A Mix of Miso and Tonkotsu

I love ramen. I especially love tonkotsu ramen. Unfortunately, tonkotsu ramen is very lacking in the city I live in, Tsuchiura. We have maze soba and miso ramen places, but not a lot of good tonkotsu ramen places. Fortunately, the town next over, Ami, knew of this problem and decided to spread the tonkotsu love. Today, I am going to be talking about Menya Kurogen.

Menya Kurogen

Menya Kurogen is a small ramen restaurant located in the Inashiki area of Ami Town. Since there are no train stations, I highly advise coming by car or bicycle. There is a bus stop on the main road of Route 125, but it is quite a walk from the restaurant.
The Ibaraki Eats Duo was in the mood for ramen one Monday evening. We were in Ami Town and decided to give this small ramen shop a chance. After turning into the ramen shop from Route 125, we parked our car in the back parking area and headed inside.

Inside

Menya Kurogen is a somewhat small ramen place but it can fit a good number of customers. You have your choice of sitting at the counter or a table. I believe this ramen shop can fit up to around twenty customers max.
My wife and I walked in Menya Kurogen and the first thing my wife said was "samui." This ramen shop runs its air conditioner at the highest setting. I love air conditioners but even I had to admit it was a bit cold. If you are coming to this place during the summer, bring a lap blanket. Before we headed to our table, we looked at the ticket vending machine right at the entrance of Menya Kurogen.

The Menu

Two things about the menu I am sure you already know from the picture above. First, it is all in Japanese. Second, it is all on the ticket vending machine. This menu has pictures of the different ramen you can select, so that helps out a lot. I will try to translate some of the menu:
From the top buttons:
Kurogen Ramen (Tonkotsu), Kurogen Negi Ramen, Kurogen Chashu Men, Tonkotsu Tsukemen.
Noko (Rich) Miso Ramen, Noko Negi Miso Ramen, Noko Miso Chashu Men, Noko Deluxe Ramen.
Chiyu (Chicken?) Shoyu Maze Soba, Chiyu Negi Ramen, Chiyu Chashu Men.
The other buttons are extra toppings and side plates like rice, chashu, gyoza, etc.

Kurogen Chashu Men (Tonkotsu)

This was Mrs. Ibaraki Eats' ramen and it looked divine. Look at how that delicious-looking chashu wraps around the edge of the bowl like it is inviting you into a world of ramen deliciousness. My wife looked at her ramen and couldn't wait to dig in. She slurped some noodles and gave it her famous thumbs up and "oishi" delicious cry. She let me have a taste and I automatically loved it. This IS a tonkotsu ramen. The noodles inside were thin and small which is usual for a tonkotsu ramen. It had that heavy broth taste which went well with those thin noodles. The soup was fantastic and the thin slices of chashu that went around the bowl were delicious. I got a spoon full of noodles, soup, and chashu and it was a tonkotsu dream come true. I loved every part of this ramen and was a bit jealous of my wife's selection. Then I looked at my deluxe ramen and didn't feel so jealous after all.

Noko Deluxe Ramen

Look at my ramen. Doesn't it look beautiful? The presentation of this ramen is exquisite. Like it belongs in the ramen Louvre. Look at how the chashu goes perfectly around the ramen bowl. I couldn't wait to dig in.
Unlike my wife's ramen that had thin noodles that go with tonkotsu ramen, my noodles were thicker. The thing that intrigued me about this ramen was that it is both tonkotsu and miso. That's right. This is a hybrid ramen. I got a spoonful of soup and gave it a try. It wasn't as thick as tonkotsu ramen but not light either. It was interesting. Even though I could taste the elements of tonkotsu in the soup, the miso part was more dominant. I then grabbed some chashu and noodles and got to slurping. This ramen was great. The noodles went well with the salty miso taste of the soup. The thin slices of chashu were incredible with the soup as well. They didn't have to be thick slices, the thin slices went into the soup like they were old friends reuniting for the first time in a long time. I loved this ramen and can't wait to have it again. But if I am being honest, I liked my wife's ramen even more. I am not unbaised here. As I stated before, I love tonkotsu ramen. Even though my ramen was delicious, I think my wife's ramen just had way more flavor to it.

MY wife and I were pretty full after we finished our ramen. We left the cold ramen restaurant and went about our evening with a fond memory of Menya Kurogen.

Menya Kurogen, you impressed me and I hope to visit you again for lunch soon. Especially for some tonkotsu chashu ramen.
So if you are looking for ramen around Ami Town and don't know where to get amazing tonkotsu ramen, why not give Menya Kurogen a chance? Who knows, you might see me there, enjoying that delicious tonkotsu chashu ramen while trying not to freeze to death.
Enjoy!

For more information on Menya Kurogen, check out their website:
https://kurogen.com/