Not-So-Skinny-Dipping: Pop-Up Ramen

This is the first of several reports about Wangjing’s Ramen Pavilion.

Tsujita is a famous ramen brand with four branches in Tokyo – and now, a pop-up stall here in Beijing. The most important thing to know about Tsujita is their specialty: dipping (tsukemen) ramen. It’s not a soup noodle in the conventional sense. Instead, you get a bowl of thick noodles (boiled, drained, rinsed, cooled) and a smaller bowl of sauce to dip them into.

So, are you ready to upend your basic concept of ramen? If so, head to Wangjing International Shopping Center, find the Ramen Pavilion, plunk down some cash for the pre-paid card (RMB 100 minimum value; RMB 5 deposit), and look for Tsujita (the first stall on your right if you’re approaching from the Ito-Yokado side; the last stall on your left if you approach via the stage).

We ordered the signature dipping ramen (zhanmian 蘸面; RMB 55), and they brought out two bowls. The bigger bowl was a simple poem: Noodles, laver, lime.

In the smaller bowl, a generous ladling of savory stew hid a soft-boiled egg and several slices of braised pork (chashao 叉烧). It was oily and rich – all the better to coat the ropy yellow ramen.

Tsukemen separates the ramen experience into its elemental constituents – noodle and flavoring – in order that you may combine them at your pleasure. This heady power may cause you to feel like a puppetmaster, manipulating the strings that dangle from your cross-sticks. (“Dance, my plump little noodles, dance!”)

Then everything dissolves into a haze of plunging and swishing and slurping and chewing, and too late, you realize that the silly figure dancing at the end of the noodle strands is you.

Perhaps most commendable about Tsujita’s ramen is its delightful texture. Those who like maximum toothiness will appreciate how unrelenting these noodles are. The masterminds behind tsukemen ramen must value this as well; the dipping method ensures that your ramen stays springy and chewy until the last strand is dunked and devoured.

Each bowl of classic tsukemen is served with a chunky slice of sudachi lime. We squeezed it on the noodles halfway through and found it added brightness and contrast to the rich dipping broth. In fact, we might have liked a more generous offering of the sudachi; we enjoyed the dimension it added, but found its effects diluted by the sheer volume of noodles.

We also tried a spicy version (RMB 50) of the dipping ramen. It has a pleasantly zingy heat but no soft-boiled egg.

Lastly, we ordered a bowl of the pork bone ramen (RMB 55), a more typical soup noodle. It arrived at the table sporting a half-centimeter-thick oily cap, with bits of pork fat happily suspended above the thick broth. It would seem its primary reason for existing is to do away with the stereotype that all Japanese fare is light and healthy.

The broth was exceedingly rich, its accompanying meat aggressively seasoned and full of flavor. The chunky cuts of pork appeared drier than we might have liked, but were strangely tender nonetheless. Worth a try, but we don’t suggest eating a whole bowl yourself.

Final notes: Tsujita’s gyoza are clearly an afterthought. Soggy, as if they took freshly boiled dumplings and threw them onto a skillet. A shame. Scold yourself for letting your thoughts stray from ramen for even a single second, and move on to the next stall.

In our quest for ramen knowledge, we also stumbled upon this handy graph (above). The horizontal axis measures "taste" (weidao 味道) and runs from light (left) to salty (right). The vertical axis measures "soup base" (tangdi 汤底) and runs from clear (bottom) to thick (top). You'll find Tsujita's dipping ramen occupying the very top right corner, meaning it is the saltiest of the options and features the thickest broth. Who knew learning the Cartesian coordinate plane would actually be useful someday?

Ramen Pavilion. Wangjing International Shopping Center, 9 Wangjing Jie, Chaoyang District (no tel). Daily 11am-10pm (until mid-December 2011) 朝阳区望京街9号望京国际商业中心

Photos by Marilyn Mai, image from Sina.com blog user midori