Chiranai Sakura in Okachimachi (チラナイサクラ)

Hi, and welcome to my first ramen post!  I thought long and hard about which place would be my first post and finally decided on Chiranai Sakura in Okachimachi which is right next to Ueno.  Chiranai Sakura translated into English roughly means everlasting cherry blossom.  Now this shop, in the past has been known for its all female staff dressed in yukata (a casual form of kimono), which is why the name is as it is.  When I went there this time there were a couple of guys working too, but also some ladies dressed in yukata.

Once you get to Okachimachi (which is on the Yamanote line)just punch Chiranai Sakura into your google maps and it will be easy to find.  It is only 2 minutes from the station.

Yep, I went there at night.  Not too busy.  The inside is interestingly decorated.

Sorry, I didn't take a photo of the ticket machine, but the machine has photos and the one that I went for was on the far right of the top row of the ticket machine.  There are also different condiments to add to your ramen and gyoza if you choose to order that too..

After a short wait, it arrived and what a thing of beauty it was!  It was a warm and quite humid evening and as I started eating a rivulet of sweat ran quickly down my forehead and into the soup before I could stop it!  I was hoping that it didn't affect the flavour profile too much.....

The charsui (pork) was all meaty with no fat and tasted great.  The soup is a shoyu (soy sauce) base and all of those little black specks, black pepper.  Now, if you area fan of black pepper(as I am) this is a bowl that you will love.  There is an strong black pepper flavour to the soup that just sets it apart from other shoyu ramen.  I usually don't go for shoyu ramen, but this is an absolute exception!!.

The noodles were almost like an al dente spaghetti!  

They must use a different kind of wheat to make the noodles compared the the regular kind.



After the noodles were gone, it was down to the soup, spring onions and menma (bamboo shoots).

The bamboo shoots were cut thin and were medium firm (just the way I like them) and the spring onions were medium firm and had a nice sweet crunchiness to them.

Now I don't usually drink all of the soup (due to high blood pressure) but this one deserved finishing.

Look at that black pepper!!

Job done, first bowl finished! If you have any recommendations, please leave a message!

See you next time!

Google map link here.

https://goo.gl/maps/Tw2zCVeKVgJ2