Experiencing Delicious Japanese Ramen using Naturally two-year aged brewed soy sauce at Kawagoe

Did you know that to produce soy sauce, you only need three ingredients? Just with soybeans, salt and wheat, you will be able to make it. We will be listing out the secrets behind Matsumoto soy sauce’s famous soy sauce. Unlike other producers that have been using machines to produce soy sauce, Matsumoto soy sauce has still maintained using the traditional method, with nature and human effort. Here are the steps to create their famous soy sauce:

Inside the store, we noticed that not only the regular soy sauce but they also sell other types of soy sauce. For example, the ‘Togarashi’ soy sauce with a spicier taste that is mostly bought by Thai visitors.

They also sell the 1year soy sauce, 2years soy sauce, and even raw soy sauce that have different tastes. Besides soy sauces, they also sell miso, Japanese alcohol, and even other types of pickled vegetables. They actually self-produced the miso they are selling. Miso actually requires the same ingredients like soy sauce, just the ratios are different. Miso uses lesser water and time to produce than soy sauce. We found the soy sauce flavored ice cream they are selling quite interesting. You can taste the original ‘Hatsukari Shoyu Kouji’ flavored ice cream for only 350 Japanese Yen.

Right in front of the Matsumoto soy sauce, there is a ramen store, called the Underground Ramen. It was quite a small restaurant with only 7 seats available from which we can see the owner preparing the meal right in front of us. The store is popular with its Shoyu ramen. The owner mentioned that the ingredients he currently uses such as the dried fish and dried vegetables are bought from the cooperation of the local community, including the soy sauce. As the store is located right in front of the Matsumoto Shoyu factory, he has been using the soy sauce from them for two years. As we actually visited the soy sauce factory, we began to get curious to find out how special the soy sauces are and whether they actually taste good in ramen as we normally associate soy sauce with sushi at least here, in Japan. When compared with other soy sauce, Matsumoto’s one gives out stronger and deepen tastes and scent, hence, with only a little amount, you can taste them alright, said the owner.

Underground ramen actually has been part of the Ganja ramen chain for a long time. Hence, they have multiple stores across Japan. The Kawagoe branch that we visited has been there for two years. We actually got curious as to whether they named the store as ‘Underground Ramen’ where the actual location of the store is not underground. The owner mentioned that at first, the store wasn’t doing so well despite the strategic location, making it seems to be located deep down, underground. He has been using the name since then. For a ramen store, three crucial aspects sell them out. The noodle, the soup, and the toppings. For underground ramen, they actually have been using fish-based broth that is combined with other ingredients to give a more refreshing aftertaste. They normally sold out 70-100 bowls of ramen daily. We strongly suggest you not visit them during peak time, from 12 to 2 as you are more likely to have to wait long. Unlike many other restaurants that have been severely impacted by the Corona pandemic, Underground Ramen has stayed still. Sales are not greatly impacted by both lunch and dinner time.

We personally asked the owner for recommendations to foreigners who might be interested to visit the restaurant. He said that typically, Chinese and American foreigners enjoy their Shoyu Ramen, hence, he suggests potential foreigners try it out! We actually tried the famous Shoyu Ramen and agree with his opinion. The Shoyu Ramen actually comes with mild-flavored broth, thin noodles, two pieces of Chashu (Japanese thinly sliced braised pork belly), bamboo shoots, seaweed sheet topped with green onion.