蒙古タンメン 中本 - Nakamoto, Okachimachi

蒙古タンメン - Mongolian Tanmen

    Nakamoto is not your typical ramen restaurant, but it does seem to be one of the more well-known and is the first place anyone mentions if the conversation turns towards spicy ramen and has a number of branches around the major hubs of town. This one is in Okachimachi is one of a cluster of ramen shops under the Yamanote line tracks.

   The soup is tanmen, which is a more traditional type of noodles from China that comes with stir-fried meat and vegetables, but the real fire comes from the Mapo Doufu, a dish from the Sichuan province of China which famed for being the home of all sorts of spicy creations.

   It was definitely the spiciest ramen I've had, and alarmingly was only a 4/10 level of spiciness according to their menu. You'll definitely want to keep one hand on your water while you're slurping away.

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与ろゐ屋 - Yoroiya, Asakusa

味玉ラーメン - Ajitama Ramen

   The best way to enjoy a bowl of ramen is on an empty stomach. This is especially true if you know that you'll be having a bowl later on - the anticipation can reach fever pitch in that few minutes between placing your order and being presented with that wonderful bowl of glistening unhealthiness. This is exactly how I was feeling the morning I went to Yoroiya, just a stone's throw away from Tokyo's famous Sensoji Temple in Asakusa.

   Being in such a well-trodden tourist area it seems to be friendly to non-Japanese speakers so you won't have too much trouble ordering. The problem is that it's not one of the places I would recommend. At the very least I wouldn't get anything with an egg: I'm not sure whether I caught them on a bad day or it's always like this, but the eggs had to be ejected from the bowl. Finished the rest though.

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東京タンメン トナリ - Tonari, Ueno

ジャージャータンメン - Jya Jya Tanmen
From the photographs you can see that it was quite a while ago that we were here. It was Tonari's special summer dish, jya jya tanmen. A few veggies and some thick, chewy noodles topped with a spicy sauce.

Not completely sure on the origins but I'm guessing it's an adaptation of a Chinese dish. We're all on the internet here so I'm sure we can find out. Anyway, you mix it together like so...

After that you're free to enjoy as much as you like.

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麺屋鶴若 - Tsuruwaka, Minowa

背脂中華そば - Seabura Chuka Soba

   All good things must come to an end, as they say, so it's sad to see that the ramen shop that got me through my first winter in Tokyo, Takumiya, is no longer with us. Of course, with all the subsequent ramen that I've eaten, it's safe to say that it wasn't actually that good. Luckily the premises was set up in a such a way that another ramen shop was the obvious choice to be the next tenant. I'm not sure if these holes in the counter were there before, nor their purpose.

    Tsuruwaka is the relatively new kid on the block - actually I'm not quite sure how new as I went there months ago, and it has been there at least a year - but nevertheless, it is now a different places for the residents of Minowa to get their ramen fix.

   There it is! Honestly, I don't remember a lot about this bowl aside from the fact that it wasn't very memorable. Does that count?! It was quite good and definitely an improvement on what used to be available here, but it seemed to be lacking in originality. Not the worst by any stretch, but lacking something that made it unique.

   Obviously I didn't have any problems finishing it though.

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油そば専門店 万人力 - Banninriki, Iriya

油そば 並盛 - Regular Abura Soba, ￥600

   Every now and then you come across a ramen shop that is really into creating a instantly recognisable brand, and with T-shirts for sale for ￥3500 and a simple yet deceptively difficult to read name - is that Banjinriki? - written on everything, Banninriki is one of these places. There's also an interesting counter here with a walkway for the staff through the middle that kind of resembles a kaiten zushi  restaurant.

   The regular size is 140g of noodles which is usually good for ramen, but seemed a like a pretty small amount here. I should have gone for the next size up...

   Commonly with abura soba you are expected to mix in a little vinegar and raayu, chili oil to keep the noodles moist. The recommended amount at Banjiriki is to squeeze while making 1.5 revolutions. That seemed to be an optimal amount as I thoroughly enjoyed this one.

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京めん 壱慶 - Kyomen Ikkei, Ueno

味玉ラーメン - Ramen w/ Egg, ￥800

    If you haven't stumbled upon this page or read about ramen before, you're probably aware that different areas of Japan have different styles of ramen. Some areas even have more than one! In saying that, today's ramen was Kyoto style, which differs from the image of Kyoto as the subtle, traditional home of Japan. This was a greasy tonkotsu-shoyu type ramen.

   Overall it was a pretty average bowl of ramen. This is reflected in the often empty counter while the masses queue outside Musashi Bukotsu which is located just across the road. This is probably made worse by the fact that it is quite a large ramen shop. 

    There was nothing particularly memorable about it, apart from being a little spicy, but it wasn't the worst in the world. I think the midnight closing time might attract the after drinks crowd when it doesn't really matter what your ramen tastes like.

