Migaku Noodle House in the heart of Brookline Village

Since last year, in the former Yokohama Japanese Restaurant space in the heart of Brookline Village, Migaku Noodle House has been serving up the uncommon Japanese Nagasaki style Champon Noodles. It is a cute space with limited tables and now has clear dividers between each table. The space has exposed brick walls with simple décor. Service was attentive and efficient.

We started with a small order of the moist cha shu (grilled or fried pork) don (small) $4.50 but in ramen places, it is usually braised pork made with a soy based marinade. It was moist and mild in flavor compared to the red and sweet Cantonese style Char Siu I am used to, served with some greens and scallions topping. Great to whet the appetite over a roast pork rice bowl. Next came the Osaka favorite street food Takoyaki (octopus balls) $6.50 with five small balls on a plate topped with mayo, Takoyaki sauce, and scallions. Not going to lie, I was missing the traditional Katsuobushi (dried bonito shavings) and Aonori (dried green seaweed), still, they were moist, doughy and had a bit of octopus in each bite.

Since it was a hot summer night, we did not get any ramen. Instead, we got the Yakiniku Don (grilled pork) $11.50, which came with a generous portion of marinated sweet soy sauce made with onions topped with scallions and a luscious onsen (hot spring) egg. The onsen egg (hot spring egg) is a delightful poached egg in dashi (Japanese soup stock) broth that has the egg white with a soft and smooth texture leaving the yolk to be creamy.

Yakiniku has heavy influences from Korean style BBQ, but here it uses a sweet and savory marinade. It is key to mix the broken onsen egg with the pork and rice. Every bite with the velvety and rich egg yolk pairs well with the sweet and savory pork over rice – and delicious.

Finally, the Cold Tan Tan Noodles $12.50 came out. Tan Tan is the Japanese take on the Chinese favorite Dan Dan or Sesame Noodles, and this dish was inventive and different. Instead of finding spicy ground pork, I got four jumbo shrimp with some blanched, but moist, chicken breast meat over delightful cold and chewy noodles in a very small amount of sesame broth topped with corn and tomatoes. It was a very refreshing and inviting combo, being light and not heavy, it was perfect for a hot summer night. We need to go back to try their Champon Noodles when the weather gets warmer.