I’m a bit of a ramen obsessive (it might just be my favourite food on the planet), so obviously, I had to eat a bunch of ramen while I was in Tokyo. It was my duty and my obligation, and I did it happily.
I figured things might get a bit dull around here if I wrote a full post for every bowl (though there were a few I couldn’t resist writing a whole post for), so here’s a quick round-up of all the ramen I tried.
Torigen
This place is near where I’m staying, and I dropped in completely at random, so I had no idea what I was in for. It turned out to be a very pleasant surprise. They make a tonkotsu-style ramen with chicken instead of pork, and it was super tasty. The bowl is incredibly rich — borderline too rich (it’s so thick and creamy it’s almost like gravy soup). But it never quite crosses that line. It has a nice depth of flavour that never wears out its welcome. The thin noodles are nice and chewy, and the chashu is super tender with a really nice flavour.
Location: 7 Chome-51-１３ Nishikamata, Ōta-ku, Tōkyō-to 144-0051, Japan
Miyamoto
I’ll admit that the main reason I went here was because the name tickled me (as a Nintendo die-hard since childhood, I’m a pretty big fan of Shigeru Miyamoto). Miyamoto (the ramen joint, not the man) is known for tsukemen ramen (a style of ramen where you dip plain noodles into a concentrated broth), so I pressed the first button on the obligatory ticket vending machine hoping that’s what I’d get. And I did, happily. Though it can’t quite hold a candle to the mind-blowing ramen at Fuunji, it’s tasty stuff. The thick, ultra-rich dipping soup is intensely salty with a nice fishy funk. There are some citrusy pops that help to offset its intensity, but it does sometimes feel a bit one-note in its flavour. There’s also a decent amount of raw onion in the soup, which isn’t my favourite thing ever. Still, the thick noodles are perfectly chewy, and I quite enjoyed it despite my reservations.
Location: 7 Chome-8-1 Nishikamata, Ōta-ku, Tōkyō-to 144-0051, Japan
Zoot
Though this would almost certainly be a top-tier bowl of ramen back home, here in Japan, it’s fairly middle-of-the-road. It’s actually quite tasty, but nothing about it particularly stands out. The tonkotsu broth is rich and creamy, with slightly smoky undertones, but for the most part it’s a bit one-note salty. Still, the chashu is above average, and the medium-thick noodles are especially chewy. And like I said, I quite enjoyed eating it — there just wasn’t anything about it that rocked my world.
Location: 7 Chome-42-７ Nishikamata, Ōta-ku, Tōkyō-to 144-0051, Japan
Ramen Nagi
Well, that was a bit of a mixed bag. Ramen Nagi serves niboshi (dried sardine) ramen, and it certainly has an intense sardine-infused funk. As someone who really enjoys sardines, that’s delightful. And the chashu was really interesting — it was kind of ham-like, but still super tender and really flavourful. On the other hand, my bowl was intensely salty. I think it might have been the saltiest bowl of ramen that I’ve ever had? It was a bit much. Plus, they mix in flat, broad noodles along with the traditional thick ramen noodles, which is a good idea in theory — but the flat noodles were overcooked and mushy. Even the ramen noodles were softer than they should have been. I still enjoyed this bowl (that deep sardine flavour is fairly irresistible), but it’s hard to overlook those issues — especially since, at 1200 yen, it’s on the pricier end of ramen in Tokyo.
Location: 1 Chome-1-10 Kabukichō, Shinjuku-ku, Tōkyō-to 160-0021
Ramen Jiro
I felt compelled to write a whole post about Ramen Jiro, so you can read that here.
Location: 2 Chome-16-4 Mita, 港区 Minato-ku, Tōkyō-to 108-0073
Menya Kaijin
There are a handful of things that stand out about the ramen at Menya Kaijin. The broth is nice and light, with a pronounced seafoody flavour (I believe it’s made from fish and shrimp) that doesn’t overwhelm. The pops of flavour that you get from the ginger and cilantro are a nice addition, and the noodles have a great texture despite being so thin. The bowl also comes with a shrimp ball and a chicken ball, both of which are really tasty, with a super tender texture. The shrimp ball, in particular, was quite delightful. You can also get an optional grilled rice ball on the side, which you’re supposed to put in your soup when the noodles are done. It’s nice and crispy on its exterior, and does a pretty good job of soaking up the flavour from the soup. I wouldn’t say you have to get this, but if you’re really hungry, it’s a solid addition. This wasn’t a mind-blowing bowl of ramen, but it was a very good one.