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江戸前煮干中華そば きみはん - Kimihan, Uguisudani

特性江戸前煮干中華そば醤油 - Special Niboshi Shoyu Ramen, ￥900

    Yet another trip to a northern Tokyo ramen shop in the shitamachi area of Uguisudani, this time to fulfil another craving for niboshi ramen which, after eating at nagi and tomita shokudo, I'm experiencing a lot lately. The full title of Kimihan starts with edo mae, Tokyo style. This is usually reserved for sushi and references the old name of Tokyo (Edo) and the fact that the fish were caught in the area around Tokyo Bay. In saying that, I'm pretty sure that these particular fish weren't since Tokyo Bay probably doesn't have the purest water I've come across.

   With 'TEAM 102' emblazoned across their backs, you might have guessed that this store has some kind of connection to the famous Tetsu in Sendagi. And you'd be right... The signs around the shop confirm that they studied how to make tsukemen under the tutelage of Mr. Tetsu himself. This doesn't necessarily mean that the kitchen doesn't occasionally have some minor deficiencies. 

  Of course, with the cooler weather in Tokyo, the ramen was pretty much a no-brainer.

   The special part, tokusei, in the title essentially means that your ramen will have a little more of everything and in this case it seemed like a lot more of everything. In this case it was 4 slices of chashu, a couple of wontons and an egg cooked to near perfection.

    From the very first slurp of the soup the powerful taste of yuzu was evident, along with some small pieces of yuzu peel here and there. At first, this was a nice surprise and quite intriguing, but as the voluminous bowl went on it was perhaps a little too much yuzu for one day. Not surprisingly, I guess, it ended up tasting a little like tsukemen... Which isn't of course a bad thing.

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Kimihan Homepage

麺屋武蔵 武骨相傳 - Musashi Bukotsu Souden, Ueno

 

相傳つけ麺（黒） - Souden Tsukemen (Black), ￥750

    This recently-opened store is part of the same family of stores as Musashi Bukotsu (also in Ueno), hence the almost exact same name. Despite the same background and similar appearance the shops are both rather different. Bukotsu Souden has a quite interesting interior and is certainly one of the sleek, modern ramen shops that pop up around Tokyo on a regular basis. The shop was quite busy despite the emptiness of this photo - Everybody left within two minutes of each other.

 

  The stores fixation on all things sword-like is a little disturbing, however it makes for a unique experience.

    They also seem to treat the chashu with a God-like reverence... And the cleanliness of an operating theatre.

    Once you make your choice at the ticket machine and hand your ticket over you will have to decide between red, black or white soup. These are all actually the same gyokai based soup with different ingredients added at the end. The white is basically the same, the red is a spicy version and the black is made from kogashi onions, garlic and a little coffee. Apparently they have a not-so-secret menu too - a combination of black and red.

   I was expecting something similar to the other Ueno store but it was completely different. The soup had a very-strong gyokai flavour and was well complemented by the seared vegetables. The noodles were seemingly covered in glue as everything stuck to them.

   An entertaining store to visit with it's novel pirate-y atmosphere, modern dining area and the real possibility of hearing some ramen shop staff belt out a few of the orders that come their way in full chorus. Oh, and the ramen... The ramen is great.

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Bukotsu Souden Homepage

麺や武蔵武骨 - Musashi Bukotsu, Ueno

黒武骨 - Black Bukotsu Ramen (Tonkotsu Shoyu) ￥750

    Despite being one of the major hubs of Tokyo, Ueno isn't known much for it's ramen however there are a few ramen shops that seem quite popular around the Ameyoko market area. You'll find this member of the Menya Musashi family if you see the ropes set aside to organise the line. Luckily, we can wait in air-conditioned bliss inside once we've bought our tickets, lingering over those unlucky enough to be seated near the ticket machine.

    The staff were kept pretty busy by the constant flow of salarymen looking for their Friday night fix and the tsukemen seemed to be the most popular choice with the mercury hovering around 30 degrees celsius.

     With summer slowly creeping up I decided to buck the trend and ordered the black ramen, treating each passing bowl as it could be my last for the summer... (This doesn't include tsukemen.) Also, I couldn't pass up the opportunity for a bowl of ramen infused with squid ink.

    The colour is mainly aesthetic and novelty as we get a nice, creamy bowl of tonkotsu shoyu with a healthy serving of menma and spring onions. The pork is sliced thick like the bread in a Japanese supermarket and quite tender.

    Despite the heat it was an easy bowl to finish. I was also impressed by the fact there's a design on the spoon. Apparently they're working on an idea to get one on the chopsticks too.

Ramen Database (Look here for some of their ramen with chocolate photos)

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Musashi Bukotsu Homepage

ラーメン長山 - Nagayama, Uguisudani

豚骨ラーメン - Tonkotsu Ramen ￥650

　 If you ever find yourself in need of a late night snack when you are wandering around the love hotels of Uguisudani, then Nagayama could be the place to fulfill your needs... It's just a short walk across the bridge from the south exit of the station and just to the left of the bottom of the stairs. And ten seconds from this sign...

