I Tried Japan’s Most BIZARRE Bowl of Ramen

[Music] ramen with an estimated 10 000 plus shops existing and specializing in it it's no wonder this iconic noodle-based dish has become such a staple within japanese food culture but within the never-ending sea of ichirans ippudos and everything in between spreading towards the united states europe and even within your favorite manga and anime series it's also a constant struggle for ramen shop owners to stand out amongst the large crowd and japan is definitely no exception to that rule pushing boundaries within food culture that very few countries dare to tackle in my 27 years of consuming japanese cuisine i've had my fair share of insane and wacky variants of ramen and noodles but what i'm about to tackle today is unlike anything i've ever experienced as i'm about to tackle a bowl of ramen that i can only explain as being overly creepy crawly i am here right now in front of aunt cicada a ramen place here in bakurocho tokyo it's probably gonna be one of the strangest ramen shops i've ever been to in my life but i'm not here alone today i'm here with my good friend emma what's up lads it's tokidoki traveler it's me do you like ramen i like ramen of course you do i feel like something is wrong though i feel stressed i feel a little sweaty something my senses are going off i'm sure you've had all sorts of different ramen before right like japan is just a plethora of all kinds of different noodles but have you ever had ramen made from insects i mean no but are you talking about the noodles or is it like the topping or it's like the broth oh [ __ ] okay like it literally smells like dead insects right now can you smell it i think it's because we're in like an alleyway this place and cicada it is one of the few ramen shops here in japan that serves insect broth ramen i knew it had to be something weird because you know why why would you make a video about this round i was going to take you just like each i thought we were going to get like no of course not we're going to try something weird and funky because this is the anime man channel and what is the anime man channel without getting my friends to suffer with me yay great being your friend thank you so much but in realistically i've heard this place is a rated very highly and b is actually quite serious when it comes to like their making process this isn't just for shits and giggles like these guys clearly have something going on here i mean the fact that this shop is still standing to this day in a very fancy part of japan as well it looks very mysterious it's just it's just i mean it's literally just a door with a piece of wood as the handle i guess we're gonna jump in there and see what their whole creation process and everything is all about and have a bite of some insect ramen yay [Music] [Applause] wow look at that oh nice that's very easy very rustic isn't it best chef and restaurant wow look at that it's quite recent as well 2020 and 2021 wow i mean they're really playing with the insect theme quite heavily at this with all the stuff that they got here obviously they've got uh the beauty of nature right here sea urchin uh silkworm okay i like these guys so just bobbin oh yeah oh god the only times i ever see stuff like this is in like eighth grade science class you know where it's like we're about to dissect one of these bad boys for science oh look we got awesome about you how did they get so many of them yeah right these are like the the killer wasps obviously they have uh you know actual like you know plums meat gang and that kind of stuff sadachi as well so they have like proper ingredients oh there's merch they've got merch let's go hell yeah we gotta we gotta rep some of this answer carter much it's actually pretty cool i actually like the dessert looks like something you would wear yeah i'd wear that i don't know why eating is not a task it's an adventure that's their tagline i love that that's cool and then they also sell like actual uh shoyu like soy sauce oh i just feel so uncomfortable being so close to the nest oh your head was like right next to it yeah like your ear was right next to it and they could have just flown into your ear you can actually see like little uh bits of the the leftover nest these are actual sausages made from the silk of moths that's the sausage that's the sausage so i know that with mulberry leaves you can make tea out of mulberry leaves like it's kind of like matcha but it's a deeper flavor so maybe they just instead take the poop and making the tea i mean i would assume it's like a concentrated like flavor right squeezed into a piece of [ __ ] oh they're live these are alive oh look at them hey are we gonna eat you we are gonna eat oh so this is the locust sauce the locust sauce i've never i never thought i'd see those two words next to each other you can see the ingredients though it's got low boiled locusts rice corgi uh salt and water simple enough to go get yourself at home it's literally just locust salt and [Music] water all right it's time to finally eat yay