After hearing so much about the weird and wonderful cheese ramen, I finally screwed up the courage to try it. The venue for this little piece of ramen exotica was 九十九ラーメン (tsukumo ramen) in Hiroo, about 5-10 minutes walk from Ebisu station.
What can I say? Despite my initial skepticism, I've definitely been converted into one of the cheezy ramen believers. The noodle itself isn't really that great ... I ordered the noodles to be done katame (basically the Japanese equivalent of 'al dente'), but it was nothing but adequate, nothing you couldn't get out of a good packet of instant noodles. But* the cheese, oh my god, the cheese! They grind a massive amount of cheese into a bowl of miso ramen, and it is delicious!
I loved it. Only problem was it was so filling that I was really struggling to finish it towards the end. First two thirds of it, I was happy as a pig in a poke, and the last third? Let's just say that it was a hot day, I was drenched in sweat, and I was praying for the end of the bowl so I could say ご馳走様です (gochisousamadesu)! (Literally, ご馳走様です means "it was an honourable feast", which is what the Japanese say to thank people after they have been fed a good meal.)
By the way, they have instructions in Japanese for how to eat the cheese ramen. Apparently, you're suppose to let the hot soup melt the cheese, and then eat the cheesy soupy mess altogether.
* yes, I know I'm not supposed to use 'but' at the start of the sentence, but in this case, I feel totally justified because it is a deliberate juxtaposition that clearly needs to be emphasized.
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