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| Cheese Ramen: Miso-based soup with moyashi, corn, ajitsuke tamago, topped with a mound of minced pork and grated cheese |
How do you eat ramen? Which do you eat first, the noodles or the soup? According to a Japanese friend, either is fine, but tasting the soup first is highly recommended. Put some of the broth in the “renge” (a special spoon used for soups) and taste it. With your mouth still warm from the soup, grab some noodles with your chopsticks and give them a taste.
When eating the noodles, she said, don’t worry about slurping! It’s not a problem and is even encouraged! Taking in air while slurping up noodles into your mouth is good for eating ramen. This is called “susuru.” It’s a little difficult to master at first, but learn this technique, and you’ll be that much closer to the authentic Japanese way of eating ramen.
If you’ve eaten all the noodles and are still not full, empty out the bowl by drinking the rest of the soup. Then say “Gochisousamadeshita,” a traditional Japanese phrase said after meals.
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| Tantanmen: a spicy sesame broth |
Ramen is a Japanese noodle soup dish which is consist of Chinese-style wheat noodles served in a meat- or (occasionally) fish-based broth, often flavored with soy sauce or miso, and uses toppings such as sliced pork, dried seaweed, kamaboko, and green onions. Accordingly, every region in Japan has its own variation of ramen, from the tonkotsu (pork bone broth) ramen of Kyushu to the miso ramen of Hokkaido.
A lot of ramen restaurants have mushroomed across the country, mostly Japanese brands and franchises. Indeed, the popularity of ramen has grown among Filipinos, to the delight of franchisees, seeing profits in their cash registers.
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| Kogashi shoyu, an edgy new ramen from Tokyo |
When craving for authentic ramen, you don’t have to go far because there is a specialty ramen restaurant right in the heart of Quezon City.
Go-En Japanese Ramen Shoppe Plus is a little ramen shop in Sgt. Esguerra Ave. that offers its diner more than just traditionally made ramen. Go-En also offers the fun of playing Kendama toys and the pleasure of reading Japanese comics, Manga.
Tucked within Jardin de Zenaida compound, Go-En Ramen shouldn't be hard to locate, all you have to remember is that it located in the same area as the famous Livestock Restaurant.
Owned by Texas-born John Geron and his Filipina life and business partner Marilyn Pefianco, Go-En was named after Japanese five yen coin which is known to bring good luck. There is also another phonetically similar word Goen which means good luck in relationship often exchange by friends. With this, Go-En Ramen aims to establish a lucky relationship between them and their diners.
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| Go-En owners Marilyn Pefianco and John Geron |
Go-En interior is literally peppered with knick-knacks and decorations of Japanese culture as Kendama toys and Japanese comics (Manga) are displayed on the shelves affixed to the wall that diners may check out and purchased. Kendama is the Japanese version for yoyo. Go-En staff are knowledgeable about Kendama and they are willing to teach diners who show interest to it.
John and Marilyn are also distributor of Kendama toys in the country. The couple has more than 20 years of living and working experience in Japan. In 2011, after a powerful earthquake hit Japan, they decided to spread their endeavors beyond Japan and decided to open the ramen shop in Marilyn’s home country. Thus in 2012, Marilyn gathered menu recipes and personally trained her kitchen staff to prepare perfect Japanese ramen and the results are a variety of ramen not seen and offered in other restaurants. There are at least 12 ramen variety on display at Go-En menu cards.
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| Kendama and Manga comics display |
Aside from display of Kendama and Manga, the center of attraction at Go-En Ramen is the open kitchen where diners can freely watch the ramen chefs creating delicious magic in the kitchen.
Aside from ramen, Go-En offers authentic Japanese dishes, side dishes, desserts, drinks and cocktails.
Barely three years in the business, Go-En has maintained its reputation of making ramen the traditional way to ensure that it is close enough to the real thing one can get in Japan while not being pricey.
“Unlike many in the Japanese food industry here we have not changed the flavor and content of our food for the local population but have tried to find Japanese flavors that fit Filipino tastes while staying true to their Japanese origins,” Marilyn said.
She added that food should be as close to real Japanese taste using both local and imported items. “We choose to say our food is real than authentic. Real is out attempt to convey that our food is just like the food that you could expect to find during a trip to Japan.
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| The open kitchen of Go-En |
And having trained her staff well, the couple is confident enough to go out of the country to attend to other businesses. For one, they have maintained their Tokyo modeling agency and gourmet food import-export company.
Through the years, the business tandem has maintained the winning formula: Marilyn, who has a good grasp of accounting, is in-charge of the menu and the over-all preparation of the food and staff training; while John, with a background in international management, and is tech-savvy handles most of the non-food affair of the restaurant. But it is necessary that he is part of the official tasters of Marilyn's kitchen concoctions.
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