Ramen Tokyo

Buta Ko Mugi/Gotanda豚とこむぎ/五反田

2009-11-08T17:46:00.008+09:00

Another Jiro clone (name means "pig and barley/wheat"), this time near JR Gotanda station. Very friendly woman with powerful lungs outside guiding people into the shop. The background music was the Beatles. Broth was a bit weak, not like a real Jiro taste, soup was almost clear, not too much fat. Had a nice conversation with one of the other patrons sitting next to me (who spoke pretty good English) about the local area and our work. Pork was fairly dry. Noodles very thin, like linguine. Shoyu tare in the tall brown beer bottle with the dispenser top. Free toppings include tama negi, a bit rare for this type of shop. They also had a gentei curry-topped ramen that actually looked a bit strange in the photo on the wall. The Gotanda area can use a Jiro-themed shop, but we can probably do better than this, especially this close to the one on Yamate Dori. First 10 customers on line every day get free extra pork. Closed on Sundays. Don't rush.

On the way back stopped at the Wired Cafe on the second floor of the Gotanda Atre, above the Seijo Ishii. Internet signal iffy as always there.

Supleks page
Google Maps

Tokyo Tori Soba Tomo/Higashi OiTOKYO 鶏そば TOMO/東大井

2009-11-08T16:31:00.009+09:00

A new (or at least uncommon) idea in ramen - chicken soup, and a pretty good one too. Better than Ramen Zero, in my opinion. This ramen shop Tokyo Tori Soba Tomo specializes in only one kind of broth - chicken. Note that I said chicken, not shio. While shio broth usually comes from chicken stock as a base, this broth is really what I would call "home-style" chicken soup. I believe there might be a bit of tonkotsu in there too, but not sure, as I detected a faint taste of it, and it was super salty and fatty, even fattier than could be expected from just chicken. I got the tori chashu men (鶏チャーシューメン) which comes with five or six slices of chicken breast "chashu", all with the skin on. The chicken that these slices came from must have been well-grilled, and interestingly enough there were also little extra slices of grilled chicken skin in the bowl too, you can see them in the lower left of the bowl. Very small shop, only 8-9 seats, simple menu on the machine. The tori chashu men doesn't come with an egg by default. Definitely better than its rank on Supleks suggests, worth a trip if you are in the area, say for the Ito Yokado or similar.

Supleks page
Men Koi blog (good pics)
Google Maps

Mutekiya/Ikebukero無敵家/南池袋

2009-11-08T15:12:00.010+09:00

Mutekiya (literally "no-enemies shop" or "shop without rivals") is located in Ikebukero on Meiji Dori south of the east entrance(s) to JR Ikebukero Station, and further south of some of the Seibu stores and Muji. It had fairly long lines for a Friday afternoon - tourists might have an advantage here since if they come during the week they will avoid the unbelievably long lines that are supposed to be present on the weekends. Also watch all of the bicycles that zoom down Meiji-dori, both on the street and on the sidewalks. There are no seats (for waiting) inside, you will be motioned to come in by the staff when seats are available, either at the counter or one of the small tables. Watch the first step when you go in, it's right next to the register and someone managed to trip over it when I was there. Note the interesting woks hanging outside, painted with the store's name in kanji. I had the chashu-men, which is not on the English web site but was on the Japanese menu that the staff had when they came out to take my orders ahead of time - be ready with what you want to order ahead of time - you could print out the English menu from the link below and circle what you want and bring it with you. The chashu was of medium thickness and well cooked - the soup was a really really creamy tonkotsu that must have been strained multiple times. The noodles were just plain. All in all it was good but not sure it's was worth waiting on line 40 mins for.

Shop home page (note the helpful "Foreign Langurage" link in upper right)
Google Maps

Tokyo Ramen Street/Rokurinsha Omiyage Unboxing東京ラーメンストリート/六厘舎お土産

2009-11-07T20:08:00.010+09:00

In JR Tokyo Station there is a special (and long) hallway with numerous shops and restaurants called the "Tokyo Eki Ichi Ban Gai". This is one of several shopping areas under Tokyo Station. One special section of this hall was upgraded and refurbished and a group of 4 ramen shops were opened there in June. These shops were already famous in Tokyo, and these new locations are just branches, not their main shops. The 4 shops are Rokurinsha, Hirugao, Keisuke and Mutsumiya, some of which have been reviewed on this site already.

