Mamezen Soba: Soymilk Ramen

Mamezen is the creation of a young Kyoto chef named Minoru Yonegawa. His family owns a very nice yudofu (simmered tofu hotpot) restaurant in Kyoto called Toka. Toka make their yudofu in a soymilk-based broth, which is very unusual, creating a very ‘Kyoto’ luxurious and rich broth with which to simmer your tofu in.

Chef Yonegawa worked at his family’s restaurant for several years and noticed that local Kyotoites really don’t come to yudofu restaurants, even if you make your broth with soymilk! He wanted to serve food that was in keeping with his roots, being based on soy but also something that would appeal to Kyoto people. Of course travelers are welcome too. While he had never seen or heard of tonyu (soymilk) ramen, he thought that he ought to be able to pull it off and that Kyoto people would like to eat it regularly. He was right, he started out serving it privately just to friends and then soon realized that he had to open his own restaurant!

Mamezen Soba: Soymilk Ramen - detail

Mamezen Soba: Yuba Donburi - detail

Developing Soymilk Ramen Recipe
When Chef Yonegawa was developing his soymilk ramen recipe his wife was pregnant with their first child and the recipe is quite informed by that time in their life.

Japanese ramen is usually very salty and very high in calories. It is often said that you should not drink the soup after you finish the noodles. Children, pregnant women and elderly are told not to eat ramen as it is really not very healthy and their bodies cannot take the extremes of the dish. Mamezen Soba, on the other hand is made with a deeply flavored but gentle Kyoto dashi broth and rich, healthy soymilk, so drink it up!

Mamezen Soba: Ramen or Soba?
Ramen comes from the Chinese, la mian. Soba is an indigenous Japanese word. Originally, in Japan ramen was called chuka soba, lit. Chinese noodle. Today, ramen is the most common term for this dish in Japan, but chuka soba is still quite common. Ramen and chuka soba are the same dish.

I have only been to Mamezen for lunch but they do offer a dinner menu that includes the Mamezen Soba dishes and a limited number of soy-based a la carte yummies as well and quite a good selection of Japanese beer, shochu and sake, among others. Refreshing Chinese tencha is served. Tencha is the Japanese name for this tea which is made from rose buds. It has a subtle sweetness but is only very slightly flowery.

I ordered the set lunch that includes Mamezen Soba and a donburi of yuba and ankake over rice. The donburi was quite good and unlike the kumiage yuba donburi that I am familiar with.

Mamezen Soba: Soymilk Ramen - detail

Mamezen Soba: Yuba Donburi

How Did Mamezen Soba Taste?
Very good! I hadn’t been to Mamezen for quite awhile, about a year, and realized that I would be going there more often now.

Soup: This being Kyoto, we must be dashi crazed and Mamezen is right on target. Chef Yonegawa starts by making a very rich katsuo dashi broth and then adds soymilk and simmers it down until it is thick, rich and silky. It is a very unique soup for Kyoto. I recall the soup being lighter in flavor previously. I asked the boss about it. He said that he might be simmering it longer as it thickens up the taste and density. If you like your soup stronger and richer, just ask for ‘koime’. The overall taste and feel of the soup is wonderful, I can’t think of a dish that combines the rich and pungent (dashi) with silky smooth (soymilk).

Noodles: The noodles used are very thin, something like angelhair pasta. They contain egg but I couldn’t really taste that. Personally, I am not really into thin noodles, I like them thicker and meatier. Chef Yonegawa’s choice of thin noodles is to be subtle and delicate, like Kyoto. Though not my fav, I have to agree with his choice. He might offer customers a choice to thick or thin.

Garnish: The dish is garnished with scallions, nama yuba, simmered shiitake and a bit of umeboshi. In the winter and spring, when nanohana (rape blossom) is in season, Chef Yonegawa uses it too.

Donburi: The donburi rice bowl was very interesting because it features a thick ankake sauce that is made with, you guessed it, Kyoto dashi and starch for thickening. Several sheets of namayuba is layed on top of the rice and then it is smothered in ankake with some ground fresh ginger on top.

