No thanks. Not at Menya Hanabi.
Menya Hanabi is known for its mazesoba (Taiwan mazesoba), a soupless ramen topped with spicy minced meat, green onions, chives, seaweed, garlic, and egg yolk. I have actually never had (or even heard of) mazesoba until recently. While I do like trying new food and restaurants, it can get difficult finding places that serve something you didn’t even know existed, because you don’t know what you don’t know. I would have never thought to look up places that serve soupless ramen, but luckily, a friend told me about Menya Hanabi and I got to try it for the very first time!
Located in a plaza in Arcadia, there are a lot of parking spaces, but the restaurant itself is not too big. During regular lunch or dinner hours, the wait could take as long as 30-45 minutes! Luckily for us, we got there for a late lunch and the wait was only 15-20 minutes.
After getting seated, the next step is deciding what to order. Whenever I go to a new restaurant, I usually like to try something that’s more normal or basic if there are different variations of the same dish. It’s almost like how you would want to learn the basics before experimenting and adding your own personal touch to something. Between their mazesoba and rice bowls, I knew I wanted the mazesoba. With the menu clearly listing out the ingredients, it came down to making a choice between The Original Nagoya Mazesoba ($11.99) and the Chashu Nagoya Mazesoba ($13.99).
I could not resist the chashu. I went for the Chashu Nagoya Mazesoba, which has the same ingredients as the original, plus an additional two slices of chashu (sliced pork belly). For my egg, I chose a poached egg per my friend’s recommendation, and went for non-spicy so that I can try the mazesoba without the spiciness taking away from the flavor. I was excited.
The food was served beautifully in a bowl. The ingredients each had their own little territory, and the poached egg sat nicely in the middle of the spicy minced pork. My two pieces of chashu hung out on the side, and most importantly, under all this is my soupless ramen. Everything looked so organized I almost didn’t want to touch it and mess it up! The cook had put in the hard work to create this dish, and now it is my turn to do my part.
I grabbed my chopsticks and spoon, gently broke the poached egg, and mixed all the ingredients together with the noodles. The egg leaked all over and disappeared into the noodles. The spicy minced pork, fish powder, green onions, chives, seaweed, and garlic scattered, and I made sure to keep mixing until everything was evenly spread out. After a good 20 seconds of hard work, it is finally time to eat.
With my chopsticks holding the noodles over the spoon in case anything falls, I took a bite. Mmm…so yummy and flavorful! The texture of the noodles is perfect – not too soft and not too firm, just the way I like it. It may be soupless, but the noodles have its own sauce and aren’t exactly dry – if anything, I would describe it more like…wet noodles. It almost reminds me of the lo mein at Chinese restaurants (the one with a bit of sauce and isn’t fried dry)! With the egg mixed in, the noodles have a more creamy texture. The rest of the ingredients blended very well together and created an amazing (and so much) flavor. It’s actually kind of hard to describe the taste in your mouth…it’s just so flavorful and good. No wonder the restaurant describes their mazesoba as the ramen that “explodes with flavor”!
My chashu was patiently waiting for me. They were two thick slices, with a good fat to meat ratio. It was soft, not dry, and tasty. The bite of chashu was so satisfying as I chewed on the tender meat while the fat melted in my mouth. It was definitely a good decision to go for the chashu option. A great addition to my mazesoba!
The next step after trying the original flavor of the mazesoba is to add in some vinegar. After several bites of the noodles, I added some vinegar to it – another explosion of flavor. The vinegar brings in a sweet taste and enhances the flavor. It’s a very refreshing taste, and all I could say after trying it is, Mmm…I’m just completely speechless and living in this magical moment. I personally love vinegar, but if you’re not a fan, I would try adding it to just your bite first instead of your whole bowl! Whether you like vinegar or not, I’d definitely give it a try, because who knows? Maybe you’ll like the taste after all.
Will I finish my noodles and ingredients/sauce at the same time? That’s not something I need to worry about. With every bowl, you get a free bite-sized portion of rice to eat with the remaining food. Since my friend had told me this in the beginning, I actually saved one of my pieces of chashu for this rice (also because I really like eating meat with rice). I did have a good amount of ingredients and sauce left at the end, and it was just the perfect amount to go with the rice.
As you can see, it really is a small portion of rice. You are probably already pretty full from the noodles, but this rice just wraps it all up nicely. In my mind, there’s two ways to go about doing this – pour the rice into your bigger bowl or put your remaining food into the smaller bowl. My first instinct was to bring the food to the smaller bowl, because that’s just what I always do when I eat rice. You have your bowl of rice and then you grab the entrees that you want and bring it to your bowl to eat! However, after I started carefully scooping my food into my bowl of rice, I looked up and saw that my friends were doing the opposite – they were pouring their bowl of rice into the bigger bowl. I guess that makes more sense if you want to make sure you’re getting all of the remaining food and sauce in your bowl and mix it a bit, just like how you mixed the mazesoba. There doesn’t seem to be a right or wrong way to eat it, so just eat it how you’d like! Next time, I’ll pour my rice into the bigger bowl and see which way I like better.
A few bites of rice, and my meal is done. What an egg-cellent meal. From the flavorful noodles to the refreshing sweetness of vinegar, and finally, the rice for the finishing touch, I loved it all. The portions were good, and the meal leaves you with this really satisfying feeling of, I just had a great meal. Mazesoba has been added to my list of favorite foods!
Since my first time at Menya Hanabi, I have returned and tried it with their raw egg, but have yet to try out their spicy option and other variations! Menya Hanabi, I will be back!