i thought we were only going to be having the cicada ramen today but thankfully the folks over at ancestor have given us the option to try a number of dishes that they have because they don't just have insect ramen they have insect everything so we're basically going to be having like a almost like a special course meal of basically just everything that antsakada has to offer so yeah ramen or not it's going to have insects in it i'm interested to try the silk sausage yes i do not know because they say it tastes creamy because i'm lactose intolerant so if there's an alternative even if it's like silk worm sac or whatever it is this is going to be an alternative to dairy people come over but they're like do you have oatmeal but almond milk like no i got my silkworm sacks they're creamy and delicious they're creamy guys my only experience with eating insects is that my grandma used to make this thing where they would she would get cicadas and put it in like a sweet soy sauce and kind of let her like sit there and marinate so you're saying cicadas are you saying cicadas or crickets dead ass don't even know the difference oh no cicadas go green and they're bigger and they're ugly as hell wow they have feelings calling out all cicadas are terrible but the ones we're gonna be eating is probably the quickest i think okay crickets crickets so we're gonna be eating crickets yeah because takadas i feel like they would taste just so awful they're so ugly all right well then let's find out it looks sausage maybe it is oh it's a cricket beer whoa that color oh that color whoa almost looks like a guinness originally cut in half and showed the cross section yeah yeah see what it looks like my food review skills are going to be put to the test oh it feels like a regular sausage i love sausages so much so this has got a lot to live up to with my repertoire oh okay it actually just looks like a sausage yeah but i guess it using the uh silkworm sack all right oh it's creamy it is creamy it's really good it's really good that's delicious it almost feels like it's got cheese in it i don't think i've had a sausage that tastes like that no it's like different you know like a full english breakfast or a full aussie breakfast i feel like this would not go a mess no absolutely not it's so good bunnings should have this silkworm sausage sundae the alliteration that in like a sausage sandwich would be so oh stop it's not often you like eat sausages where you're like i don't need salsa though shall we beer chewy beer let's try this cricket beer made from real crickets it's like little insects on the tip of your tongue it tastes different to any beer i've had before i can't really put my finger on what it is there's a flavor i can't put my mandible on what it is it's also like a very like creamy are insects just creamy i think insects are creamy i think that's what we're taking all the insects are creamy put it on a t-shirt so next we have our uh insect plateau so many to choose from we went from subtle to like no it's like and here's the insects and here's the insects this is what you wanted have you had any of these before i've had bee larvae before me too at home at home bay but also on journey across japan aida with natsuki and natsuki like almost threw up it was funny because my reaction was cut out chris was like that's a boring reaction you liked it always with these things sometimes my brain comes in and it's like remember what you're eating freak out freak out right now do it people who like you know get freaked out through like conceptual like foods like this probably look away right now why are you watching this video yeah this is like some fear factor [ __ ] for you should we start with the crickets yeah let's go let's go in order i gotta freak out immediately i'm okay i'm okay i've already eaten you today you're right here your cousins i already consumed i drank your fluids three two one it's a great flavor flavorful smoky that's a tent cover all nine thousand taste buds i was about to say it would really go well with the beer thank god we have our beers grasshopper well that's a long boy oh boy uh yeah you really see the features like they really just grabbed an entire grasshopper and just dunked it in some sauce oh this flavor is different you're good yep freaking out i used to catch grasshoppers all the time like with my hands as a kid sorry this is really graphic biting into the head it's exactly how i thought it would be it's so crunchy just imagine and i'm like yummy what's the next one it's a silkworm lava soaking water i'm sorry they're not lobbying oh this is the biggest one of them all but juicy that's a oh you got a juicy boy right there i used to have a blue tongue lizard and he used to eat silk worms and it was the nastiest thing about it that is the most australian thing i've heard all day i become the blue sunglasses oh that's a strong flavor for that flavor i think that's the flavor of the the silkworm yeah it's fragrant if you breathe that through your nose can you feel that oh it's a lot i think the