This was a very interesting take on yuba donburi for me, which I liked very much. However, I like kumiage yuba donburi perhaps a little better. I would love to see how Chef Yonegawa would do that dish.

Veg or Vegan: The dish does use katsuo (bonito), that’s a fish, in the dashi. The noodles contain eggs. By request the dashi can be made without katsuo. Of course the egg cannot be removed from the noodles.

Do Not Miss: I have added Mamezen Soba to my Do Not Miss list in Kyoto. Rich and pungent (dashi) and silky smooth (soymilk) is something not to be missed! However, I do have a caveat. It might be a bit too ‘Zen master’ for those who are not really into Japanese and soy cuisine. The restaurant is a bit out of the way and if you really just want a delicious, but more ‘meaty’ ramen, you would probably be more satisfied with the restaurants on our Great Ramen Shops in Kyoto list. If you are sure you are into the kind of taste described here, by all means, make the trip to Shimogamo! (Twenty to thirty minutes from the city center by bus.) Also, the restaurant is closed often, call first to confirm that they are open when you plan to go.

Mamezen Interior - Counter

Chef Yonegawa, also a Shakuhachi Bamboo Flute Master

Some headgear there! It makes Devo look uninventive. His flute master name is 菊水流尺八道準師範米川翠月. That is a long name indeed! And, many Japanese probably can’t read it.

Owner Chef Yonegawa at the Mamezen Gate

Me at Work on a Sunday Afternoon

Mamezen is located in the historic Shimogamo neighborhood of Kyoto, a bit north-east of the UNESCO World Heritage Site, Shimogamo Shrine. Mamezen is a very small and personable restaurant. Owner chef Yonegawa is a really, really nice guy. His wife helps run the restaurant and his two beautiful young children poke their heads in regularly. In addition to being a chef, Yonegawa is also a bit of a Zen master and is a master of the Japanese shakuhachi bamboo flute.

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Mamezen in English
English Menu: yes
English Website: none
Service: Warm-hearted and friendly
Price: 1,000-1,500 yen
Hours:
lunch: 11:30-3:00 pm (2:30 pm last order)
dinner: 7:30-11:00 pm (10:30 pm last order)
closed: Wed, Thurs and some other days (Zen master chef isn’t a salary man), call the mobile number listed below before you go.
Location and Access: Shimogamo neighborhood. Best accessed by bus, taxi, bicycle or on foot. Nearest bus stop is on Kitaoji Street.
Address: Kyoto-shi, Sakyo-ku, Shimogamo, Higashi Takagi-cho 13-4 (京都市左京区下鴨東高木町13-4)
Telephone: 075-703-5731
Mobile: 090-1153-5297
Near Sightseeing Spot: Kamigamo and Shimogamo Shrines, both UNESCO World Heritage Sites. These shrines are older than even the ancient capital!

Map

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Today, while passing through Demachiyanagi, there wasn’t usual huge line at Demachi Futaba Mochi Store, so I peeked in and noticed that in addition to the usual line-up of mame-mochi (mochi with whole beans) they had kuromame daifuku, mochi made with black beans from Tamba, in rural Kyoto prefecture. The recently harvested kuromame are gigantic and of course tasty.

Beans in Mochi
Demachi Futaba is a very famous shinise mochi shop in the Masugata Shotengai shopping arcade in the Demachiyanagi neighborhood. There are usually very long lines for their famous mame mochi.

Demachi Futaba’s mame-mochi is known for the softness and quality of it’s mochi and the interesting contrast of sweet azuki bean paste filling and the light saltiness of the beans impregnating the outer mochi layer.

Kuromame Daifuku: Served

Azuki and Anko
Anko, or azuki bean paste, I don’t usually like because it usually just too sweet. Cheap mochi invariably contains anko that is too sweet. Demachi Futaba, in addition to selling their name, uses excellent quality mochi and the anko isn’t too sweet. One mame-mochi or daifuku costs about 150-180 yen, which is a bit more than what is available in supermarkets, but a few pieces of the good stuff ought not to break a traveler’s budget. Even with green tea from a vending machine, enjoying on the nearby riverbank, a few pieces of mame-mochi makes for a nice snack.

