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Weekly Eater
Nadine Kam
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GEORGE F. LEE / GLEE@STARBULLETIN.COM
Tenkaippin's kotteri ramen may have benefits beyond satisfying your hunger. The broth may also be good for your joints, bones and skin.
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Tenkaippin, a healthy choice
I always have to laugh when the young'uns moan and groan about how old they are -- as made all too obvious by the wrinkles on their faces. Wrinkles? Kid stuff. I've had wrinkles since I was a 5-year-old squinting in the sun. Those of an age to complain know it's not wrinkles that make you look old, but the sagging and hollowing that comes with the loss of collagen, the protein fibers that support the skin.
In youths, collagen has the resilience to bounce back after prodding, but in adults the precious scaffolding breaks down faster than it can be replaced by the body. Sad.
Scott Suzui believes he has a remedy in a bowl. Over at Tenkaippin Ramen, the top seller is the kotteri ramen, with a tan-colored chicken broth thickened with chicken collagen gleaned from boiling down bones and feet for hours. The result is intense chicken flavor in a broth that with noodles -- made locally from a secret recipe exclusive to Tenkaippin -- is thick enough to plant your chopsticks.
Some diners are taken aback by the broth they've described as "gravy" in online reviews. It was a bit strange to me at first, but the velvety texture grew on me. Although it's my job to sample the variety menus have to offer, I ended up getting the same thing on a second expedition. After thinking about it afterward, I wanted more the next day. Who knew collagen had addictive properties?
Although research has shown that collagen supplements improve joint mobility and flexibility in tests on athletes and those suffering from arthritis, more research needs to be done to determine whether there is a correlation between collagen intake and skin health.
That lack of research won't matter to those willing to present themselves as guinea pigs at Tenkaippin's door. Sometimes people just can't wait for scientific evidence and need to take matters into their own hands as their biological clocks tick away.
Suzui said women in search of beautiful skin flock to the ramen chain's more than 200 shops across Japan. The evidence, he said, is in founder Tsutomu Kimura's face.
"He's 70 years old, and he eats kotteri ramen every day for lunch and he looks great."
GEORGE F. LEE / GLEE@STARBULLETIN.COM
Tenkaippin's kotteri ramen may have benefits beyond satisfying your hunger. The broth may also be good for your joints, bones and skin.
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SUZUI MET THE company's founder when he was working three jobs locally: at a travel agency, in a Japanese restaurant and running his own martial arts studio. Kimura, who started his empire with a mere $350, was interested in expanding into the U.S. market and saw in Suzui a diligent, hard-working entrepreneur who had been thinking about opening a restaurant and is now preparing to launch a TV show called "Ultimate Japan," about Japan's culture, food and visitor attractions.
Suzui opened the first Tenkaippin seven years ago in Waikiki, and it quickly won a following among visitors from Japan. When rents increased last fall, Suzui went looking for another location and found it on Kapahulu Avenue, still within reach of visitor clientele, some of whom make the 45-minute walk from his old store on Kalakaua Avenue to the new one.
"I've actually driven them back to their hotels because I feel so sorry that they had to come on foot," he said.
A bowl of kotteri ramen is $7.75, and three set menus have been devised for those who need other food on the side. The ramen plus fried rice is $10.75, with three gyoza is $9.45 and with three pieces of fried chicken is $10.75. The sets are 10 cents more with miso or paitan ramen, the latter a silky white pork-based broth. Those who think they might be put off by the thickness of the kotteri broth might want to start with the thinner paitan, although Suzui makes clear this is not a Tenkaippin specialty. He just added it to the menu for variety. In populous Japan, where diners slurp up their noodles quickly to make way for second, third and fourth seatings, kotteri can stand alone, but here, people like to have choices.
Those who don't need excitement at the table might stick to the soy sauce-based assari ramen ($7.75) or miso ramen ($7.85).
Condiments available at the table include vinegar, soy sauce, shichimi pepper, chili oil and a vampire-killing concoction of minced garlic and chili pepper. But so precious is the kotteri broth that if Suzui is on site, he'll plead that you taste it before automatically adding anything. And I agree, it needs no help.