cricket and the grasshopper is very like light and like you can enjoy it as a snack that one feels more like that's that's like that's a meal that's a meal right there all right let's try the bee larvae i've had one of these before but that's a fat bee lobby pale one i'm like do i go for you or your brothers you should go for the albino one all right oh chewy the texture's a little bit i don't know the right one mushy sounds bad but it's like it is mushy but the flav the flame is nice i still think that the crickets are my favorite really i like the grasshopper oh really yeah they're just too like it's like i go through like a memory path to my childhood and it's just too intense and then what are these last ones these look intense oh the water bugs oh the water bugs that's right whoa look at these guys they're like little shrimps oh god oh that's a freaky looking boy dude i can't okay it's just look at it this one's kind of halfway between the bee larvae and the cricket this reminds me of some kind of sushi am i crazy he's cracked he's gone off the rails somebody stop him now this is the true insect eating experience right here bon appetit don't look at me while you chew that oh you look at me a nasty boy so much there's a lot of each of them are very potent like there's a lot of flavor very salty so up next we have uh cricket value value is kind of like how do you explain it's like chili oil you eat it with some cha shoo and some spring onions on a bit of rice hang on how much more japanese can you get some people eat pizza without the crust i buy locust without the legs you like pineapple and pizza do you like legs on your locus okay i gotta get a little bit of everything oh wait i gotta get the focus yeah okay oh [Applause] oh that's really good it's like croutons in a salad you know oh that's spicy oh it's coming oh that's got a kick to it i would not recommend this to someone who ate honey spicy food and b carne bobs you really have to like chew these down fight back oh yeah you can just see like there's a bit of the leg that came off look at us just a couple of weirdos eating bubbles i'm trying to figure out what part of the bug freaks me out the head's one thing but it's the legs as well but if there were no head and no leg wouldn't make it to the insect it's just like a black blob i like i like things to not have features i like how this restaurant not only incorporates insects but also incorporates insects with other things to kind of blend it together right i put a whole one in my mouth and i can't my brain is not letting me chew it it's like what do you mean i i just can't come on you wanna fight the willpower it's just an entire insect don't talk to me hey can you stop talking all right but last but certainly not least everything we've had so far has been fantastic but we finally hear the the cream of the crop when it comes to ant cicada and that is of course the insect ramen ramen i've seen pictures of this when i was researching places when i was researching this place it doesn't look like there is insects in it okay if you didn't know it just looks like a bowl of ramen but i've also seen pictures and i've seen footage of this giant pot full of insects and the chef is just doing this with the biggest smile on his face and i'm just like i'm about to eat that i think i take back what i said before all insects are creamy i think that insects can take on the flavor of whatever you pair them with right i think that that's really again it's like it's like croutons right like it's there to kind of just like add that little extra oomph to your dish i think yeah and i think that's the entire concept of this restaurant as well oh here it is oh wow look at them look at the little boy so the dude has told me that uh not only is the broth made out of ramen but also the actual noodles are made out of ramen inside one bowl there is roughly a hundred and fifty crickets of uh delicious cricket meat 150 crickets worth of 150 crickets worth of cricket so the broth is made out of a mix between the two little boys that are sticking inside of our balls right here the white cricket and the black cricket kind of mix them together and make this kind of you also have its wings out mine is like artfully posed yeah yours is like ready to escape joey's tips for eating ramen drink the broth first the whole point of a ramen a good broth equals a good ramen and uh i mean this broth has 150 crickets in it oh it's an oily boy can you actually see like the tiny little bits of like crickets little bits there's like ground up cricket here we go cricket juice that's full of flavor whoa oh that's really nice actually it's really salty but like not overpoweringly it's it's like just the right amount of oily as well right like not too oily but lots of flavor i don't know if you can make it out but like there's like little black bits inside of the noodles and i'm pretty sure that's the cricket all right let's try it the moment i started sloping that the immediate smell of cricket just came out of my nose cricket doesn't it's not