This restaurant was tiny, with a long counter and bar stools like at so many noodle shops for salarymen (though some don't have seats at all; they're designed for salarymen who need to eat and run).
Like other such noodle shops, there was a vending machine through which you select and pay for your meal. Like a soda machine, but instead of getting a clink and a can of Coke, you get a little ticket. At some places, there are duplicates--one for yourself and one for the cook. Here, there was only was for the cook.
Right after I ordered, the cook asked me something and pointed to a menu with various numbers. They weren't for side dishes, and he wasn't asking me what portion size noodles I wanted, like at other places. (The funny thing about Japan is that at many shops, everyone pays one price for a noodle soup, then you have the choice of supersizing, downsizing, or regular-sizing your noodles. If I had a bigger appetite, I'd supersize every time, just to get my money's worth.)
Anyway, I couldn't figure out what he was saying at all until the owner, I think, came over and spoke to me in English.
It turned out to be a menu of choices of the number of minutes that you'd like your noodles to be cooked--"like pasta," he said, though I'd never been posed such a question at any Italian eatery before.
Apparently, the standard cooking time at this place was 45 seconds and when it came, I could see why people might prefer 3-minute ramen instead. It was still white and hard in the center. But there were so many more numbers/minutes as options...would anyone really want 30-minute noodles? It'd be just a pile of mush.
So...it was ok. Not a lot of food for 650 yen, especially considering that this was Saitama and not central Tokyo. I've gotten 50% more food for the same price in other similar restaurants. And the broth, while good, was excessively salty.
Ah well. Now I can say I've had Kyushu ramen.
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