**External link to the website except written in Japanese
About 8 p.m. I visited a ramen shop, Tensouden Gaku, Suehiro-cho (天想伝 楽@末広町) (located in the north area of Akihabara Electric Town [秋葉原電気街]).
This is NOT the first time for me to visit it; it was last Saturday (Oct. 15) that I visited it first.
The truth is that I planned to write a report about this shop after visiting it first but I was not able to finish it before next Saturday had come.
Outside of Gaku
There is a close connection between the place occupied by Gaku and myself.
Once this place was occupied by a tsukemen shop, Tsukemen Ippo (つけ麺 一歩), which was then really one of my favorite shops and which I had visited so often, about once a week, with my friend Koba (also with my friend Rick or my youngest brother) therefore the staffs and we knew each other by sight.
Also Sep. 11, 2009 (Fri) I visited it and I saw them.
However one day, Oct. 10, 2009 (Sat), I visited it with Koba and Rick (then they met each other again after a long separation) but the old staffs we knew disappeared and new staffs we saw first were working.
I asked one of the new staffs, "where have old staffs gone?"
He answered, "I don't know because the manager of this shop has been replaced. All I can say is 'they left this shop'."
I was very surprised and shocked.
I had never visited Ippo again at all.
And Jul. 20 this year it closed down its business (see here*.)
Looking back now, this event might have made me "Ramen-Satan."
And by chance two days later from then, Oct 12, 2009 (Mon), Rick called me "Ramen Daimaou" (ラーメン大魔王) in Japanese for the first time (I remember clearly!)
Incidentally, the Japanese nickname "Ramen Daimaou" was translated into English/German because Rick had to explain it to his then German girlfriend and our friend Anneke in German, and in addition, more importantly, I love Heavy Metal music and satan is one of typical motifs of Heavy Metal!
According to him, he told her that "Daimaou" was like someone who appeared in Schubert's music.
(The fact is that he is called "erlking" ["Erlkoenig" in German], not "satan" [但し邦題だと「魔王」].)
I like this evil nickname a little.
Oh, we have gotten off the subject! (話が脱線してしまった！)
Anyway, visiting this place again arouses mixed feeling in me.
However, I felt like going to it again because this place was occupied by a tsukemen shop which is famous to ramen fans, moved from Ochanomizu* and changed its name (旧・天神屋 御茶ノ水店) "Tensouden Gaku."
Interiors are less hardly changed than those of Ippo.
Inside the shop I found noodle boxes of a noodle maker and ramen shop producer, Taisei Shokuhin* (大成食品), which had served noodles to also Ippo (see here*) therefore I guess that there might be a certain connection between Ippo and Gaku through Taisei Shokuhin.
Noodle boxes of Taisei Shokuhin
There were 4 staffs, 3 men and 1 woman; the man who looked the oldest must be the owner-chef (the boss. See a photo* on their website.)
I think that 4 staffs are too many because of the reason I will state later.
(According to this website* [see the article on Aug. 8, 2011], in fact thanks to Taisei Shokuhin this place is occupied and some staffs who had worked for Ippo before are employed now by Gaku.)
I chose "mega"(="extra") large-sized tsukemen (つけ麺 メガ盛) (500g.)
950 yen... Is it a little expensive?
When I visited it first (Oct. 15), while I was waiting for finishing cooking tsukemen I sent an E-mail to my friend Koba living now in Nagano pref. (長野県) in order to report to him that I came back again to this unforgettable place for us.
Mega large-sized tsukemen (950 yen)
Here is mega large-sized tsukemen.
Gaku serves relatively thin noodles, whereas other tsukemen shops generally gives thicker ones.
In the case of tsukemen, I prefer thicker to thinner noodles.
The soup they serves is very thick and strong, and tasted good (I like it!)
However their soup is so good that they should have chosen thicker noodle!
(Now I feel like sending an E-mail to this shop in order to tell it to do so.)
And strangely, it reminded me of Ippo's soup; I think Gaku's soup is more or less similar to Ippo's one.
Noodles are a little thin?
My complaint about Gaku carries on.
My noodles became dry while I was eating tsukemen therefore by myself I had to add to noodles some water in a pot on the counter to drink.
