Noodles ── Ramen
Tokimiso Ramen
Tokimiso Ramen — Shimizu's ramen you flavor yourself by stirring in miso halfway through
A ramen from Shimizu, Shizuoka City, eaten by stirring house-made miso into a light salt broth partway through. The flavor is said to shift twice within a single bowl, and a dash of bonito flakes changes it again.
- Origin: Shizuoka Shizuoka (Shimizu Ward)
- Miso
- About 140 km southwest of Tokyo
Lineage
What it's made of
The first sip of the clear salt broth reveals a light, easy stock built from chicken and pork. Stir in the house-made miso sitting on the table, and the flavor flips to a bold richness. Tasting two different characters in the same bowl is the whole point, and a scattering of bonito flakes is said to reveal a third face on top of that, letting the diner set off the change of flavor with their own hands.
How it's made
A chicken-and-pork stock is built light enough in salt to be drunk on its own. It's only complete once the customer stirs in house-made miso by hand at the table. The thin noodles are cut to a thickness that catches the miso well, carrying the shift in flavor all the way through to the last bite, with how much miso to stir in, and when, left up to each diner.
Why it took this shape
This way of eating is said to have grown up specifically within Shimizu Ward, born from a wish to let diners enjoy a change of flavor within a single bowl. As the local shop pursuing this style puts it, the aim is for people to say "Shizuoka means tokimiso" — and that drive to deliver two satisfactions from one bowl seems to be what shaped it, less a finished dish than one the customer helps complete.
Before you go
- How to read a ticket machineShops that use a ticket machine (shokken-ki) often place their most popular items in a similar spot.
- Cash-only shops are commonEspecially at ramen shops, it's common to find places that only accept cash — often through a ticket machine.
- Foods to look for in summerA guide to foods often seen in Japan around summer — eel on the Day of the Ox, hiyashi chuka, somen, shaved ice, edamame with beer, and hamo — with rough pointers for finding them.
Dishes in the same style
- Sakekasu Miso RamenA winter-only ramen from Ageo City, where sake lees from a long-running local brewery are worked into a Chinese restaurant's miso broth. The lees' depth and aroma layer over the miso's savoriness, leaving a mellow finish that warms the body in the cold months.
- Akayu Karamiso RamenMiso ramen with a knob of chili miso in the center, dissolved gradually to shift the flavor.
Ingredients and dishes from this land
Also from Shizuoka
- Abekawa MochiFresh-pounded rice cake is dusted in soybean flour mixed with sugar. Named for the Abe River, it's said to have been famous among Tokaido travelers as a teahouse specialty and to appear in the travel novel Tokaidochu Hizakurige.
- BokumeshiSteamed eel and shaved burdock are simmered together and folded into freshly cooked rice. Its name is said to trace to oversized eels unfit for sale, used in staff meals at eel farms along the Oi River — a mixed rice dish of the region.
- Fuji KinkaBred by Shizuoka Prefecture by crossing its own Duroc line, Fujirock, with Jinhua, a rare breed from China's Zhejiang province — found only in Shizuoka. Said to combine Jinhua's tenderness with Fujirock's marbling.
- Fujieda Asa RamenA town that eats ramen at breakfast — often a hot bowl followed by a cold one.
- Fujinomiya YakisobaIt grew up as a postwar snack at Fujinomiya's candy shops and okonomiyaki stalls. Its identity rests on three local staples: chewy steamed noodles, pork-lard cracklings called nikukasu, and a sardine-powder topping called dashiko.
- GawaRaw bonito is minced and mixed into a chilled miso broth with cucumber, pickled plum, and shiso. Its name is said to come from the "gawa-gawa" sound of stirring miso into ice water aboard a fishing boat — originally a summer meal made at sea.