We reviewed Demachi Futaba in this article early last summer and introduced their mame-mochi. At first glance, they might look the same, but tamba kuromame beans, which are black, are much, much larger than the regular beans, which are dark brown.

How Did it Taste?
Demachi Futaba’s kuromame seemed more sweet than salty. The taste is big, earthy and rich, the sweetness is subtle and complex and had a slight maple-like syrupiness. I don’t recall ever having mame-mochi that tasted like that.

Kuromame Daifuku

Kuromame Daifuku: Served

For Comparison: ‘Regular’ Mame Mochi

This image is from Mame-mochi and Kuzu-manju, our article we did last summer.

Kuromame Daifuku: Cross Section

Demachiyanagi Neighborhood
Demachiyanagi is the jump-off point if you are going up to Kurama, Kibune, Hanase and probably Ohara. If you are heading up that direction, you will probably change trains at Demachiyanagi, so this is a good opportunity to purchase some yummies to take up to the mountains with you. Also, if you are going to the Imperial Palace, Demachi Futaba is less than a 10 minute walk from the north-east side of the palace grounds.

If you are looking for a place to live in Kyoto, the Demachiyanagi neighborhood is a great place. This is north Kyoto and is considered the nicest part of the city, the mountains are always in sight and historic shines and temples abound, including a number of UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Demachiyanagi is right next to the Kamo River and not too far from Higashiyma (the East Mountains) and the Imperial Palace grounds, so there is plenty of green space nearby. There are several universities in neighborhood so there are plenty of reasonably priced apartments and restaurants. The Demachuyanagi shopping arcade has about 35 shops and two grocery stores that are among the cheapest in Kyoto. Demachiyanagi is just a 10 minute bicycle ride from the center of the city.

English and Access

English menu: No and N/A, just point to what you want in the showcase
Service/Staff: so-so (typical Kyoto shinise service)
Hours: 8:30am-5:30pm, closed Tuesdays and 4th Wednesday of every month

Location and Access: Demachi Futaba is located on the west side of the Kamo River about a 3 minute walk from Keihan Demachiyanagi Station and Eizan Demachiyanagi Station. The store is facing Kawaramachi Street, just north of the Kawaramachi-Imadegawa intersection. Demachi Futaba is just south of the entrance to the shopping arcade.
Address
: Kyoto-shi, Kamigyo-ku, Kawaramachi-dori, Imadegawa-agaru, Seiryu-cho 236 (京都市上京区河原町通今出川上る青龍町236)
Telephone:  075-231-1658

Near sightseeing Spot: Demachi Futaba is near the Kamo River, Shimogamo Shrine, Kyoto Gosho Imperial Palace and Shokokuji Temple. The Masugata Shotengai shopping arcade, just around the corner is also quite interesting.

Map

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Yoshimi Tanigawa is an inspired master of Kyoto cuisine who has dedicated his life to food as an art and near spiritual experience. He teaches his students both taste and discipline. He creates pure Kyoto cuisine, without the excessive decoration that has been added in recent decades. At Tanigawa’s Kichisen, in addition to one of the greats meals of a lifetime, patrons are able to get reacquainted with authentic Kyoto cuisine. Tanigawa’s cuisine is unsurpassed Kyoto Kaiseki that draws on the four genres of Kyoto Cuisine; Yusoku Ryori (court cuisine), Kaiseki Ryori (tea ceremony cuisine), Shojin Ryori (temple food) and Obanzai (household food). If you are going to be in Kyoto and you like fine dining, make a reservation at Kichisen.

Yoshimi Tanigawa
We been trying to we had been trying to interview him for about 6 months. We had exchanged telephone calls, faxes and had some 5 meetings but could never close the deal. Finally when I went to return a book that we had borrowed from him he suddenly said that we ought to do an article on his Osechi Ryori. This is it!

