手打ちの麺が美味しく、見た目も、味も、なんだか元気が出る一杯。 : Safei Ran Shuu Gyuu Niku Men

The last day of the New Year holidays. I had to go to Ikebukuro for some business. Before that, I had to hurry up and have lunch in about 30 minutes. It was around 2:30 p.m. I felt a bit tired from the overeating and drinking during the New Year holidays. I thought I'd try a noodle dish with a gentle soup, so I went in. Just by stepping inside the restaurant, the unique spice smell of a mainland Chinese Cuisine restaurant hits your nose, but before you know it, you're used to it. However, the smell does stick to your clothes quite a bit (^_^;) This is my second visit, but I ordered exactly the same as last time. I ordered draft beer and Lanzhou beef noodles. I waited a little while while drinking a well-chilled draft beer, and the beef noodles arrived. The whole surface was green and red, which gave me energy♪ There was more green and red than the one I had before, and it was more colorful. It looked delicious♪ First, I took a sip of the clear soup without breaking down the bright red chili oil. The unique spices gave it a Medicinal Food flavor. But it was rich and salty, and I really wanted a soup that was gentle on my stomach today, so I could have eaten it by itself. Actually, I had completely forgotten that the noodles had so much chili oil in them (^o^;) When I drank the soup, which had naturally turned red from the chili oil, it was definitely delicious in its own way. The green chopped garlic leaves and coriander covered the soup, which gave it a really good punch. There were several types of noodles, but I ordered the second thinnest, "Nisohoshi", because it would be a problem if they were too thin or too thick. They were hand-pulled and irregular in thickness, but they were very delicious. Like soki soba? Like udon? I like the "Nisohoshi" noodles like that, but this time I wanted to try the thinnest. On the other hand, it seems that there are also thicker, flatter noodles, which seem difficult to eat (^o^;) When all the chili oil was mixed in, it was quite salty and I couldn't drink all the soup, but it was delicious and I ate it all (^^) The soup only felt mild at the beginning, but it was quite a punchy bowl. It gave me energy! Yeah, it's nice once in a while♪ I'll come again!

池袋西口の新しいラーメン屋さんを目指すも行列がすごくて、あとの予定時間に遅れてしまうので、すぐ近くにある「楊3号店」を覗いてみたら休み。
迷っている時間はないので、前から気になっていたこちらへ入ってみることに。

もう一歩足を踏み入れるだけで、店内は日本離れした雰囲気と独特な大陸中華店の香辛料の匂い。
半分くらい席が埋まっており、見る限り、店員さんを含め日本人は私だけのよう。
でも何でしょう、別に居心地悪いわけでもなく、逆にこの放置感がラクでもあります。
店員さんはけっこう日本語もお上手なので、オーダーやお会計もスムーズでした。

あまり時間が無かったのでじっくりは見ていませんが、見慣れない料理も色々あったりで、お客さんの大半が本場の中国人だというのも頷けます。きっと味も本場に近いのではないでしょうか。
私は以下を注文。

蘭州牛肉麺　980円　

ずっと気になっており、一度は食べたいと思っていました(^^)

牛骨から出汁をとったスープはすっきり澄んでいますが、しっかりコクがあり美味しい！
そして八角が際立つ独特なスパイスが効いているのが特徴です。たまに食べると異国の味がしておいしいと思える不思議なスパイスです。

スープの表面に浮かぶ葉ニンニクとパクチーのみじん切りが風味豊かで、食欲が増します。更にラー油を少しずつ溶いていくとまた味わいも変わります。

トッピングは大根と牛肉がそれぞれ薄切りで3枚ずつ。大根って、珍しいなと思う。

更に特徴的なのは麺。
厨房の中で、麺を打っているのが見えます。
6種類くらいから麺を選びます。極細～太いのまで。私は初めてなので一番人気だというニ細を選択。一番細いのが2㎜に対し、二細は3㎜です。
真っ白い麺はコシがあり硬めです。
食べ応えがあり、うどんのよう。でもうどんほどもっちり感はなく、面白い食感でした。
この手打ち麺、そして牛骨出汁のスープ、なかなか美味しかったです！！

【この日のお酒】
角ハイボール。
濃いめで美味しかった！
これなら、今度ゆっくり腰据えて飲んでもいいかも・・と思ってしまった(笑)

長居すると、けっこう服に匂いが付きそうだけど、なんかもう一度行ってみたいと思いました。