Tokyo Station is one of the main points for the shinkansen to stop in Tokyo. Many people who visit Tokyo want to do some shopping and also eat in some "authentic" Tokyo restaurants such as ramen shops, that they would not normally have had time to wait on line for (at the honten) during their trip. So Rokurinsha was for a long time, and probably still is, in the top 10 of ramen shops in Japan. It's well known and it's not suprising how long the lines are to get in and get a bowl.

No waiting on line for me today - I've only waited on line for Rokurinsha once, at the original store, for more than an hour. So I bought the omiyage that is available at this store and it was, in short, excellent. It really has the real Rokurinsha tonkotsu gyoukai taste and the best part of it is, you don't have to wait on the long line that you see in the pictures above. There is no comparison between this stuff and the ramen packages available in the supermarkets - even if they are from "destination" shops such as Hirugao, which I know Mitsukoshi sells for example. The Rokurinsha line actually extends to the other side of the hall. (The red rope on the right side holds back the line of people waiting on the other side.) Simply go to the right of the "guy with arms folded" sign and there is a window where you can buy the omiyage without having to wait. Better pictures here. You will be asked whether you want the 1 person box (850 yen) or the 3 person (2550 yen), the unboxing above is the 1 person. As some of the items in the box will be frozen, you will also be given dry ice. I recommend eating this stuff the same day if you can. This omiyage must have been taken directly from the pot and put into the bags and the box, it really had that same fresh taste.

That evening I did the unboxing. Included are a large white package of soup and pork, a package of noodles, one sheet of nori and some ground pork powder. The instructions, which are included but are in Japanese, basically say to put the pouch in water for 15 mins (I don't think it needed that long), cook the noodles separately, then pour the pouch into one bowl and the noodles in another. Be sure to rinse the noodles thoroughly in cool water (grab them with your hands as you rinse them, you will see how much stuff sticks to them) and enjoy. Excellent taste and no waiting. If you absolutely must say that you ate at Rokurinsha then by all means feel free to wait on line - but if you just want the taste then this is the product for you. No long lines like at the Hibiya Tsukemen Fair either.

Tokyo Ichi Ban gai Ramen Street home page
Tokyo Ichi Ban gai Ramen Street map
Google Map

Strongest Ramen Legends Show on TV Tokyo

2009-10-10T19:11:00.003+09:00

Last Friday night TV Tokyo had a "Strongest Ramen Legends" show on, with rankings three categories ("Ruling Ramen", "New Wave" and "Around Here"). The usual band of sketchy ramen luminaries was on, including Yamagishi-san, Sanno-san, Ishigami-san, etc. They covered some of the places that have graced our humble site also over the last 3 years, including Rokurinsha, Tetsu, Shichisai, Fuunji, Motoishi and Naoji.

Show link with rankings

Ramen Tokyo Maps - Recommended Shops

2009-08-30T09:40:00.001+09:00

Here is a map of all Ramen Tokyo "Recommended shops" in Tokyo, this map is now up to date with all 94 of our recommendations. Click on any map pin to bring up the name of that shop and a link back to the associated Ramen Tokyo page. Click on the Ramen Tokyo Maps link at the bottom left to go to a more versatile map with printing and filtering capabilities. Please give us your feedback on whether this is useful or not.

Gyoku/Kawasaki Cityぎょく/玉

2009-08-29T17:53:00.005+09:00

Gyoku (the on-yomi for "tama", as in "tama negi", see their logo?) is another winner for tonkotsu gyokai in the fair state of Kanagawa-ken. Richer taste than most, and the pork was grilled on the outside and cut more thickly, and had less fat. The noodles are made in-store. Excellent. Not much more to write here. You can take a bus east from the bus stop locations on the southeast side of Kawasaki Station to get to the area quite easily, about 7 mins.

Supleks page
Google Map

Tomita/Matsudoとみ田/浅草

2009-08-29T17:26:00.005+09:00

With a score of 99.532 as I write this, Tomita is the #1 ramen shop in Japan according to Supleks Database. If you also want to make the argument that Japanese ramen is the best in the world, then I guess the logical conclusion is that this is the best ramen shop on the planet. Doesn't look like much from the outside though, but looks are deceiving as anyone who has spent any amount of time in Japan can tell you.

