‘Like deep-fried shrimp’: diners lap up insect-topped ramen at Tokyo restaurant, and it’s apparently good grub
Tokyo restaurant offers ‘full course’ of insect ramen, bowl of rice with crickets, spring rolls with fried worms, and ice cream flavoured with insect powder
Curious Japanese foodies queued up outside a Tokyo restaurant for a taste of a rare dish - ramen garnished with deep-fried worms and crickets.
Within about four hours, the Ramen Nagi restaurant had sold out of the 100 bowls of “insect tsukemen” noodles it had prepared for Sunday’s single-day event.
The noodles were topped with about a dozen small crickets and mealworms, which customers then dipped into soups flavoured with crickets, grasshoppers, or silkworm powder.
“It’s deep-fried, so it’s really crispy, and it doesn’t have a bad taste,” said 22-year-old student Anri Nakatani.
“It’s almost like a deep-fried shrimp.”
The event was organised by the restaurant owner, and Yuta Shinohara, a 22-year-old who has set up insect-eating events in Tokyo, including a Valentine’s Day celebration that served chocolates, cakes and cocktails featuring insects.
