i was really hungry.

matsuchan is like someone folded up a japanese ramen shop from the middle of kyoto, put it on a plane, and unfolded it here, in the back hidden corner of a low-traffic strip mall. it is one of few places that is so good that i never get sick of eating there, and never get sick of blogging about, either.

chris and i went for dinner last night. there was only one table left and it was just big enough for two. six of the eight tables were filled with japanese families, as usual. the waitress brought us out glasses of water. i looked around and noticed all the japanese people had glasses of tea, and chris and i and the one other white couple had water. even japanese babies had little tiny glasses full of tea. i was very confused by this and wondered where my glass of tea was. i asked the waitress if we could have some and she happily brought some out. after i drank it, i figured out why white people do not get tea. it is because it is mugicha (barley tea), a drink made by boiling barley grains. they drink it in japan in the summer like americans guzzle iced tea in the summer. barley tea tastes like bacon-water and burnt toast combined, but in the best possible way! in most cases it is not appealing in the least bit to someone with an “american” palate, and i guess i look like i have one. little did our waitress know that i have a box of instant barley tea at home in my cupboard. i forgave her in my mind after i realized she was not trying to tea-discriminate against me, but instead trying to protect me from drinking bacon-water. things like this occasionally happen to me, like being offered a fork in a japanese restaurant because i don’t look like i know how chopsticks work. but that’s what i get for having blonde hair growing out of my head and skin as white as a bag of marshmallows.

glasses of barley tea!!

i got the cold soba. it’s a seasonal dish served only in the summer. i am so, so, so, SO sad when it is not summer and i can’t have it, because it is THE BEST. it’s a big bowl full of buckwheat noodles in a soysauceish/dashi broth with crab, wakame (seaweed), fried tofu, japanese egg, and these little white round things with holes in the middle that are like daikon radish, but i have never seen such a tiny daikon radish. what are these? it’s served on a big tray with a rice ball and a plate of scallions and wasabi.

chris got the curry ramen. it tasted like an indian curry except a lot less spicy, and with a big piece of pork floating in it. the big hunk of pork floating in all ramen is its one and only downfall. it creeps me out worse than fried catfish and blood clots in raw chicken COMBINED. one time my pork was this big gristly looking thing that looked like it was going to grow mutant, disfigured legs with hooves and walk out the side of my bowl. i wanted to die when i looked at it. it kept floating to the top of the bowl and getting in my spoon. it looked like it had gristly eyes that were staring back up at me from my miso ramen. cold soba doesn’t have a gristly piece of pork. that could be why i like it so much.

curry ramen with a side of white rice

when we left, everyone said “thank you!!” and waved happily as usual. if you are considering going to matsuchan and live anywhere within the 48 continental states or canada, i suggest you get in the car and go! if you live anywhere else and are considering going to matsuchan, i suggest you get to the airport, get on a boat, or swim across the ocean because the food is definitely worth a 2,000 mile swim across a large body of shark infested water.