Salt

Continuing my search for more good-eats around the neighborhood. I went to a Janpanese restaurant tonight. As it turns out, they're open late (until midnight). So, it works out pretty well for me if I miss on going to all the rest of the places around the area. Let's see ... for late night snack attacks ... I've got the Taqaria a block away, or the Japanese place about two blocks away. Then there's the pub for whatever it is that they offer ... knowledge such as these keeps my tummy full at all hours. :-)

I was really craving some noodle soup. I can go for pho, but didn't really feel like it. I ended up with a bowl of ramen. I think they call it chanwa or something. Anything with my name in it can't be all that bad, can it? For something extra to chew on, I asked them for a side order of California rolls.

The California Rolls turns out pretty good. They use real crab meat! Always a bonus point for doing that in my books.

The ramen was good. Chewy and with a slight bouncy texture. Very nicely done. The soup base was pork. It was creamy and has a rich pork flavor. Unfortunately, they put way too much salt in it for me to really enjoy it. The few pieces of pork floating around in the broth was tasty, but I would much rather that they trim off the chunks of fat that's still attached to the meat. The various pieces of fish cake has probably been in the broth way too long. I can't really taste their flavor. Maybe that's why the soup was so salty?

There was a guy who sat down next to me at the bar. He must be a regular there. The chef and other people who work there stops to talk with him for a while. He looked at what I ordered and asked him how it was. I told him that though it's tasty, it's too salty. His reply was a little puzzling. I'm still trying to figure out what it means. He said "salty good eh? gives you more POWER tomorrow! ... HAHAHAH! eh?" Strange guy. I just smiled, nodded and went back to my book.

I was talking about food that's salty with another friend earlier. He told the cook about his meal and the chef told him that it's to give the food a little more "zing".

How can one really enjoy the meal when it's so salty that it's almost bitter? Unless the cooks are all kind of too de-sensatized to really know what their food tastes like.

I am still searching for that elusive restaurant where I can honestly say that I've never had a bad meal at.