One day in month 11 of 令和７, I visited 中野 on an errand and had lunch here. It is a pleasant chuka soba shop. I went iiiin right when they opened at 11：30. It is a small shop with only an L-shaped counter and about 6，7 seats. I immediately oooordered fried rice. Across the counter, I could clearly see the owner deftly tossing the iron wok as he cooked. A true professional—the rice was flying through the air. It was ready in about 10 minutes, so I dug right in. Delicious, very simple fried rice, but that is exactly what makes it good. Simple and classic, I enjoyed it. When I left at 11：50, the seats were almost full. Many people, including me, ordered fried rice that day, so even the skilled owner looked like he was having a tough time tossing the wok. Next time I will order ramen. Thank you for the meal.

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It is an old-fashioned ramen shop. The staff provide polite service. However, perhaps the owner has his own timing, as he repeatedly asks people to repeat themselves, so it is a little noisy inside. The food tasted good, and I enjoyed it.

A few days ago, I stopped by "らーめん 北国" near 中野駅 and tried ordering fried rice. The shop is mainly counter seating with only a few seats. It strongly feels like an “old-fashioned neighborhood Chinese eatery.” The flavor is robust and fairly strong. The rice is not completely separated into individual grains, but it is not mushy either—somewhere in between. The ingredients are simple, mainly chashu, green onion, and egg. The service feels friendly, perhaps because it is family-run. The prices are at ramen-shop level. It is not too expensive, and being close to the station and easy to pop into is nice.

I came in during the lunch break of a lecture at なかのZERO that ran across midday. The venue is a 7-minute walk from the station, and with no decent restaurants unless you head back toward the station, I came here as the closest set-meal-style eatery to なかのZERO (the actual lunch break was only about 45 minutes. Venue staff had already come in and ordered). Perhaps for that reason, it was busy that day. There is a sign inside saying, “For customers in a hurry: ‘...please check carefully and refrain from ordering.’” There is an assistant employee, but the owner says he is the only cook. The ramen bowls are fairly large, and judging by quantity alone, they are not poor value for the price. Given that sign, perhaps this reflects the owner's wish for “customers to eat their fill without leaving anything.” The menu overall cannot be called cheap. The two second-cheapest items are wakame ramen and menma ramen. Since I usually eat wakame ramen at home, at the same price I naturally chose menma ramen by elimination (there are no set meals, so rice must be ordered separately with individual dishes. Gyoza + rice for 750円 would have been cheaper, but it was a cold day with snow accumulating even in Tokyo's 23 wards, so I ordered ramen after all). When my ramen arrived, I was pleased to see kaiware radish sprouts on top, which I had not eaten at home for a while. The broth was spicy with pepper—was there not too much pepper, considering it was sticking to the inside of the bowl at the surface of the broth? Even without adding any of the pepper provided at the counter, the flavor was already overpowering, and I wondered whether it would be suitable for someone whose doctor had warned them about excessive salt intake. Rather than adding pepper beforehand, they could just let customers add it themselves using what is provided at the counter... then perhaps they could reduce pepper costs a little, or perhaps not... that was my thought. Or perhaps the broth was not very good and they were disguising the flavor by making pepper-laden ramen, I found myself suspecting. Thank you for the meal. With the lecture staff and attendees visiting, it was a busy, hectic day, and the shop must have suddenly enjoyed a rush of business. Thank you for your hard work.

〜In search of delicious fried rice〜 It is on the way from the south exit of 中野駅 to なかのZEROホール. Fried rice (850円) Classic Japanese fried rice, topped with beni shoga + green peas, which gets me excited. The taste is good too! It does not reach the very top tier of my personal preferences, but it is delicious. The banter between the owner and the female staff member was nice too! For a neighborhood Chinese eatery run by 2 people, I really want to include the pair's chemistry as a point in my rating＾＾ Thank you for the meal. I will visit again!

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