I might have gone a little bit overboard with the ramen in Tokyo, so I made a conscious decision to avoid ramen in Sendai. As much as I love ramen (which is a lot, clearly), there’s so much great food in Japan to try.
But I obviously couldn’t leave without having at least one bowl. I mean, what do I look like, a maniac?
And Menshō Bonten has been recognized with a Bib Gourmand designation by the Michelin Guide, so it felt like a natural choice for my one bowl of ramen in the city.
The first thing I noticed was how weirdly un-crowded it is. If there’s a Michelin-recognized ramen joint in Tokyo, you can pretty much guarantee that you’re going to be waiting in line for about an hour. Sendai, on the other hand, doesn’t roll like that. I don’t think I’ve seen a single line for any restaurant since getting here.
Menshō Bonten’s specialty is a shoyu ramen in a nice, light broth. It didn’t knock my socks off, but it’s a solid bowl of noodles.
The biggest issue here is that it’s a tad on the salty side. Still, it has enough of an interesting, almost smoky depth to it that it never feels overwhelming or one-note. I was still finding things to appreciate until the last slurp, which is always a good sign.
The other minor issue is the noodles — they’re not quite as firm as they should be, and something about them was slightly off. I couldn’t quite put my finger on what, mind you, but there was definitely something about them that wasn’t quite working for me.
They certainly weren’t bad, however, and everything else about the bowl — the egg, the chashu, the other toppings — were all on point.
Location: 〒983-0852 Miyagi, Sendai, Miyagino-ku, Tsutsujigaoka, 4-chōme−4−7 STAGE-21ビル
How to find it: The menu, along with a bunch of photos of ramen, is posted outside the restaurant.