Tomita combines high-quality tonkotsu gyoukai broth, very thick and rich, puts chopped onions and menmas in it, and serves it up hot. The noodles are well done but are a shade darker and thinner than other similar places like Rokurinsha. The pork is slightly fattier than I would like but overall is quite good as you can see from the picture. There were about 25 people on line as I got there and my total waiting time before I sat down was about 1 hour. No benches, but fortunately it was a nice day outside, a rarity for the middle of August, and I was happy to be on line for ramen (and not at work, I took a vacation week). Is this ramen significantly different from other tonkotsu gyoukai places such as Naoji, Rokurinsha, etc. No, not in my opinion.

Make sure that as soon as you get to Tomita, you buy your ticket, even before you get on line, as they come out from the shop every 5-10 mins or so to take the tickets from the last few people on line. This enables them to tee up the proper amount of noodles in the pot so that your bowl is in front of you within a minute of you sitting down - this is a difficult trick to get right all day I guess.

Supleks page
One Coin Blog page
Google Map (check out Street View to to see the line)

Sagamihara Liberty Gourmet Plaza/Sagamihara相模原リバティグルメプラザ/相模原

2009-08-29T16:56:00.009+09:00

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This place used to have a larger number of ramen shops in it, but it looks like it has seen better days. There are a number of decent-looking places down the street though, including a number of Nagahama ramen places, Nagahama ramen is more-or-less largely equiivalent to Hakata ramen.

Supleks page
Google Map

Tsushima/Asakusa中華そばつし馬/浅草

2009-08-28T15:21:00.006+09:00

Tsushima is a fairly-highly-ranked niboshi tsukemen and ramen shop in Asakusa, inside the Shin-Naka-Mise covered shopping complex near the Metro station. A very thin broth, true classic tsukemen type, with a fair fish flavor, slightly sweet. A bit skimpy on the chashu for the price though. Full of non-Japanese tourists, as you would expect and can see from the picture, given where it is. Nothing wrong with that, just be aware. They do have an English menu that they will bring out if asked, and then you point to what you want and they put your money in the machine for you and do the needful, etc. Would this be my first choice for the area though? Maybe not - Asakusa actually has a fairly large number of shops (approx. 20) that are ranked 40 or better, including 7 that are ranked 50 or better. In the area you can also go to Ganso Ebisu Ramen, which isn't on my favorites list but is something that many foreign ramen-interested visitors come across due to its presence on the worldramen.net page. Interesting and probably worth it if you are in Asakusa, or need to take some visitors to an authentic ramen shop after a day sightseeing, but I personally wouldn't make a special trip, even though it is good.

Supleks page
Google Map

Tonchin/Kawasaki City屯ちん/川崎市

2009-08-28T14:59:00.006+09:00

The Kawasaki City Tonchin is on the 7th floor of the Moas Building, right across from the various bus stops near the station. Note that in a future review where I cover Gyoku, I will tall you how to take the bus from one of these stations since in order to get to Gyoku it is a rather long walk. In any case Tonchin has two branches in Tokyo (one in Ikebukero, the original store, with long lines frequently, I walk by it whenever I go to the Ikebukero Jiro as it is right down the road) and the other one in Shinjuku, which I have not been to. Tonchin bills itself as true Tokyo tonkatsu ramen, however they offer both ramen and tsukemen. The Kawasaki store also has a fish/pork blend base ramen "uo-ton" (the red and blue buttons in the lower left), and similar chuuka sobas (orange). I had the chuuka soba this time, with extra chashu topping. The pork pieces were large but fairly thin. There was a few of those weird curly menmas in there too. The taste was good but not spectacular. The most popular one according to them is the "toku" one, the one on the upper left of the sign in the picture below.

Shop Home page
Google Map

Setagaya/Shinagawaせたが屋/品川

2009-08-28T13:52:00.003+09:00

Technically this store is in Takanawa, in Minato-ku, however I list it with the location of Shinagawa above since that is what many people will search on. The Shinatatsu Ramen Street is located just south of JR Shinagawa Station's Takanawa exit (the west-side one). It shares the distinction of being in this location with several other famous shops including Tetsu, Nantsu-Tei and Keisuke. To be honest, while Setagaya's ramen is good, it's not in my opinion up to the standards of the others and the taste was not that strong to me. The noodles are thing and not particularly special. I ordered the menma extra plate too, those were good. I know people go on and on about Setagaya, and it also has a branch in NYC, but I just can't get that enthused about it compared to some of the other places in Tokyo. It is owned by the same chain that owns the shio tsukemen place Hirugao (which just opened a branch on the Tokyo Station Ramen Street).

