That's Some Good Tomato Ramen

Hey everyone!
Today, I am talking about delicious ramen. Not just any old regular ramen. Italian-style tomato ramen. This place makes tomato ramen, tomato tsukemen, and a bunch of other interesting tomato-style ramen. The Ibaraki Eats Duo visited this place last January, and we were stunned by how delicious tomato ramen can be. This post is about Tsukuba's own Mendo Senri.

Mendo Senri

Mendo Senri is a ramen restaurant located in the Azuma area of Tsukuba. This ramen place is pretty new and seems to be getting popular. The Ibaraki Eats Duo decided to check out Mendo Senri on a Tuesday evening last January. Mendo Senri is located in the middle of a neighborhood, next to a Thai place. If you come by car, the restaurant has a few parking spaces at the front. Luckily, we were able to grab a spot and park our car right at the front entrance. We walked in and looked around.

Inside

When we walked inside Mendo Senri, the first thing we saw was the ticket vending machine that ramen restaurants usually have. Once we made our choices and got our tickets, the staff told us to sit anywhere there was an open seat.
Mendo Senri is pretty big for a ramen restaurant. There are a bunch of tables and chairs around the restaurant. Toward the left side, there is a counter area that seats up to five customers. All in all, I think Mendo Sneri can fit up to around 15 customers or more.
We gave our tickets to the wait staff and waited for our tomato ramen.

The Menu

Just like most ramen places, the menu is on the ticket vending machine. There are a lot of options. There are ramen options, drinks, extra toppings, and side dishes. Again, like most ramen restaurants. Instead of going into all the options, I will let you know of the main options. All of the menu is in Japanese, but I'll translate the main options.
At the top of the picture, the first ramen is regular tomato ramen, next to that is the spicy tomato ramen, below the tomato ramen is a special maze soba with a bunch of interesting sauces that come with it (I plan to try this one next time), next to that is tomato tantan noodles, and finally the beef tendon maze soba.
There are other special options like the tomato tsukemen, curry tomato ramen, special rice bowls, kaedama (extra noodles), and more!
Everything sounded great, Mrs. Ibaraki Eats, and I ordered our ramen and waited.

Tomato Curry Ramen

The first ramen to arrive at our table was my wife's tomato curry ramen. I have had tomato curry before; in fact, it is a fan favorite at the Tsuchiura Curry Festival. Even though I have tried tomato curry before and found it to be OK, I have never had tomato curry ramen before. I was not sure what I was in for.
The ramen brought thin slices of chicken, a thin slice of chashu, a big slice of tomato, and some shredded cheese. My wife slurped the soup first and gave it her well-known thumbs-up. She let me try the soup next, and I was hesitant. No way can curry tomato be made into a delicious ramen, I thought. But after my first slurp, I had a face of amazement that my wife noticed. Yes, you can make an amazing tomato curry ramen. I loved how neither the tomato nor the curry flavor overtook the other. It was an easy-to-drink soup that brought the two flavors together in perfect harmony. It was not spicy at all, but it had a sort of kick to it, like after you had had a strong-flavored tomato sauce. The cheese and chicken were great, and the slice of tomato just melted in your mouth once you put it on your tongue. The noodles were delicious, but I have to admit that my noodles were way better.

Tomato Tsukemen

This was my order: the Tomato Tsukemen. The tomato tsukemen brings everything that my wife's ramen brought, minus the cheese. The tsukemen looked great, and I could not wait to dip my noodles in. When I slurped those noodles, the first thing I realized was that the soup was extremely creamy and delicious. It reminded me of pink sauce or cream tomato sauce that usually goes with pasta when you want the strong tomato flavor to die down. Don't get me wrong, there was still a tomato flavor in the soup, but it wasn't as strong as my wife's ramen. The noodles and the soup went perfectly together. The noodles were just the right size to soak in all that tasty tomato ramen. The slice of tomato also melted in my mouth when I tried it. The chicken was OK, but I thought it went better with my wife's ramen. The chashu was fantastic. Very soft and meaty, it was a nice treat with this delicious tsukemen. I would love to have this tsukemen again the next time we visit Mendo Senri.

Kaedama Prosciutto and Cream Noodles

Once we were done with our ramen, we decided to have some more noodles. We ordered kaedama, which is extra noodles, that brought Parmesan cheese, prosciutto, and a white pasta cream. The noodles were great, the pasta sauce was delicious, and the prosciutto was fresh and tasty. It was a great end to our ramen meal. Even though the kaedama was tasty, our ramen was the main star of the show. They were the most delicious part of our tomato ramen adventure.

Once we were done, we thanked the staff for a great meal and interesting experience, and then headed home. Our tomato curry ramen and tomato tsukemen were fantastic. We hope we can visit Mendo Senri again soon and try some of their other menu items. I am looking forward to that triple sauce maze soba!

So if you are around the Azuma area of Tsukuba and are in the mood for a different type of delicious ramen, why not give Mendo Senri a chance? Who knows? You might see us there. Enjoying some tomato ramen and that triple sauce maze soba.
Enjoy!

For more information on Mendo Senri, check out their Instagram page:
https://www.instagram.com/mendo_senri/?hl=en