It’s just as we’ve always said–with great pungency comes great deliciousness.

While our team of writers is always down for ramen of any kind, that’s not to say that we don’t also enjoy other kinds of noodles such as mazesoba (also called aburasoba), a dry noodle dish with a soy sauce and lard-based sauce. In fact, just recently one particular kind of mazesoba has been catching our eye: nira mazesoba.

Nira mazesoba translates to “mixed noodles with garlic chives,” but perhaps we should call it “garlic chives with mixed noodles” because the proportion of chives to noodles is often, well, not exactly even. Take this variation of the dish that we found at the Hyakunen Honpo restaurant in Tokyo’s Akihabara neighborhood for reference.

▼ An absolute avalanche of raw chives in Hyakunen Honpo’s “Reiwa no nirasoba” dish

Despite the intimidating amount of chives, the combination was so good that we vowed to keep our eyes out for nira mazesoba at other eateries. Luckily, we didn’t have to wait long before spotting the dish on the menu at Butakin, a tonkotsu ramen restaurant in Tokyo that opened its first location in Roppongi followed by its second in Ochanomizu this past August. Apparently the nira mazesoba was supposed to be an October-only special, but it proved so popular that the branch has continued offering it on the menu. We were determined to find out if it would live up to our expectations, so we paid it a visit at the earliest opportunity.

▼ The exterior of Butakin Ochanomizu

When the food arrived, we took a moment to take in all of its visuals–the gleaming, oil-covered green chives, glistening raw egg yolk centerpiece, and bed of tender chashu pork cloaking the noodles underneath. It was practically a work of art.

▼ Butakin’s nira mazesoba (1,300 yen [US$8.44])

Before long, however, our noses took over for our eyes because the smell emanating from the dish was strong. In fact, it was so maxed out as we began mixing the ingredients together that we became convinced it would seep into our dreams that night.

To top it off, the taste was equally strong, with a deep umami saltiness. The garlic and chive flavors truly weren’t holding anything back–the gulps of water that we took between bites had never tasted so good before.

Despite the impact of well, pretty much all of the ingredients, a unique aromatic edge also permeated the whole dish, particularly within the melt-in-your-mouth slices of chashu.

Even after finishing the meat and noodles, the dish still had another surprise waiting for us when we learned that it was possible to dilute the remaining sauce into broth. Sure enough, by doing so it turned into a rich tonkotsu broth peppered by remaining pieces of the chives.

While we thoroughly enjoyed Butakin’s nira mazesoba, we’d seriously recommend bringing a toothbrush or mouthwash with you to the restaurant for after eating (if not, you may want to distance yourself from others on your way home). Case in point: we left not just smelling like garlic or chives, but like we’d become them ourselves. Unfortunately, the pungency is at a level that not even your favorite anime character-themed perfume can fully mask, so just plan your visit accordingly so that you can fully enjoy your day post-meal as well.

Restaurant information
Butakin Ochanomizu / BUTAKIN 御茶ノ水店
Address: Tokyo-to, Chiyoda-ku, Kanda Ogawamachi 3-22
東京都千代田区神田小川町 3-22
Open: 11 a.m.-9:30 p.m.
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