Shop page
Google Map

Shoujin Kadofuji/Kashiwa City匠神角ふじ/柏市

2009-08-28T13:15:00.007+09:00

Kadofuji is a member of the Kouji Dream group of shops - this also includes Tomita (next review, currently the #1 shop in Japan), a couple of Taishokens, and 25-3- other shops in the Kanto area. Kadofuji has been on television a few times and the emphasis there is always on the giant noodles and the heaping bowls of veggies and pork that are provided - sort of like Jiro (see some of the pics below). If you scroll down through the chain's home page below, you will see some of the examples and then also some of the stranger ramens that they have experimented with in the past. In any case today I went there to try their extremely thick tsukemen noodles with shoyu-yuzu dipping sauce. The emphasis at this shop is on very strong flavors. The yuzu dipping sauce was extremely potent and salty, I was almost looking for something to water it down with. A bit lighter on the yuzu ttaste (relative to the shoyu) would have helped also. I was unable to get the "baka buta" (バカブタ), the "stupid" amount of pork topping selection for 300 yen, since that was sold out already. However I only arrived at about 1 PM so if you want to get that one then better get there earlier. Note on the ticket machine they also have a special "collagen ball", recommended for women, that you can purchase as a topping for 100 yen (I didn't). Now the most importany thing in your bowl are the noodles, and these are some of the thickest around. fairly katame and almost as thick as the chopsticks at the thick end, these were excellent. You will be asked what size of noodles you want, the chuu-mori (370g) was enough for me, that was 3/4 pound of noodles. You can get even bigger sizes if you want and I believe that some of the TV shows that have highlighted this place show people getting 1.5 pounds, 2 pounds of noodles and then eating them all. Also not to be missed was the slightly fried shoyu garlic mixture in containers at each seat, you can see some of it on the menma in the picture.

The second-to-last picture above is actually that of a interestingly-owl-themed yakiniku shop a few doors down.

Shop page
Chain home page
Google Map

Ramen Jiro/Moriyaラーメン二郎/守谷

2009-08-27T21:58:00.006+09:00

Second to last Jiro today. I was on vacation this week and the week was leading up to this. If you have to wait on line outside for 30-60 mins, I figured today was the day. Weather has been unseasonably comfortable and not humid the last couple of days. Ramen Jiro Moriya is the only Jiro branch in Ibaraki-ken. You can get to Moriya very conveniently by taking the Tsukuba Express from Akihabara, I believe it is the 15th stop from Akihabara. Once you get to Moriya, you can then change to the Kantetsu Joso line and take it in the direction of Toride just one stop, to Minami Moriya Station. Then it is a pleasant 10-15 minute walk from the station through a seemingly middle-to-upper-middle-class residential neighborhood, videos of which someone was kind enough to post on Youtube here (the back way) and (the front way)here. Some of these semi-city folk have some pretty impressive vegetable gardens. In any case after arriving at the Ramen Jiro, there is actually a parking lot and the line spills out into it. Inside this is easily the largest Jiro I have ever been to, with the possible exception of Ikebukero. Very roomy, with two line of chairs on opposite sides of the room. The one to your left when you walk into the place is the first one that you will be waiting on, with the last seat right next to the water dispenser and the mirror. (there are two dispensers). Note that the mirror says "From the Mita Hon Ten" on it. The ticket machine will be on your right and I recommend that you get the sho buta single or double. This place has all of the hallmarks of being a Jiro classic: juicy pork and good cuts, not all dried up. Noodles were very thin, not over- or under-cooked, although some people might ask for them a bit more al dente. The broth, or should I say gravy, was the best part. For most Jiros, the broth (while still very thick compared to regular ramen broth), is still thin enough where you can see the suspended fat, and if you let it sit for a while, the oil comes up to the surface and the real meat broth drops to the bottom. Not so with this Jiro - the abura, oil and broth are blended together in some weird way to form real pork gravy - I really felt like that's what I was eating. Unbelievably thick, like some sort of pork stew gravy. Three people behind the extremely roomy counter, first time I have seen that in a long time. Tea/water vending machine outside. At this shop there is no sign up listing the no-charge toppings, however I know that you can ask for more/less garlic, veggies and abura. I realize this is way out of the way, but I have to recommend it.