They should have made resources to keep noodles wet!
(食べている間にわたしの麺が乾いてしまったので、自分でカウンターのポットの水で麺を湿らせなければならなかった。彼らは麺が乾かないような工夫を予め施しておくべきだった。)
And I had almost run out of the soup when I was about to finish eating noodles.
They should have served more soup to customers like me who chose mega large-sized.
I paid 950 yen or so to the shop in order to enjoy whole ramen or tsukemen from the start to the end of eating .
(そして、食べ終わる直前に、わたしのスープがほとんど空っぽになってしまった。恐らくスープの量は、並、中、大、メガと全て同じなのだろうが、麺の量が違う以上、誰が食べても食べ切るのに必要なスープの量が違うのは同様であろう。彼らはわたしのようにメガ盛を注文した客には、増量したスープを提供すべきだった。どうしてわたしが950円を店に支払ったかというと、それは食事の最初から最後までラーメンやつけ麺を味わい切るためである。)
And, what is more, it is too expensive that large-sized tsukemen is priced at 850 yen and mega large-sized at 950 yen!
It would be not enough but relatively reasonable if normal-, middle-, and large-sized (default) were priced at 750 yen and mega at 850 yen.
(そのうえ、大盛850円、メガ盛950円というのは高すぎる！ もし並、中、大盛がデフォルトで750円、メガ盛が850円だとしたら、十分とは言えないまでも、まあまあ納得できる。［ここから日本語のみ］ついでに言えば、メガ盛は500グラムあるらしいが、中太麺のせいか食べ応えがあまりない。わたしの場合はとりわけ顕著であるが、950円も払って満腹にならないのでは、代金を払った甲斐がない。)
I guess that 4 staffs are too many though tsukemen's price is expensive; 3, perhaps 2, persons are moderate.
Frankly speaking, the young man wearing black glasses is NOT needed in this shop because in this shop a work load is not so heavy to be shared with him, with 4 staffs.
(In fact I saw him having less things and standing without anything to do.)
（もしかして、つけ麺の値段が高いにもかかわらず、スタッフ4人という人数は多すぎるのではないだろうか。3人、ひょっとすると2人くらいがちょうどいい。率直に言って、黒ぶち眼鏡をかけた若い男性店員は要らない。というのもこの店の仕事量は、4人で回すほど、そして彼にまで与えるほど、多くはないからだ。実際、わたしは彼にすることがなく、ただ立ちんぼしている場面を何度も見た。）
I will not bring my friends to this shop because it has a lot of problems I analyzed above.
And as for myself, I will not visit it once a week but once a month or 2 months or so.
They should improve these problems as soon as possible.
I asked one of the new staffs, "where have old staffs gone?"
He answered, "I don't know because the manager of this shop has been replaced. All I can say is 'they left this shop'."
I was very surprised and shocked.
I had never visited Ippo again at all.
And Jul. 20 this year it closed down its business (see here*.)
Looking back now, this event might have made me "Ramen-Satan."
And by chance two days later from then, Oct 12, 2009 (Mon), Rick called me "Ramen Daimaou" (ラーメン大魔王) in Japanese for the first time (I remember clearly!)
Incidentally, the Japanese nickname "Ramen Daimaou" was translated into English/German because Rick had to explain it to his then German girlfriend and our friend Anneke in German, and in addition, more importantly, I love Heavy Metal music and satan is one of typical motifs of Heavy Metal!
According to him, he told her that "Daimaou" was like someone who appeared in Schubert's music.
(The fact is that he is called "erlking" ["Erlkoenig" in German], not "satan" [但し邦題だと「魔王」].)
I like this evil nickname a little.
Oh, we have gotten off the subject! (話が脱線してしまった！)
Anyway, visiting this place again arouses mixed feeling in me.
However, I felt like going to it again because this place was occupied by a tsukemen shop which is famous to ramen fans, moved from Ochanomizu* and changed its name (旧・天神屋 御茶ノ水店) "Tensouden Gaku."
Interiors are less hardly changed than those of Ippo.
Inside the shop I found noodle boxes of a noodle maker and ramen shop producer, Taisei Shokuhin* (大成食品), which had served noodles to also Ippo (see here*) therefore I guess that there might be a certain connection between Ippo and Gaku through Taisei Shokuhin.