Over the past few weeks I have spent some time at Kichisen getting to know Tanigawa. He has given us radishes, new rice, squid and some invaluable pointers on how to make excellent tsukemono, shiokara and dashi. Though Kichisen was reviewed in the New York Times 20 years ago and defeated Masaharu Morimoto on the Iron Chef television program in 1999, it is a real honor to have to opportunity to tell the English speaking world a bit more about this remarkable, dedicated and inspiring person.

Ikamaryu Shikibocho (Court Knife Ceremony) Master

Humble Beginnings in Rural Hyogo
Tanigawa grew up in rural Hyogo Prefecture, near Kobe. He lost his father when he was 4 years old and this painful experience caused him think deeply about life and become interested in religion.

His mother was often in poor health and from the time he was 9, he cooked for his mother and older brother. While the young Tanigawa had meager resources to make a bento lunchbox with, he had pride and did not want he or his brother to appear poor at school. Over a weed fire, he experimented and perfected techniques adding water and flour to eggs, appearing to have an overflowing bento box, unmatched in the school lunchroom. Tanigawa’s ambition and inventiveness was starting to develop.

Change of Plans
Since junior high school Tanigawa had intended to become a primary school teacher. This was the time that socially and culturally Japan really began to change, he sensed that many people would loose their way and wanted to be a teacher so that he could lead children in the right direction and help them find their way.

Tanigawa set his mind on going to a certain high school known for producing excellent teacher but much to his dismay he wan unable to enter this school. It was the only school that he wanted to go to and as he was able, he decided not to go to high school at all.

Ikamaryu Shikibocho (Court Knife Ceremony) Master

Arrival in Kyoto, Entering the Culinary World
At age 15 Tanigawa arrived in Kyoto. His older brother was working at a sushi restaurant in the city and arranged work at an average restaurant for the younger Tanigawa. Tanigawa said that even at a young age he knew that he was ambitious and always had the desire master what he was learning. He worked his way up and in several years was working in one of Gion’s finest restaurants under renowned master chef Toraichi Takibata.

Learned from the Master: Sunao
While under Takibata’s instruction, Tanigawa mastered the other traditional arts related to cuisine; flower arrangement, the tea ceremony and calligraphy. Tanigawa said that from his master he learned the importance of integrity and straightforwardness towards his cuisine, the customer and himself. (素直な料理、素直な味、素直な人間)

The word he uses, sunao (素直), is difficult to translate literally into English in this case. Some of the applicable meanings in the dictionary are: gentle, mild, obedient, frank. Tanigawa’s cuisine and traditional Kyoto cuisine are sunao.

Ikamaryu Shikibocho (Court Knife Ceremony) Master

Kyoto Kaiseki Restaurant: Kichisen
At age 31, Tanigawa built is own restaurant on Shimogamo Hondori Street, on the south-west side of Shimogamo Shrine. Shimogamo Shrine is a UNESCO World Heritage site and is older than Kyoto.

Kichisen Gate

Kichisen Entry: Master Tanigawa and Kyosaku ‘Encouragement Stick’

Notice the inscribed wooden slat on the wall, it is inscribed by the high priest at Jukoin, a sub-temple at Daitoku Temple. The inscription is called zengo, literally, ‘Zen word’ is a poem. This poem was composed specifically for Kichisen. The ‘encouragement stick’ is used to lightly hit drowsy meditators on the shoulder during Zen meditation sessions. The kyosaku, also known as keisaku, shall we say sets the tone for Tanigawa’s students.

Zen Kyosaku – detail

Signature of Zen master.