    Don't be turned off by the fact that the place isn't much to look at. It is, after all, just a ramen store and chances are you won't be in there any longer than 20 minutes. Even if they do keep some the cooking equipment on the 1970s installed laminex counter. Understandably so since there are only 12 counter seats in this tiny space which is bundled in amongst many more shitamachi-style shops.

　

    It seems as though the 2 staff who were working on the balmy spring afternoon I attended either enjoy their job or were just appreciative of the lovely weather outside while they were holed-up in a hot kitchen. In any case, they were friendly and chatty and offered a few choice insights into modern Japanese culture which made the entire experience quite pleasurable.

    With my tickets for a beer and a piping hot bowl of tonkotsu ramen placed on the counter I had to decide which kind of noodles I wanted and whether to indulge in the omori service, free of charge. I declined the larger serving and selected the thinner noodles...

     Tonkotsu ramen is probably about as close to liquid gold as I can imagine and the soup at Nagayama was a excellent representation of it. The menma and spring onions were only sparing but that was more than made up for by the extra-greasy, silky smooth chashu.

   The regular size was a good choice and left me wanting perhaps just a little more. Maybe next time...

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巧家 - Takumiya, Minowa

醤油ラーメン - Shoyu Ramen ￥750

     My first bowl of ramen since living in Japan came at Takumiya so I do have a soft spot for it even though I have since discovered it doesn't really match the quality of other ramen stores in Japan. When walking by on a cold winter's day, Takumiya draws you in with the strong smell of ramen emanating from the vents, and the foggy glass door gives you a warm, cozy feeling.
    Takumiya doesn't appear to specialise in one particular ramen and offers shoyu, miso and shio varieties. I opted for the shoyu on the slightly different ticket machine which which allows you to punch in your order on a small electronic keypad which corresponds to the numbered menu to the left. However, once I had ordered, I noticed that the tsukemen appeared to be the most popular amongst the clientele. I had already opted for the shouyu ramen since it appeared at the top of the list so I assumed it would be the stores recommendation, although I cannot confirm this.

    The shoyu was pretty reasonable. The chashu was pretty standard - nothing to write about, yet here I am writing about it - but I feel that one slice probably isn't enough to justify the ￥750 price tag.  Back in the days of this being my regular haunt after a long day at work, the chef would often add a second slice, but I don't think he remembered me this time. The noodles were thin, (not as thin as Hakata ramen) and at one point were tangled which left the centre area of the knot a little undercooked. I didn't drink all of the soup which was a little bitter and I had to leave some room to finish my bottle of beer.
    If you're in the area on a cold winter's night in need of some warming up Takumiya will definitely fulfil your needs,  however Minowa is not the most convenient place and it probably isn't worth a trip out there just for this place.

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一風堂 - Ippudo, Ueno

赤丸かさね味 - Akamaru (Tonkotsu Ramen), ￥850

     With my father deciding to brave the aftershocks and visit Tokyo, it was only natural that I would take him out to enjoy a bowl of ramen (or two) and there aren't many places better to go than Ippudo if you're only in town for a short time. This place is spreading the joy of ramen around the world these days with stores in New York City and Singapore. We were in Ueno so we went to that store... And lucky for us it was open.

    The usual lunchtime crowd of businessmen perched themselves around the large communal table that we were seated at but more interestingly there were a few freebies on the table which would surely be gobbled down by every single customer if this weren't Japan. We helped ourselves to some spicy moyashi while we waited for our ramen.

    Ippudo originated in Fukuoka and offers us 3 different varieties of the renowned hakata tonkotsu ramen that emerged from the same area. I've only tried 2 types there - The red (赤) and the white (白) - and decided to go with what I know best...

    Ippudo is one of the most popular and well-known chains in Japan with good reason. There really is nothing wrong with this ramen at all - The soup has a really rich, strong pork flavour and is only slightly spicy and it is a pretty decent serving. There isn't a great deal of chashu but they're not really skimping on it at the same time. And I'm pretty sure there weren't any octopuses weren't harmed here either - just some garlic oil. The thin hakata style noodles are great when you really want to shovel it in too.

    Not that it really needs it, but one of my favourite activities at Ippudo is to add some extra garlic myself and here we don't just scoop some crushed garlic out of a jar...

    I've never seen anyone take these away to be cleaned but they're always immaculate when I want to use them. They've got a pretty unique tipping system too, but I was a little suspicious of the salarymen around so I declined. 

   All in all, a pretty good place to visit and worth the 20 minutes of your day that it will take up - particularly so if you're in town for a short stay and only have time for one bowl.

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Ippudo Homepage