The ramen specialty store "Hirosaki Ebi Tomato" (in front of Hirosaki City Station, TEL 0172-55-6598 ) is currently conducting pre-opening operations.

This store is a sister store to "Ebisoba Kingyo" (Fujimicho), which was opened in Shinjuku, Tokyo in July last year, and was created by the goodwill of "Tokyo Ebi Tomato." The soup is made with stock from several types of shrimp and Italian fruit tomatoes, which are said to be used by chefs at five-star restaurants. According to store manager Risa Ishigooka, the target customers are women and foreign tourists visiting Japan.

Manager Ishigooka, who trained at Tokyo Ebi Tomato before opening the store, says, ``Although one-third of the soup is tomato, we have made it easy to eat even for people who don't like it.It uses less oil than regular ramen.''

The store area is approximately 14 tsubo. There are 18 seats. It opened on the site of Naturology House, which closed in January of this year. The bowl is made of melamine, which retains heat well.

The menu includes ``Hirosaki Shrimp Tomato (simple platter)'', ``Omar Shrimp SOBA (simple platter)'', ``Tanrei Tonkotsu SOBA'' (890 yen or more), ``Habanero Shrimp Tomato'' (980 yen), and cabbage and baguette. Toppings such as "service platter" (100 yen), extra char siu (250 yen), boiled egg (120 yen), extra cabbage (120 yen), cheese rice (290 yen), TKG (250 yen), etc. A student discount menu will also be available.

Mr. Ishigooka enthusiastically says, ``The grand opening is scheduled for mid-April.We want to make it a homely shop where you can feel free to drop by.''

Business hours are 11:30 to 15:30 and 17:30 to 21:00. Closed on Thursdays.