MANILA, Philippines ? In one of the opening scenes of the Japanese movie ?Tampopo,? an old man demonstrates to a young lad how to eat ramen: ?First, observe the whole bowl. Appreciate its gestalt. Savor the aromas... jewels of fat glittering on the surface... shinachiku roots shining... seaweed slowly sinking ... spring onions floating...?

I was reminded of this scene last week when I visited Ukokkei, a Japanese noodle house along A. Arnaiz Avenue (Pasay Road) that was recommended to me by Leica Carpo. After finally deciding on a chashu miso ramen, a miso-based ramen with pork slices, I found myself looking directly into the bowl of ramen just as in that opening scene in ?Tampopo.?

The noodle master in the movie instructs, ?Concentrate on the three pork slices. They play the key role but stay modestly hidden. First, caress the surface with the chopsticks tips... to express affection... Then poke the pork... What's important here is to apologize to the pork by saying, 'See you soon.'... Finally, start eating the noodles first... While slurping the noodles look at the pork. Eye it affectionately.?

Such romanticism for a bowl of noodles made me realize how barbaric I've been with my own noodle habits. Like any normal human being, I skip the pork poking and go straight to noodle slurping, and give far more attention to soup quality than pork appreciation! After all, even in the movie ?Tampopo,? it has been said that ?it is the soup that animates the noodles.?

My visit to Ukokkei spun off my week-long ramen marathon. It began because I found the ramen in Ukokkei to be a little oily and I wondered if it was just me since there was such high praise for this ramen house, aside from the fact that I was very much taken in by the restaurant's interiors, which literally oozed noodles, albeit plastic/ceramic, from a giant bowl that hung from its left wall. Or could it be that the oil was from the ?jewels of fat glittering on the surface,? i.e., the pork slices? I decided that I needed bases of comparison.

So I visited Tsukiji (also on A. Arnaiz/Pasay Road) the following day, with only ramen for company over lunch. Tsukiji is an expensive Japanese restaurant whose success is attributed to the quality of the ingredients it uses (hence the table for one!). I still hadn't mastered the art of noodle appreciation the ?Tampopo? way by this time, but there was a definite difference between Tsukiji's ramen and that of Ukokkei's (I placed exactly the same order at both restaurants: chashu miso ramen). At Tsukiji, the miso soup is outstanding, with the taste of the miso making its impact. Unlike in Ukokkei, where the noodles and pork were the main event, at Tsukiji, even the soup blew me away. And burned me, I actually burnt my tongue starting with the soup, and quickly realized why the Japanese begin their ramen experience with the noodles (hello!). I also noticed that instead of the bean sprouts used in Ukokkei (and in Nihonbashitei, whose ramen I tried a few days later), Tsukiji uses leeks, which does not upstage the noodles with its crunch.

Sitting by my lonesome, I observed other tables appreciate their ramen. I was especially fascinated by the father on the table to my left, who bent his head close to the bowl and slurped the noodles so loud it almost crossed over to gurgling. He had such a savage appreciation for the ramen and an almost animalistic method of devouring it that I suddenly understood the ramen rage that was depicted in the movie. Good noodles, dough cooked in precisely the right amount of time, are meant to be slurped.

The following day I tried Sakura in Glorietta 4. The ramen here reminded me of the young Tampopo, who had no clue that her noodles needed help. The soup tasted like the water was not brought to a boil, the noodles were lackluster, and the vegetables seemed flat. The words of Tampopo's ?mentor? could be applied here: ?They (the noodles) ... lack guts.? The day after that, I found myself in Nihonbashitei, which is gaining a reputation for its great sukiyaki. This izakaya offered very good ramen as well, with very tasty soup that one can finish to the last drop and tasty noodles as well, although interestingly with ground instead of sliced pork.

Now I'm ramen'd out! But quite happy with the week's slurpy, soupy, noodley, delightful ramen ride.

Ukkokei. Tesoro Bldg., 822 A. Arnaiz Ave. (Pasay Road), Makati.
Nihonbashitei. 800 A. Arnaiz Ave., Makati.
Tsukiji. 900 A. Arnaiz Ave., Makati.
Sakura. 2nd Level, Glorietta 4, Ayala Center, Makati.