Kichisen ‘Sign’

Modesty

Kichisen Interior

Alcove with Ikebana

Dining Room

Large Dining Room

Kichisen Neighborhood: Shimogamo Shrine

Kichisen Surroundings: Shimogamo Shrine Gate

Kichisen Surroundings: Shimogamo Shrine and Tadasu Forest

Links

Iron Chef – Battle Pike Eel (1 of 5)
Iron Chef – Battle Pike Eel (2 of 5)
Iron Chef – Battle Pike Eel (3 of 5)
Iron Chef – Battle Pike Eel (4 of 5)
Iron Chef – Battle Pike Eel (5 of 5)

Demachi Futaba is one of Kyoto’s most popular shinise mochi shops, famous for tasty confections and long lines! It is common to see taxis waiting while tourists make a last minute purchase of Kyoto yummies before jumping on a bullet train and going back home. Backpacker tourists can often be seen down at the nearby Kamo River bank munching away on some seasonal mochi too.

Mame-mochi is Demachi Futaba’s undisputed favorite. It is a favorite of Kyoto residents and well known throughout Japan. It has big, black beans in soft, chewy mochi. Demachi Futaba’s mame-mochi is nadai (名代), or ‘famous’.

We picked up some mame-mochi and a summery kuzu-manju.

Kuzu
Kuzu-manju is a lightly sweetened gelatin made from the starch of the kuzu root and is filled with azuki paste, this all wrapped in a fresh tree leaf. (We think it is sakura, but are not positive.) Kuzu is well-loved by Japanese and the most sought after kuzu comes from Yoshino in Nara Prefecture, just next door to Kyoto.

Kuzu is appealing to Japanese sensibilities as a cool and refreshing summer treat because chilled, it looks ice-like and contains a lot of water. Things that not only are cool, but look cool, water or ice-like do the trick for Japanese, it seems.

Demachi Futaba is located in the Demachiyanagi neighborhood up on the north-east side of the Imperial Palace, next to the Kamo River. It is near Keihan Demachiyanagi Station. If you are heading up to Kurama and Kibune or Ohara and Yase, in the north mountains, this is a great place to pick up some shinise snacks to take a long. We have also reviewed several restaurants in the neighborhood that serve fine dinners.

Throughout the year, Demachi Futaba has a wide assortment of seasonal mochi treats, be sure to sample some of them in addition to the ‘nadai‘ mame-mochi. (And come back to KyotoFoodie and tell us what you thought!)

Demachi Futaba Package

Your order is nicely packaged and the blue sticker reads; “Nadai (famous product) mame-mochi Demachi Futaba”. And on the upper right; “Please eat today”.

Mame-mochi

Kuzu-manju

Cooling, light, summery and fresh.

Demachi Futaba Showcase

The showcase contains a variety yummies that changes throughout the year.

Demachi Futaba Shop

Production is done just behind the counter, in plain view and it is a beehive of activity. Demachi Futaba is far and away the busiest mochi shop I have seen in Kyoto.

Demachi Futaba Shop

It is not uncommon for their to be 30 or 40 customers waiting in line, especially in the late afternoon. (This photo was taken first thing in the morning.)

Demachi Futaba

This detailed Japanese language map is printed on the wrapping paper.

English and Access

English menu: No and N/A, just point to what you want in the showcase
Service/Staff: so-so (typical Kyoto shinise service)
Hours: 8:30am-5:30pm, closed Tuesdays and 4th Wednesday of every month

Location and Access: Demachi Futaba is located on the west side of the Kamo River about a 3 minute walk from Keihan Demachiyanagi Station and Eizan Demachiyanagi Station. The store is facing Kawaramachi Street, just north of the Kawaramachi-Imadegawa intersection. Demachi Futaba is just south of the entrance to the shopping arcade.
Address
: Kyoto-shi, Kamigyo-ku, Kawaramachi-dori, Imadegawa-agaru, Seiryu-cho 236 (京都市上京区河原町通今出川上る青龍町236)
Telephone: 075-231-1658

Near sightseeing Spot: Demachi Futaba is near the Kamo River, Shimogamo Shrine, Kyoto Gosho Imperial Palace and Shokokuji Temple. The Masugata Shotengai shopping arcade, just around the corner is also quite interesting.

Map

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