In the lead-up to Valentine’s Day, Japan always rolls out a bunch of unexpected ways to get your chocolate fix, as chocolate-covered French fries and instant yakisoba noodles.

每个情人节前,日本都会推出巧克力的不同吃法,让人意想不到,如薯条蘸巧克力酱和巧克力日式拉面。

And the innovation isn’t stopping, as Mensho, a small chain of ramen restaurants in Tokyo, is rolling out chocolate ramen. While it doesn’t officially go on sale until February 1, we were offered a sneak peek/bite.

今年也不例外,东京一家小型拉面连锁餐厅Mensho推出了巧克力拉面。但到2月1日才正式开始销售,我们先一睹为快。

Mensho has seven branches. However, only one, the location near the Yurakucho subway station called Mensho Tokyo, is serving the chocolate ramen.

Mensho共有7家分店,但只有乐町地铁站附近的Mensho Tokyo有巧克力拉面。

When Mensho says “chocolate ramen,” they don’t mean that the noodles themselves are made out of chocolate. Instead, it’s the broth that’s infused with the confectionary, with solid chunks of chocolate floating in the soup stock.

新推出的巧克力拉面并不是拉面本身用巧克力做的,而是在汤里加入了糖和大块巧克力。

if you’re in the mood to enjoy the chocolate flavor, you’ve got two options. The first is to simply grab pieces of chocolate with your chopsticks and eat them like you would any other ramen toppings. However, while the chocolate chunks are perfectly tasty, eating them like that doesn’t really give you any different of an experience from eating chocolate in the ordinary, non-ramen manner.

如果你想品尝巧克力的味道,有两种方式。第一种就是直接用筷子夹起一块儿巧克力,就像吃拉面中的其他配菜一样。尽管巧克力的口感非常好,但这样的吃法跟平时吃巧克力并没有什么区别。

Instead, we recommend stirring the chocolate and giving it some time to melt into the broth. This gives the broth a pleasant sweetness as you first take a sip.

因此我们推荐另一种方式。先搅拌巧克力,让它融入汤中,这样先喝汤的时候就会觉得甜甜的。

It also rewards you with a dessert beverage after you’ve finished all the noodles.

吃完拉面后,你还可以享用餐后甜点。

Mensho Tokyo will be selling the 880-yen (US$7.30) chocolate ramen from February 1 to 14.

2月1日至14日,巧克力拉面仅售880日元(7.30美元)。