The art of Ra-men in the UK #1 ：ロンドンでラーメン その１

It's not really difficult to find Japanese food in London. After you go to a pub and drink a few pints of beer or something and feel a bit hungry, where would you like to go? Kebab? Pizza? Probably not for Japanese people. The first thing we think of would be Ra-men (or noodle soup). In China Town, those restaurants serve various types of noodle soup, but that is not exactly what Japanese people call Ra-men. An it's true you could have what we can define as Ra-men when you go to Soho. However, I am not 100% sure of this, but I imagine that the soup would be full of artificial additives, which eventually will paralyse your taste buds. So what should I do? As an artist, my answer is I'll make it myself. But even though I am, it is a bit difficult to make proper noodles without proper equipments, so basically noodles have to be readymade. When we came to London and lived in Wimbledon, we really missed Ra-men and did a lot of trial and error. Especially problematic was the lack of proper noodles. We tried thinner spaghettini first. And then tried various noodles sold at Chinese Supermarkets near Leicester Square. But none was up to our standard. It was after we moved to the East in the Docklands that we finally discovered the proper noodles. This type is sold at Loon Fung or See Woo Supermarkets in North Greenwich, and costs about £1.40. One package contains generous amount, about 330 grams. We cannot live without this now. The good thing about self-made Ra-men is that you can top-up anything as much as you like. The Ra-men in the above image is what we call shou-yu Ra-men, noodles in plain chicken based soy-sauce flavoured soup (with no artificial additives 0f course), and has a few slices of self-made roasted pork and lots and lots of rockets and finely sliced mooli on top. It should be good for the health.

ロンドンにいると、食い意地の張っている私のようなものは食べたいものは自分で作るしかないときがあるのでございます。例えばラーメンが食べたい。確かにSOHOあたりにいけば食べられるでしょう。でも、想像するに科学の力がたくさん効いたスープを飲まされることになるのではないでしょうか。きっと徐々に味蕾が麻痺させられていくに違いありません。どうしたらいいでしょう。作るしかないのです。一応私はアーティストのつもりなので。とはいっても、まともな器具なしでちゃんとした麺を作るのは至難の技なので、 麺だけはレディーメイドのものに頼らざるを得ません。ロンドンに来たばかりの頃はラーメンにふさわしい麺を探すのに苦労しました。細めのスパゲティを最初は使ったり、SOHOの中華スーパーにある麺をいろいろと試しましたが、しっくり来ませんでした。東部のドックランドに移ってからです、これかなと思える麺を見つけたのは。一袋３３０グラム程度入っていてだいたい１．４ポンド程度です。もうこれなしでは生きていけなくなってしまいました。醤油ベースのスープにいわゆる自家製の焼豚をのせて大根の千切りとロケットをこれでもかというくらいのせてみました。