After my first day in Nagasaki eating its famous chanpon, my friends and I explored the city and tried various foods that it offered.
But in the end, of course, I had to try some proper ramen. Last year, I made an appearance on Japanese morning show Shittoko. Two other foreigners appeared with me advocating ramen in Japan, and the one living in Nagasaki introduced tonkotsu shop Menya Always.
Menya Always has a variety of rich pork ramen, but the strange and unique item that stood out was the lemon tonkotsu ramen, which is what I ordered.
What would have been a heavy porky mixture was made much lighter by the several lemon slices placed on the surface of the ramen. It seems like a strange combination, but citrus has worked well with ramen before, and I was surprised just how much the addition could turn a rich bowl into a light and drinkable one. The loads of onions on top added a bit of a sharpness to it. The noodles and chashu were by-the-numbers Hakata style, which means thin and firm for the noodles, and tender for the slice of pork.
Yes, this was strange and delicious.