Foodpia Olive page
Google Map

Fuji Yoshida Udon/Ebara富士吉田うどんまるなが/荏原

2009-08-26T20:55:00.015+09:00

Yes, I do know that I am only supposed to be writing about ramen on this blog. However I sincerely feel that as far as udon shops go, and things that are "ramen-like", this shop deserves a special mention here. This is the first udon shop that I have ever written about. I had a hankering for thick firm udon, not too far from where I live, but I thought my options were basically a) slim and b) none. But I did some searching and I located Fuji Yoshida Udon Marunaga in Ebara, about a 5 minute walk west of Togoshi Ginza and 5 minutes south west from the Gotanda TOC shop. "Fuji Yoshida udon" is first and foremost a style of udon dish that is available in some towns in Yamanashi-ken near Mount Fuji. There are also a couple of companies by that name or similar that make specialized udon and soba. Fuji Yoshida udon (the dish) is comprised of very thick udon noodles (#2 pencil thickness, although sometimes slightly flat in cross-section), not completely cooked through it seems, served in a warm or cold medium thickness meat/shoyu broth with cabbage and meat (frequently chicken) in it, sometimes also onions. There are also various other toppings that people add like raw egg, wakame, etc. The combination of all of these things has an excellent taste and mouthfeel. In terms of mouth feel, the thick noodles, the cabbage etc., the whole thing is not unlike Ramen Jiro. So I found this place in Ebara and hippity-hopped on down there. I can definitely say that the noodles there are very satisfying. They will cook them longer if you you ask, some people may not really like them that al-dente. I am told that occasionally this place will have a line outside, but that might more frequently be in the fall or winter. I had the niku-negi tsuke-udon (肉ねぎつけうどん)- served like tsukemen, with the broth separate. Very tasty and satisfying. This place would make a good start or end to the day after strolling around Togoshi Ginza or shopping at TOC.

Shop home page
Tabelog page
Google Map

Ebisu Hanten/Ebisu恵比寿飯店/恵比寿

2009-08-26T20:28:00.005+09:00

Standard basic ramen and chinese food place near JR Ebisu Station. Decent quality, larger than average portions for the price, the taste is decent but nothing special. Mostly caters to similarly larger-than-average salarymen at lunch time. I had the shoyu ramen and beef/peppers/onions on rice set. Long counter with tables in the back for four.

Tabelog page
Google Map

Ryoka/Tamachiりょう華/田町

2009-08-26T17:46:00.005+09:00

Literally only 3 minutes walk from JR Tamachi Station is the little shop Ryoka, situated on a corner right off of the Daiichi Keihin. This is a small shop with a 6-7 seat counter and one table. This place has an excellent Shanghai sui-gyoza and chicken shio broth ramen lunch set for only 800 yen. Very good chicken broth, definitely tasted like it had been simmered for a long time, with a real chicken no less, and also pieces of shredded chicken and horenso (spinach). The gyoza were firm, with a thick wrapper, and full of meat and very flavorful. Other items are the yaki gyoza, which look just like the sui gyoza except they are fried. Other than that the lunch menu there is limited though but don't worry about that, just get the lunch set and enjoy.

Tabelog page
Google Map

Kamachi/Ebisu框/恵比寿

2009-08-18T15:48:00.006+09:00

On our way to our usual 500 yen ketchi cheapskate lunch at Ebisu Sakura Suisan one day (no laughing please - I happen to like that place...), my coworkers and I saw the sign for Kamachi out on the road near the station. Being the daring adventurous types as always, we decided to give it a try. It's in the second floor of a nondescript office building directly across from Ebisu Station's east side, sort of south from the excellent Jin Din Roh. Kamachi is part noodle house and part izakaya - the term apparently is men-saka-ba (麺酒場, not sake-ba but saka-ba). At lunch time they have yasai ramen and also a tsukemen dish with good chashu, with various side options. The noodles here were excellent, possibly the best in the Ebisu area. Extremely mochi mochi, almost like spaetzle or perfectly-cooked very thick spaghetti in their springiness, easily the equal of Mita Seimen Sho or similar. Lunch until 3. Closed Sundays and holidays. Free upgrade to large portion.

