The Mien of Kagoshima

Shoutout to comfort indomee at home, which I am blessed to find here at Kagoshima.

Over the course of my work, I do a lot of translation for Kagoshima’s prefectural produce. These include the famous sweet potatoes—the alternative name “satsuma” in English refers to the satsuma imo (薩摩芋) that comes from the Satsuma area in Kagoshima—and shōchū (焼酎 distilled sweet potato liquor). Tubers aside, Kagoshima also has Wagyu Black (黒毛和牛 kuroge wagyu), kurobuta (黒豚 black pork), chicken sashimi, and many other delicacies.

But while tasting a region’s specialties is important, one thing I’ve learnt from primary school science lessons (the only thing, really) is that you need to maintain a constant variable for comparison. If you want to know the mien of Kagoshima, relative to say Tokyo, for example, you have to establish some consistency across your experiment. For this article, I’ve chosen the ubiquitous food that everyone craves: noodles. I am sending you noods.

Menya Kyujiro (麺や久二郎)

(Image credit: Jia Han)

For those who don’t know, the Jiro style of ramen is a dieter’s nightmare. It is characterised by a mountain of thick, springy noodles, and an extremely flavourful (also sodium-rich) soup, swimming with pieces of pork fat. The chashu (pork belly) pieces come in thick slabs that resemble small steaks. Jiro ramen shops will also allow you to specify your garlic and vegetable amount, which can range from a decent serving (smaller portion) to a teetering mountain above your bowl.

Ramen Jiro was first introduced to me by my foodie friend (shoutout to Shaun), and we’ve hunted it down ever since, including to the original branch in Tokyo. I was pleasantly surprised to find Kagoshima’s version very close to the original in Tokyo.

From my experience at a couple of branches, Jiro customers are almost exclusively male, and either teenagers in the height of eating-puberty or big burly men in work clothes. In my picture is a normal portion of noodles and vegetables, and the bean sprouts have already reached a respectable hill. Even when I was starving, I was hard-pressed to put it away. Eat at your own risk.

Menya Kyujiro (麺や久二郎)
Address: 21-33, Chūō-chō, Kagoshima, 890-0053
Nearest station: Miyakodori Tram Stop (都通) (do note that trams in Kagoshima do not accept IC cards)
Opening hours: 11:30am–2pm, 6pm–10pm (daily)

Vagabond Ramen (麺歩 バガボンド)

(Image credit: Jia Han)

Vagabond Ramen is a very popular place with locals. I’ve eaten my fair share of ramen over many trips and my current tenure in Japan, and its broth is really something special. It is an addictive blend of oils and stock that makes you keep coming back for more. When I pass by on my bicycle every morning, they are in food-prep hour, and the smell of the stock makes me seriously consider not cooking dinner that day. Every single time.

For me, the broth can even get too flavourful, especially in ramen. Which is why I prefer to go for tsukemen (つけ麺 dipping noodles). Tsukemen gives you a broth so concentrated it almost has the consistency of sauce. Your noodles are served separately, and you might be asked if you prefer them chilled or hot. You eat by placing the soup/sauce bowl nearer to you, and then taking a chopsticks’ worth of noodles and dipping it on the way to your mouth.

When you’re done with the noodles, you can ask for sūpu wari (スープ割 soup refill). What they will do is to take your remaining soup and top it up to the brim with the noodle water, diluting it to a delicious drinkable taste. Some places take it a step further, and cook up their own special supu wari, which might feature zestier flavours like yuzu.

Vagabond Ramen gives you a choice of noodle portion for free, at nami (並 regular), chū (中 medium), and dai (大 large). It is very crowded on weekday afternoons.

Vagabond Ramen (麺歩 バガボンド)
Address: 12-27, Yamashita-chō, Kagoshima, 892-0816
Nearest station: Shiyakusho-Mae Tram Stop (市役所前) (do note that trams in Kagoshima do not accept IC cards)
Opening hours: 11:15am–3pm, 5pm–9pm (Closed on Sunday dinner and whole of Monday)

Buta no Mure (豚の群)

(Image credit: Jia Han)

A colleague pointed out this place to me, and told me verbatim: “It’s delicious. But not very clean. But delicious. But dirty.” All Singaporeans know the sublime quality of food that can come out from hawker stalls that have hygiene ratings of B and even C, and so I wasn’t put off. The floor was indeed sticky, and the air equally greasy. Blackened walls and dirty pots, but the tables and chairs were clean enough.

Buta no Mure mainly sells tantanmen (担々麺 Dandan noodles), a dish that originated from China. Japan as a whole has taken a liking to it, and you can find tantanmen very easily throughout Japan as well. While most places in Japan still serve it soupy, like the original dish, Buta no Mure’s take on it is closer to a dry dish. The dish was beautifully plated and presented, and the spicy, nutty taste of the sauce was absolutely delicious. I added a portion of chashu, a real hit both in terms of flavour and melt-in-your-mouth texture. I highly recommend it.

The tantanmen here comes with a spice rating of 1–5, and then Demon 1–3. I went with the ordinary 3 rating, which had a bit of spice kick for a Singaporean on the weak side of spice. Japanese people are generally not good with spiciness, and the store recommendation is 0 or 1, and 2 for the adventurous.

Buta no Mure (豚の群)
Address: 9-34, Yamashita-chō, Kagoshima, 892-0816
Nearest station: Asahidori Tram Stop (朝日通) (do note that trams in Kagoshima do not accept IC cards)
Opening hours: 11.30am–2.30pm, 7pm–9pm (daily)

Food is universal—the ultimate constant variable. For me, in this time of crisis, it has been a comfort and pleasure that still remains.

Header image credit: Jia Han