resulting flavor was not overpoweringly sweet, perhaps because of the tang of the fresh strawberries and the refreshing flavor of the greens and herbs.
▼ We also added the white chocolate sauce to the strawberry and chicken broth, which did seem to make it somewhat richer and sweeter, but not alarmingly so.
Some people may find the idea of pink ramen broth to be on the bizarre side, but we thought Menya Musashi did a commendable job of taking these interesting ingredients and coming up with an end product that was pleasantly flavorful without all the tastes colliding.
While they’ve now unfortunately finished offering the Tsuke Ghana White, we’re sure we can look forward to more unexpected yet tasty creations from Menya Musashi in the future. We’ll certainly be waiting for their Valentine’s and White Day offerings next year again with anticipation, because it’s not every day that we can get ramen and chocolate, two of our favorite foods, in one dish!
Restaurant information
Menya Musashi (Shinjuku Branch) / 麺屋武蔵 （新宿店）
Tokyo-to, Shinjuku-ku, Nishi Shinjuku 7-2-6- K-1 Building
東京都新宿区西新宿7-2-6 K-1（ケイワン）ビル
Open 11 a.m.-11:30 p.m.
Website
Note: There are 12 other Menya Musashi branches in the Tokyo area, and the menu varies slightly depending on the location.
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