Replies: 8 Comments
on Monday, October 8th, jenny said
Nate - Okinawa sounds awesome! It's too bad we don't have those cool spoons you spoke of here.
Kuchu - Everyone I have asked, says the same thing. It's for the broth and for you to slurp noodles from. But I will make sure when I go to the ramen restaurant, I will ask!
on Monday, October 8th, Nate said
You come across these wooden spoons once in a while here in Okinawa. At the few ramen shops there are, they usually have these typical soup soups we all know that has notches half-way up that you use to hook on the edge of the bowls so it doesn't slide into the soup. But usually for the shirus and jirus here you don't get any spoon. You bring the bowl up to your mouth and slurp!
on Friday, October 5th, kristian said
i had the mushroom pork chop and it was indeed delicious! i'm not a mushroom fan, but the gravy was great (jenny got to have some of the mushrooms). although delicious, the portion was small. i'm sure i could have used another pork chop.
as far as the spoon in ramen, i would say that it's mainly for the broth to sip on. you'll have the chopsticks on one hand and the spoon in the other. you eat the ramen and follow it with a couple sips of the broth. but i think it's also used to 'catch' the noodles that have bitten off or fallen through the chopstick and eat it from there.
on Friday, October 5th, kuchu said
Thank you for the reply. Please do let me know when you find the real answer. Your way of usage does make sense as I think I have seen asian people(non japanese) utilize spoon and chopsticks to eat soup noodles but I'm still curious about the real purpose and funtion of it.
on Thursday, October 4th, jenny said
Hi kuchu! Thanks for reading my blog! 
That's a good question about the big wooden spoon for ramen. Honestly, no one has ever told me how to use that spoon! I do use it to sip broth...never do they offer a smaller bowl so I assume it is for broth! And...I may be doing this wrong, but I do also place noodles onto the spoon and sip it in from there. Hahaha...but if I do find the real answer...I will definitely let you know!
on Thursday, October 4th, jenny said
Yes, Nate! I wish I was the one that had his dish!
on Thursday, October 4th, kuchu said
Hi, I'm new at your blog and am still on August archive, so I still have a lot to read from your blog before I catch up with your current post. I do have a very intriguing question concerning japanese dining utensils. Lots of your soupy japanese food pictures show a quite large wooden spoon which to me looks more like a ladle. How are you supposed to use it? Just like a normal spoon, sipping the broth in it? It does look quite a large spoon to me. Or do you ladle small portion into a smaller bowl and eat it from there? Would appreciate if you can explain a little bit to me. Thank you for taking the yummy pictures along with the rating.
on Thursday, October 4th, Nate said
The mushroom pork chop looks real good!