Home Page
Google Map

Chin Chin Tei/Musashi Sakai珍々亭/武蔵境

2009-08-18T14:32:00.009+09:00

Chin Chin Tei serves one of the best abura soba (油そば) dishes in Tokyo. Basically a cheap, tiny cafeteria-like room in a nondescript building about 15 mins walk from Musashi Sakai station on the JR Chuo line, it always has a large number of people lined up in front of it, according to one of the people I was on line with. The woman will open up the window on the side of the building and ask you what your order is (e.g. "shou abura soba") while you are waiting. Their abura soba, actually the "chashu" abura soba, comes with a generous portion of pork, plain but decent noodles, and an excellent oily porky broth. The large is actually almost comparable to the Jiro "dai" so be warned. You have to be careful when you mix it all around so that the parts don't go flying. Black pepper recommended. The staff is very friendly and chatted with me in (easy) Japanese while I waited for my meal. Probably don't get too many Westerners there. They also have regular chukka soba on the menu too.

Liking (as I do) to combine multiple targets in one region on one run, on the way back to the station from Chin Chin Tei I stopped at a place called Hao Hao (好好). This place's Shisen sui gyoza were also written up in the June 09 edition of Dancyu magazine. While the gyoza were quite good, with a spicy peanutty sauce, the service was not as polite as Chin Chin Tei's that day, the Chinese owner (notice the Chinese flag out front in the pictures) must have had something in for Westerners that day. As for this place, enter at your own risk.

Livedoor Page
Google Map

Ryuzan/Ojima龍山/大島

2009-07-20T20:48:00.012+09:00

So far this is the best suratanmen in Tokyo, in my opinion, and this place has the awards and plaudits to prove it. Ryuzan (dragon mountain?) is out east in Koto-ku on the Toei Shinjuku line. Definitely better suratanmen/sanratanmen (酸辣湯麺) than Youshuu Shonin. Too bad it's a bit far from the loop, but the good news is that you can just walk about 3 minutes from Yodobashi Akiba in Akihabara over the river to Iwamotocho station on the Toei Shinjuku line. This place is right smack in the middle of a residential neighboorhood, any place else in the world like this would look quite out of place. They have an extensive menu of Chinese dishes, with many spicy ones including kuro goma dan-dan men. Pictures are above. At 1 PM on a Saturday there were relatively few people in there. Their sanratanmen has been written up in numerous Tokyo magazines including Tokyo Walker, Ramen Walker, etc. - pictures of their articles ring the walls of the place inside and out. The omori suratanmen was a huge portion of peppery spicy vinegary goodness. The ingredients were combined in perfect proportions. The vinegar taste was there but not too string, and the pork and egg were generously apportioned too. They will anticipate the inevitable and deliver a picture of water to your table if you order the suratanmen. If you like suratanmen you must go there - no ifs, ands or buts.

Livedoor Page
Diddlefinger Map (English labels)
Google Map

Mita Seimen Sho/Ebisu三田製麺所/恵比寿

2009-07-06T20:58:00.005+09:00

This is the third branch of Mita Seimen Sho, a fairly accurate knock-off of Rokurinsha, basically the same taste, quite good, there is frequently a line here at lunch time, whereas there rarely was one when the place was Misomaru. The pork is better here than at either of the branches in Mita (near JR Tamachi Station) or Kabukicho. As I write this they are now opening a fourth branch in Ikebukero.

