Ramen Desu! in Caloocan
Heard yet about the latest fad in the streets of Caloocan? Finally, we've experienced first hand that JAPANESE RAMEN and CHURROS in a food cart that a lot has been talking about recently. But what makes it special is that the vendor is actually Japanese!
Meet Moto, a Japanese National who sells ramen himself along 11th Avenue Grace Park, Caloocan City.
You might be surprised that the vendor is quite different from the photo posted by Mauricio Brozo on his facebook account.
Moto and his colleague seems to be taking shifts in selling their products.
Their shop opens about 3:00 pm or 4:00 pm daily and usually closes at around 8:00 pm in the evening.
Their Japanese Ramen comes in two (2) types. The Japanese Ramen which costs only P25.00, and the Japanese Ramen Light which costs cheaper at P15.00. On the other hand, their Golden Churros costs only P5.00 each and comes in different flavours such as Cinnamon, Cheese, Strawberry, Choco, and Cookies & Cream. They've been selling in the streets for 3 months already but they seemed to reach a larger market since Mr. Bozo's post on Facebook.
When Renante Esparto Jr., a friend of mine (and a colleague as well) shared the post, I only had one thing in mind - I needed to try this myself and create a documentary and a write-up on this.
Being a Japanese Food lover and having a passion for the Japanese Culture, this is something I can't miss! It's not usual to see a Japanese selling things in the streets... at least, not in Caloocan.
We got to the place a bit later at around past 6:00 pm. Despite the continuous rainfall, we pushed through just to get a taste of this sudden popular ramen and get a scoop.
At first we thought the store wouldn't be put up because we arrived not seeing it at all. But just a few minutes later, I saw a Japanese riding his bike with signs on the sidecar saying 'Japanese Ramen' and immediately I shouted to my friend "Pare ayun si Japanese Ramen o dumadating!"
We were so relieved that our efforts weren't put to waste. I took a couple of shots first while my friend took footages, and in just a matter of seconds, the cart was already swarming with customers. Most buying ramen, others looking for churros which unfortunately wasn't available at that time, and others seem to visit just to look for the colleague of Moto - the Poging Japanese as what they say - who unfortunately wasn't there either.
His cart was quickly crowded, customers are taking turns in buying ramen and to much surprise, his current batch of prepared ramen already ran out. He then called through his cellphone, requesting a delivery of another batch of ramen.
Moto used to live in Hiroshima, Japan and later on moved to the Philippines. He has been living in our country for two (2) years.
Before selling ramen, his first business was selling cocktail liquors and is called Cocktail Ball.
We bought four bowls of their JAPANESE RAMEN - 'to go' (the original term for take-out) and continued to shoot a bit more. It wasn't so easy to take videos and photos due to the non-stop rainfall and I even forgot to bring my camera raincoat, so a handkerchief cover will have to suffice.
We weren't able to interview him further due to the unpleasant weather and we don't want to further showcase our gears in the streets up late. We'll have to come back another day to continue our interview and documentary.
Finally, the time has come to have a taste of this latest crazed Japanese Ramen in the streets of Caloocan.
The noodles used is actually those found in your usual ramen. Along with it are slices of meat, diced onion leaves, and sauce/seasoning. You'd have to add hot water to it to have your ramen soup.
Actually, the taste isn't anything out of the ordinary. You get what you pay for - as they say. But at least it doesn't taste much like your usual "Mami'ng Gala", haha. It has it's own taste that you could differ from the common street noodles.
It's such a shame that we weren't able to have a taste of their Golden Churros. Bystanders and neighbouring vendors claim that the Churros are actually good. We'll definitely go back another day to buy those and continue our documentary.
And next time, we might even take a selfie with our Japanese Ramen vendors in the streets of Caloocan! :-)
