Breakfast ramen recommendation shows that big satisfaction can come from small ingredient lists.

Before ramen rocketed to international popularity, outside of Japan it was largely seen as something only for those too lazy or broke for “real” food. Chalk it up to the early international image of ramen as a bowl of noodles, broth, and nothing else.

Of course, in Japan things were always different. Here, if you’re ordering a bowl of restaurant ramen you can expect an array of tasty toppings like chashu pork, bean sprouts, bamboo shoots, and more. You’d have to look far and wide to find a restaurant with the gall to give you only noodles and br-

OK, we should back things up a bit. Recently, our Japanese-language reporter Masanuki Sunakoma spent the night in the town of Atsugi, Kanagawa Prefecture. While there, he’d asked some of the locals to recommend a place for breakfast, and they clued him in about Lao Xian, a ramen restaurant about 10 minutes on foot from the South Gate of Honatsugi Station that opens at 9 a.m.

To call Lao Xian’s storefont understated would be an understatement. The simple, slightly worn sign just says “Tanmen and gyoza restaurant,” citing its recommended menu items of ramen with stir-fried vegetables and pot stickers. You actually have to look down to the noren curtain hanging in front of the doorway to see the restaurant’s actual name.

Things are similarly low-key inside, with a plain red counter and plain red stools wrapped around the central kitchen area.

The menu hangs on the wall, written in, you guessed it, plain but neat handwriting.

This lack of any ostentatious accouterment, though, only served to boost Masanuki’s confidence that he might be in for something special. The absence of fancy decorations or flashy marketing showed that the restaurant survives strictly on the flavor of its food, and the tidy, organized environment showed that the staff takes pride in their work.

Putting his trust in the sign’s suggestions, Masanuki ordered a bowl of tanmen for 750 yen (US$5) and a plate of gyoza for 600.

The exact definition of tanmen is a little hazy, but in broad terms, it usually refers to ramen with stir-fried vegetables, most commonly things like cabbage, carrots, bean sprouts, wood ear mushroom, and chives, as shown in the photos directly below.

▼ Ordinary tanmen

▼ More ordinary tanmen

On the other hand, Lao Xian’s tanmen looks like this.

At first glance, you’d be forgiven for thinking that someone just plain forgot to put the veggies in. Looking closer, though, Masanuki could see that there is exactly one kind of vegetable present: minced onion.

Still, Masanuki held out hope. Instead of a “can’t-be-bothered” lack of enthusiasm, he chose to believe that this sparse simplicity was akin to what happens when a man embarks on a journey of training and self-improvement, then comes down from the mountains months later, having polished his soul down to the most pure essentials, whose purity has been enriched all the more by removing all non-essentials.

And this faith was rewarded as Masanuki took his first taste. There’s a slight tinge of stimulating sourness to the broth, but the flavor of Lao Xian’s ramen is otherwise as clear and uncluttered as the restaurant’s interior. Gentle, comforting, and undeniably delicious, Masanuki was immediately enthralled, and declares that this would be, by a wide margin, the very best ramen in the world for if you were nursing a hangover, though he was also thoroughly enjoying it sober.

Remembering that he’d ordered gyoza too, Masanuki turned his attention to the dumplings and popped one in his mouth. They had a pleasing crispness to them, and along with dunking the gyoza in the provided rayu chili oil (which Lao Xian makes itself), he also dunked one of them into his ramen, since rayu is an acceptable tanmen condiment. However, having tried it both ways, Masanuki feels Lao Xian’s tanmen broth is at its best without any additional rayu, so he enjoyed the rest of his gyoza separately from the noodles’ broth.

Happy and full, Masanuki walked away from the restaurant with a fresh reminder that sometimes less is more…but also a desire for more of this ramen the next time he’s in town.

Restaurant information
Atsugi Lao Xian / 厚木 ラオシャン
Address: Kanagawa-ken, Atsugi-shi, Asahi-cho, 3-2-5
神奈川県厚木市旭町3丁目2-5
Open 9 a.m.-8:30 p.m.
Closed Wednesdays

Photos ©SoraNews24
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