like a it's just another flavor you know to me now now that we've had so many of them it feels like you know oh there's sure you and then there's like tonkatsu and then there's cricket yeah the the top three ramen miso it's a new flavor in my life honestly i've had hundreds of balls of ramen from like all sorts of different ramen restaurants but i've never had anything like this it's good it's good it's weird in a good way like it's really interesting it's like soy but not really yeah yeah i don't know what it is it's soy and something probably cricket i know i need to eat this guy but he's out of all the bugs i've had he's the most visual like he is about to fly off he has already dude they they caught this boy mid-flight he just got d dude like for him i don't know if he's gonna have any flavor because he's not soaked in anything so i'm like why don't you soak him in i might give him a little buzz it feels bad that i'm like drowning in the juice of his comrades okay [Laughter] this is fine it's good this is good for me and life just do it do it it's good it's just like i can feel the leg you know individually i'm not gonna cry when you bit into that i all i heard was like the sound when pikmin died you know like i guess i'll eat my boy too oh this guy's got some long antennas look at the face on that kid look at that guy head first [Laughter] he's synchronized swimming bottom's up oh he's stabbing the inside of my mouth yeah it's very it's like that's them i feel that that's good though i i like it it's just my brain like with this form i'm like hell yeah i can eat i can eat this whole thing delicious if it's like the bug and it's not marinated in anything it's like my brain just it just it freaks out i wish it didn't because bugs are good i'm sure this is you know the case with a lot of people right like i mean people get conceptually freaked out about things that are perfectly edible not to say that boxes aren't perfectly edible they are if we've proved anything in this video bugs are perfectly edible if they're prepared correct now i definitely recommend this restaurant to uh anyone who a is not very squeamish with bugs and stuff like that obviously if you're squeamish and whatnot i don't know how you made it to this point in the video to be honest with you for me this was like really cool in terms of flavor but also like as you said it's like just an experience right like it's like it's like a theme park almost where it's like all these like different dishes are just like different attractions essentially that's why i love variety packs of things it's like you can try so many different things i love that this had like kind of like a course yeah you could try each little thing exactly and we didn't get to try today but they actually do serve like a proper like set course as well full of all sorts of different other insects that we couldn't eat today but yeah what's your overall verdict i really like it i don't know if i know anyone who would be a perfect match to like bring here if i did i would bring them immediately because it's it's so classy it the food tastes great and i think it's like a great concept i just don't know anyone who'd be like hell yeah i'll eat somebody it's like yeah yes yes did you have to ask how did you know i love cicadas but yeah it's really good really really good i'm glad you enjoyed it i'm very happy i got to see you suffering and enjoy yourself so that's a double whammy thanks for bringing me man i appreciate it well guys hopefully you enjoyed this video if you'd like to check out anne cicada then i've left the address to this place down in the description below and big thank you to the folks over and out together for letting me film and also go check out emma's channel he does other types of cool japan vlog stuff as well cool japan that should be your tagline takitoki traveler called your pants well japan stuff that's me also if you guys like these kinds of weird japanese food culture type of videos because i know you guys really love the monster ramen video that i did and the wonko server video that i did by the way both those down in the description below and uh let me know i guess and if there are any suggestions for places of you being like hey joey they serve some weird [ __ ] here you should go eat it and take your friends along with you then uh leave them down in the comments below thanks for coming emma no worries i'll leave bugs with you anytime man that's how a good friendship is formed friendship eat bugs eat bugs together well guys hopefully you enjoyed this video and i'll see in the next one like favorite if you enjoy subscribe for a banter keep watching anime [Music] you

Channel: The Anime Man

Views: 678,783

Keywords: anime, manga, theanimeman, reviews, discussions, music, let's, play, walkthrough, playthrough, funny, moments, epic, fail, commentary, live, reaction, Japan, Japanese, The Anime Man, thean1meman, Tried, Japan's, insect, ramen, challenge, tokidokitraveller, food

Id: FYpwhI2htDg

Length: 20min 7sec (1207 seconds)

Published: Sun Jun 13 2021