Supleks page
Diddlefinger Map (English labels)
Google Map

Xi'an/ShinjukuXi'an/新宿

2009-07-05T19:13:00.007+09:00

Across from the Shinjuku station Yodobashi Nishi Guchi Tokei Kan (watch store) - where I was getting my wife's watch battery replaced, is Xi'an. It has some of the hottest and most flavorful toshoumen anywhere. It's on the fourth floor in one of the these crazy Sega game buildings. When I got there it was about 1/2 full at 2 PM, and the floors were sort of dark. Many of the wait staff spoke both Chinese and Japanese. Unfortunately you don't get to see them slice the noodles up by hand into the pot (from a block of dough) from the non-smoking section. I ordered the ra-yu-su-ran-men, a form of toshoumen and suratanmen combined - very slippery and rich noodles, lots of ground beef and ra-yu in the broth - definitely good to the last drop, with sesame seeds too. The combination of the ra-yu and the added vinegar gives it the type of taste and smell that can easily overwhelm your nose and tongue - be careful. For another 500 yen you can get a plate of 8 good-sized gyoza with a dipping sauce. However these gyoza have a fairly light taste, not strong, and they was more filler in the filling than meat. However they might be good to dump into the soup, the sauce that came with them was good but not spectacular. They will bring you a special bib and there is a pitcher of water at your seat. The portion was decently-sized for the price and there was an option for omori. Take a look at the regular dinner menu also - several delicious-looking things there including a togarashi chicken and black vinegar pork spare ribs.

Tabelog page
Google Map

Ramen Jiro/Senjuohashiラーメン二郎/千住大橋

2009-07-05T17:00:00.006+09:00

First Ramen Jiro east of the loop that I have been to in a while. The reason for the delay on this one is that I saw a number of scary pictures of lines 40-50 people long for a while, right after it opened (in April IIRC). Take the Keisei line to Senjuohashi station. When I got there on a Saturday at 10:30 (opens at 11), the line was only 10 people long, and a steady rain was coming down. Usually the line will go around the building corner, it's literally right there when you come out of the station. This shop is brandy new, very clean with a bathroom in the back. The noodles were lighter and thinner than most Jiro noodles. However the pork was very dry and had strips of the tough fat running through it. Standard Jiro broth, not much suspended fat. Overall decent but might not be worth the change at Ueno from JR to Keisei to get there. Note that there was also a sign for the new Moriya Jiro in Ibaraki-ken (40 mins from Akihabara on Tsukuba) on the front door, this branch opened on or around the beginning of June and hasn't gotten stellar reviews either. So now were back down to two Jiro branches I haven't been to yet.

Dragonia Ryuhei (good pics)
Google Map

Ramen Jiro/Omiyaラーメン二郎/大宮

2009-06-30T20:42:00.008+09:00

Much of the area around JR Omiya Station seems a bit on the seedy side. If I never came back here again it would be too soon. A fair bit of garbage, odd-looking people walking around. On both sides of the Omiya Ramen Jiro there were love hotels. This Ramen Jiro opened last August to a bit of fanfare as it was the first one that had opened in a while. Finally got a chance to go up there on Sunday as their weekend hours are a bit weird, only open starting at 5 PM on Sundays, and noon to 4 on Sunday. The waiting time at this Jiro was about 30 mins, divided into two lines both in front of the place and directly across the street. The woman will come out to remind you to come in and buy a chip, or to see what chip you've bought, or to cajole you to move from one line to another. The soup was quite different here from other Jiro branches, there was no suspended fat at all, and the broth was not clear, with a strange slightly milky taste. The noodles were very thin, thinner than most other Jiros, similar to linguine, and over cooked. The pork was average for Jiro. One item on the toppings menu that is not usually on other Jiros is togarashi, but I didn't have it. No tissues or napkins. They do have tsukemen though, which again I did not try. Not sure this is worth the trip (from the lower 23 anyway).

Foodpia Olive page
Google Map

Tokyo Ramen Show 2009 (with pics)

2009-06-29T09:14:00.002+09:00

Finally getting around to posting these pics - went to the Ramen Show 2009 - won't be going back. Basically just a big field with small ramen shops and long lines. One line for tickets, another line for each shop.

This coming weekend the Tokyo Ramen Show 2009 will be held at the Chuo Hiroba in Komazawa Koen in Setagaya-ku. It will be held from 10 AM to 8 PM on Friday the 29th and Saturday the 30th, and until 5 PM on Sunday the 31st. There is no entrance fee, but there will be fees if you want to sample the ramen. I do plan to go so I will post some info afterwards.

The following link (Japanese only) has the map and more information:

http://www.ramen-kyokai.jp/ramenshow/index.html

This link has the list of shops that will attend, including Keisuke, Taishoken, Rokurinsha, and others, both alone and in "collaborations".

http://www.ramen-kyokai.jp/ramenshow/tenpo.html