Location: 〒160-0022 Tōkyō-to, Shinjuku-ku, Shinjuku, 3 Chome−35−７ さんらくビル2F
Muku Zweite (in the Shin-Yokohama Ramen Museum)
This is another one I wrote a whole post for.
Location: 2 Chome-14-21 Shinyokohama, Kōhoku-ku, Yokohama-shi, Kanagawa-ken 222-0033
Rokurinsha
This was actually quite disappointing. Not because it was bad — it was actually quite good! But this place has a huge amount of hype around it (I showed up at around 10:40 in the morning and the line was at least thirty people deep), so my expectations were very high. Rokurinsha specializes in tsukemen, and there certainly wasn’t anything wrong with it. The thick noodles have an amazing, chewy texture, and the soup has a mild smokiness, a subtle fishy funk, and a bit of a porky richness. Note the words “mild,” “subtle,” and “a bit.” The soup in a tsukemen-style ramen should be a taste bonanza, and comparatively, this was bland. Again, it wasn’t unpleasant, there just wasn’t a lot here to get your blood pumping. Also: the chashu was odd. It had the taste and texture of turkey. Which would be fine if it were turkey! But I’m fairly confident it’s pork. I can’t say I’ve ever tasted anything quite like it before.
Location: 〒100-0005 Tōkyō-to, Chiyoda-ku, Marunouchi, 1 Chome−1−9-1 東京駅一番街 東京ラーメンストリート内 (It’s in”ramen street” on the lower level of Tokyo Station.)
Ramen Jun
The ramen here is interesting. It comes with a huge pile of seaweed on top — it’s basically like the usual nori, but shredded and a bit heartier than your typical sheet of seaweed. It quickly settles into the soup, where it softens and mingles with the noodles in a way that’s actually quite delightful. The ramen also comes topped with the typical chashu, and a whole bunch of raw onion. The flavour isn’t kidding around — it’s salty, seaweedy, porky, and oniony. There’s just enough depth that it never feels one-note, but the flavour is constantly dialed up to eleven when it could probably be at an eight or nine. It’s also insanely fatty — but instead of the fat becoming part of the soup, like a really rich bowl of tonkotsu, there are hundreds of pea-sized fat pieces floating in there. It’s interesting.
Location: 5 Chome-20-7 Kamata, Ōta-ku, Tōkyō-to 144-0052
Takano
Check out the full post about Takano here.
Location: 2 Chome-15-１０ Nakanobu, Shinagawa-ku, Tōkyō-to 142-0053
Konjiki Hototogisu
This was actually a pretty massive disappointment. Konjiki has a Michelin star and lines to match — I showed up around half an hour before they were scheduled to open, and the line was already massive. It took me a bit over an hour to get inside; by the time I had a tasty looking bowl of shio ramen in front of me (made with a seafood base), I was quite excited. Alas, the ramen here is okay at best. The biggest culprit? Truffle oil. I’ve already brought up my distaste for this stuff elsewhere on this blog, but I’ll reiterate that “truffle” oil (which is almost never made with actual truffles) is bad and people should stop using it. I can tolerate it in small doses, but either someone’s hand slipped or they’re just using way too much here, because it was basically all I could taste. I suspect there’s a very good bowl of ramen hiding underneath the in-your-face truffle oil assault — the soup has a very rich consistency with zero greasiness, and when other flavours were able to poke their way through (which was rare), they seemed very good. Also: the pork was a bit bland, and the noodles were a touch softer than they should have been. On the plus side, the egg was phenomenal — the yolk was just barely set and perfectly gooey. So there’s that at least.
Location: Japan, 〒160-0022 Tōkyō-to, Shinjuku City, Shinjuku, 2-chōme−4−１ 第２２宮庭マンション1F
The Best: Muku Zweite — I’m kind of shocked that this turned out to be my favourite bowl of ramen on this trip. With its use of European ingredients and flavours, you’d think that it might feel more gimmicky than anything else. But it absolutely works, and it’s so damn tasty.
The Rest (best to worst): Takano, Torigen, Miyamoto, Ramen Jun, Ramen Nagi, Rokurinsha, Menya Kaijin, Zoot, Ramen Jiro, Konjiki Hototogisu