Satoshi Akimoto missed India. When his two-year posting in Chennai ended last year, the mechanical engineer found himself back in Tokyo, craving dosas. Meanwhile, his Japanese friends in Chennai were craving ramen noodles. So he quit his job, learnt how to cook and returned to India to start a noodle shop.
A noodle shop? “I know. It’s a big risk. Especially because I’m not young. I’m 42 years old!” he chuckles. Dressed in a pair of defiantly orange jeans, teamed with sneakers held together by rainbow-coloured laces, he bounces up and down his compact three-level restaurant with the energy of an excited pre-schooler. An army of plumbers, carpenters and cleaners is at work, getting the space ready for its big opening this weekend. “But I’m not nervous,” says Akimoto, charging into his main kitchen, stacked with packs of noodles, boxes of vegetables and a set of pink teddy bear-shaped timers. “That’s for the noodles,” he says, picking one up, “Ramen must cook for precisely 1 minute and 50 seconds…” He pauses for a minute, then adds thoughtfully, “I cook like an engineer. Maybe that’s why I’m so confident. I know if I follow all the rules, I can’t go wrong.”
A specialist in small cars, Akimoto worked as an engineer in Michigan for four years, and then moved to Chennai. Over the two years he lived here, he got increasingly involved with the city’s Japanese Association, till he finally became its president. “There are about 900 Japanese in total, and they organise a lot of activities and parties through the year. I was noticed because the year I came I led a team and put up a show at the annual year-end party.” He coyly adds, “We did a robot dance.”
When he returned to Japan last year, he wanted an excuse to return. Then one day, flipping TV channels, he saw a show about a Ramen Academy in Chiba, near Tokyo. “Ramen is kind of our national food. An estimated 4000 ramen shops open every year in Japan. We eat it many times a day.”
Taught by some of the top ramen chefs in the country, the course is just two weeks long, but intensive.
“We stay in a dormitory at the back of the school. We were a class of just eight students. We would wake up at 6 a.m. and cook till 6 p.m. After that, we would practise in a mock-restaurant kitchen till bedtime.” His classmates were a disparate lot. “There was a 50-year-old man whose company had closed down. A 45-year-old man who quit his job. And a 38-year-old lady who was learning to cook so she could open her own restaurant.”
Akimoto says, “Yes. It was a big investment. I had to quit my job — my boss was quite annoyed. I had been with my company for 13 years by then and was due for a promotion. I borrowed money from friends, got a couple of partners for the venture…”
He also had to leave his wife and two children behind in Japan. “Shesays she will divorce me,” he groans, “I was getting a good salary earlier. Now we have to manage on my savings. But while I agree that money is important, I think it’s more important to make life fun.”
He adds, “When I was in Chennai, I would leave for work at 7 a.m., and return only by 11 p.m. Michigan was worse, over there I worked from 7 a.m. to 1 a.m. every day.”
He also has ambitions far loftier than a mere noodle shop. “My company is called Japan Inc., and I want to spread Japanese culture with a chain of ramen shops. That’s why I only make chicken noodles here.”
Suddenly realising it’s time for lunch, he heads to his neat display kitchen and turns on the stove. As he dips a generous squiggle of noodles into boiling water, Taku, a Japanese law student, who’s joined him on this adventure as an apprentice, whips out his iPhone. “Juu, Kyu, Hachi…” says Taku, looking at the phone with intense concentration. “He’s using his phone timer to count down from 10,” grins Akimoto. “Shi, san, ni (four, three, two)…” Taku continues, before triumphantly yelling “Ichi (one)” as Akimoto pulls the noodles out.
As he slides the noodles into a big bowl, Taku carefully dresses them with a sliced chilli, soya-soaked boiled egg and finely-chopped spring onions. Then Akimoto gently adds a drizzle of caramelised garlic, followed by a splash of golden shrimp oil. The noodles are soft, but springy. They’re served with a rich, satisfyingly powerful chicken broth. They then begin another bowl, and another countdown. This time it’s chicken clear soup. “The recipe I learnt at ramen school tastes even better in India,” says Akimoto, “Because the chicken is fresh, not frozen. And I buy the vegetables from a shop around the corner every morning. Also, I use Himalayan rock salt.”
Talking of salt, as it turns out, the last bowl he serves, a vegetable soup crunchy with sweet corn, is completely devoid of salt. “What! I forgot the salt?” he says, grabbing a spoon to gingerly taste the soup, then bursting into laughter. Taku stops work to chuckle delightedly. Then, displaying that famed Japanese precision, they make the whole dish from scratch again. As Taku good-naturedly does his countdown — again — Akimoto smiles, “I can’t just add a pinch of salt now. It won’t taste right.”
They serve the fresh bowl of vegetable noodles, then settle down to chat over tall glasses of iced green tea.
Taku’s friend Jo joins them tomorrow. “We clean the road outside our restaurant every day. When Jo comes, we’ll all do it wearing the restaurant uniform,” says Akimoto excitedly.
He adds that his wife and children are coming for the opening this weekend. “My wife Satsuki is a great cook. I’m going to ask her to teach me how to make desserts,” he says, leaning back in his chair and surveying his restaurant with satisfaction.
The best part? “Yesterday, some Japanese businessmen came here to taste the food. One of them took a spoonful of my ramen soup, and then, he cried. He was so happy - said it tasted just like home.”
Aki Bay opens on Sunday. It is at Dr. Seetaram Nagar Main Road, VGP Selva Nagar. Opposite Grand Mall in Velachery. Call 73582 98611 for more details.