Noodle boxes of Taisei Shokuhin
There were 4 staffs, 3 men and 1 woman; the man who looked the oldest must be the owner-chef (the boss. See a photo* on their website.)
I think that 4 staffs are too many because of the reason I will state later.
(According to this website* [see the article on Aug. 8, 2011], in fact thanks to Taisei Shokuhin this place is occupied and some staffs who had worked for Ippo before are employed now by Gaku.)
I chose "mega"(="extra") large-sized tsukemen (つけ麺 メガ盛) (500g.)
950 yen... Is it a little expensive?
When I visited it first (Oct. 15), while I was waiting for finishing cooking tsukemen I sent an E-mail to my friend Koba living now in Nagano pref. (長野県) in order to report to him that I came back again to this unforgettable place for us.
Mega large-sized tsukemen (950 yen)
Here is mega large-sized tsukemen.
Gaku serves relatively thin noodles, whereas other tsukemen shops generally gives thicker ones.
In the case of tsukemen, I prefer thicker to thinner noodles.
The soup they serves is very thick and strong, and tasted good (I like it!)
However their soup is so good that they should have chosen thicker noodle!
(Now I feel like sending an E-mail to this shop in order to tell it to do so.)
And strangely, it reminded me of Ippo's soup; I think Gaku's soup is more or less similar to Ippo's one.
Noodles are a little thin?
My complaint about Gaku carries on.
My noodles became dry while I was eating tsukemen therefore by myself I had to add to noodles some water in a pot on the counter to drink.
They should have made resources to keep noodles wet!
(食べている間にわたしの麺が乾いてしまったので、自分でカウンターのポットの水で麺を湿らせなければならなかった。彼らは麺が乾かないような工夫を予め施しておくべきだった。)
And I had almost run out of the soup when I was about to finish eating noodles.
They should have served more soup to customers like me who chose mega large-sized.
I paid 950 yen or so to the shop in order to enjoy whole ramen or tsukemen from the start to the end of eating .
(そして、食べ終わる直前に、わたしのスープがほとんど空っぽになってしまった。恐らくスープの量は、並、中、大、メガと全て同じなのだろうが、麺の量が違う以上、誰が食べても食べ切るのに必要なスープの量が違うのは同様であろう。彼らはわたしのようにメガ盛を注文した客には、増量したスープを提供すべきだった。どうしてわたしが950円を店に支払ったかというと、それは食事の最初から最後までラーメンやつけ麺を味わい切るためである。)
And, what is more, it is too expensive that large-sized tsukemen is priced at 850 yen and mega large-sized at 950 yen!
It would be not enough but relatively reasonable if normal-, middle-, and large-sized (default) were priced at 750 yen and mega at 850 yen.
(そのうえ、大盛850円、メガ盛950円というのは高すぎる！ もし並、中、大盛がデフォルトで750円、メガ盛が850円だとしたら、十分とは言えないまでも、まあまあ納得できる。［ここから日本語のみ］ついでに言えば、メガ盛は500グラムあるらしいが、中太麺のせいか食べ応えがあまりない。わたしの場合はとりわけ顕著であるが、950円も払って満腹にならないのでは、代金を払った甲斐がない。)
I guess that 4 staffs are too many though tsukemen's price is expensive; 3, perhaps 2, persons are moderate.
Frankly speaking, the young man wearing black glasses is NOT needed in this shop because in this shop a work load is not so heavy to be shared with him, with 4 staffs.
(In fact I saw him having less things and standing without anything to do.)
（もしかして、つけ麺の値段が高いにもかかわらず、スタッフ4人という人数は多すぎるのではないだろうか。3人、ひょっとすると2人くらいがちょうどいい。率直に言って、黒ぶち眼鏡をかけた若い男性店員は要らない。というのもこの店の仕事量は、4人で回すほど、そして彼にまで与えるほど、多くはないからだ。実際、わたしは彼にすることがなく、ただ立ちんぼしている場面を何度も見た。）
I will not bring my friends to this shop because it has a lot of problems I analyzed above.
And as for myself, I will not visit it once a week but once a month or 2 months or so.
They should improve these problems as soon as possible.
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