Takumi Düsseldorf, Rotterdam: May special - Tokyo Style noodle

Last Saturday, I went to Takumi Düsseldorf in Rotterdam again to try their second monthly special: Tokyo Style noodle. It is an excellent idea to have monthly specials, since I think I almost had a taste of every kind of ramen on their menu already and I love trying something new. Last month's special, the pork rib ramen, was very tasty, even for someone like me who normally doesn't eat a lot of meat. So, I was very curious about the next one: the Tokyo Style noodle.

Drinks

It was a warm day, so we ordered some cold drinks this time instead of the usual hot green tea in the cute tea pot with matching cup. We had a glass of calpis (€3), which is a yoghurt flavored soda, and pineapple ramune soda (€3). The pineapple ramune soda was a bit bland and I liked the melon ramune I tried the other time more. I also discovered that you can now order a larger bottle of ramune for €4, which has a screw cap. This time, I tried to open the ramune glass bottle myself and it was quite a challenge (almost half the bottle of soda came bubbling up!), so a screw cap might not be that bad. The calpis wasn't that well received either and he regretted not taking up the suggestion of the waitress of adding cassis soda or something else to the calpis.
 

Tokyo style noodles (€14,50)

It is a "dry" kind of ramen with no soup, but a little bit of shoyu based sauce instead. I thought that it was some kind of cold noodles, but it was a bit similar to the Tsukemen that I tried the first time I visited the Takumi Düsseldorf Rotterdam ramen shop. Instead of a bowl of concentrated bonito stock soup, you now have a thin layer of watery, Japanese soy sauce, on the bottom of your plate. As toppings, you get handfulls of saffron, nori shreds, spring onions, and bamboo shoots, and you are supposed to mix it with the noodles and the sauce. On the side, you get three slices of cha siu, two halves of a soft boiled egg, and a skewer with three large pieces of fried chicken. It is a feast compared to the amount of toppings, you normally get with your bowl of ramen.

The previous time, the amount of saffron was a bit difficult for me to get used to, but this time, I hardly noticed it. I only tasted a hint of it and it was great. The nori shreds stuck together in a clump while mixing it, but I only have my own clumsiness to blame. The spring onions were refreshing notes and gave some crunch amidst the chewy, all dente noodles. I have a preference for fried noodles or cold noodles over hot noodle soup, and the Tokyo style noodles is a combination of my favorites. Although the sauce was hot, the noodles stayed chewy and not too warm like cold noodles, and the soy sauce flavor together with the spring onions reminded me a bit of stir-fried noodles. However, I still feel I missed something in the sauce. Maybe, a little bit of ginger, sugar, or vinegar.

You might remember me complaining a bit about the bamboo sprouts and eggs in my previous reviews, but this time, they were spot on. The egg yolk of the egg was creamy and a bit runny and the bamboo shoots were very close to the perfect ones I tried the first time I ate there. The cha siu had a nice fat-meat ratio and this time, it wasn't a bit dry, but so soft that it melted in my mouth. I personally don't like things such as soft meat in a stew, so it didn't really suit my taste. I prefer the meat to be a bit chewy, but the flavor was okay. The skewer with fried chicken chunks was similar to the karaage I previously ordered as a side dish. It was already seasoned and had hints of lemon already, so you could just directly eat it from the bamboo skewer.

 

Tokyo ramen Modern Style (€12.50)

While I had the Tokyo Style noodle, the other person had the Tokyo ramen Modern Style. I guess, Gangnam Style is out and Tokyo Style is in nowadays. It is a ramen with a rich bonito stock soup, and as toppings, you get half a soft boiled egg, spring onions, bean sprouts, bamboo shoots, three slices of cha siu, and two slices of naruto (fish cake). I tasted a bit of the soup with some of the ramen and it was similar to the bonito soup of the Tsukemen, albeit a bit more mixed with some broth and not very salty. The bonito and crunchy spring onions are a killer combination, but it didn't get in my top 3.   

What do I think?

This month's special ramen, Tokyo Style noodle, didn't disappoint me. Again, I got great value for money. I got a large plate of noodles with a generous amount of toppings, which would have costed me about €1-2 extra each. If you like the Tsukemen (€12.50), I would recommend you to try this new monthly special out. The noodles have a similar, chewier texture, you can try a new sauce with your noodles, and for €2 extra, you get a lot more toppings. The soy sauce based sauce isn't that special, but you could still spice it up with the ramen pepper, sesame seeds, and chili oil that you can find on your table (which I forgot to do!).  

The Tokyo ramen Modern Style was another ramen that I could get off the "To try" list of the Takumi Düsseldorf Rotterdam ramen shop. It was pretty good, but in my top 3 is still the Takumi's special miso ramen, Aji-tama miso ramen, and the Sapporo miso ramen. As you might have noticed, I had stuck to the miso based soups, as I like the slightly, velvety texture of the soup and the mild sweetness, but the next time, I could try the shio and shoyu versions of the ramen I liked.