Chinabites

Posted: Mar. 03, 2009

I met a friend for dinner in Windsor House Mall this evening in Causeway Bay. He had some errands to run upstairs and I was absolutely, positively, ravenously hungry. I wandered around the surprisingly Apple-heavy technology shops for half an hour waiting, literally in pain from hunger. I was seriously considering that I might expire, angband style, before we made it out of the the high-tech maze. Just as my vision was growing blurry around the edges, I caught sight of a sign, rising up like the heat wave bent fronds of a solitary date palm above the dunes:

   a little girl, winking,
   a bowl of noodles, steaming,
   forming a question mark in the air
   

Ajisen ®

It was perhaps my own Hello Bok Choy My Old Friend moment. Ajisen, the Japanese ramen chain that sustained me for over a year next to my old office in Beijing, had re-appeared in a shopping mall in Hong Kong, when I needed it most. We walked into the restaurant and sure enough, the whole wait staff shouted an asynchronous chorus of "Irasshaimase!" (the ubiquitous Japanese restaurant greeting). So far, things were looking very promising.

I had a go-to dish at the Beijing Ajisen in the high-tech district, the Curry Wudong Noodles with almost paper thin slices of beef. Could Ajisen Hong Kong come through in the clutch?

A quick glance over menu confirmed my fears: the brand was international, but the menus were regional. Nevertheless we got to try new things, unwisely risking the chance of getting hurt by new experiences, but this time at least we came out on top.

We struck unanticipated beverage gold as our waitress, who was certainly working on commission, tried patiently over a series of three or four separate encounters to sell us an apple juice beverage. Finally, when she claimed that there were no other cold drinks in the restaurant I relented, understanding clearly that she would literally stop at nothing to sell us this drink. I didn't want to know what her next move might be. Little did I know that I was getting such an amazing deal: my pre-dinner apple juice turned out to also be the appetizer.

Or should I say, the APPLETISER!

My dining companion had the pumpkin ramen noodles, pictured above. The last time pumpkin ramen seemed like a good idea was early November freshman year of college. Their recipe turned out better, though it perhaps could have used just a splash of Dubra (hit that link for some amazing facts). But I digress.

The noodles were competent, the portions were huge, and the wait staff must be given special points for their correct insistence that I be exposed to the next greatest beverage/appetizer fusion drink. At the same time, my impression is that the Beijing Ajisen is the greater of the two, mostly on the strength of the Beijing menu. The Causeway Bay branch of Ajisen did not bring shame or dishonor of any kind to the brand, but I probably won't be making a repeat visit to this particular branch of the Ajisen chain on this trip to Hong Kong.