カラシビ味噌らー麺 鬼金棒 - Kikanbou, Ikebukuro

カラシビ味噌ラーメン - Spicy Miso Ramen

   If you've got a little familiarity with kanji or Chinese characters you'll notice that the first one here is the character for "demon." With that knowledge, it doesn't take a genius to figure out that the folks here at Kikanbou are serving up some spicy ramen.

   Arriving at lunchtime, it's no surprise to see a queue, but it seemed to move pretty smoothly with the staff collecting your pre-purchased tickets to keep a steady pace. You do have some choices to make about how spicy you would like it. When in doubt, go with the normal one. Futsuu... 

   It wasn't over-the-top spicy (if you go for the standard level), but I guess that you have to be a lover of all things spicy to get the best out of it. Even this one had a slight tongue-numbing quality to it, too! Some tender chashu, and some thick noodles to soak up that miso-y goodness. But my favourite touch had to be the baby corn perched up high on the mountain of bean sprouts.

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麺処 花田 - Hanada, Ikebukuro

味噌ラーメン - Miso Ramen

    Anytime is a good time to get stuck into some miso ramen, but, let's face it, the winter is always the best and manages to keep you warm on even the coldest of days. So, on this not-so-cold day, it was off to Ikebukuro to join the line outside one of the more popular shops in the neighbourhood.

   Hanada appears to be a pretty well-oiled operation with 4 or 5 people behind the counter with each at their own station all helping to keep the line outside moving along. It has a very rough-around-the-edges feel and appearance isn't the highest priority and feels a little like sitting in a basement. But I hope they aren't thinking of getting rid of the dank.

    The ramen is a very thick, creamy style tonkotsu-miso and does exactly as you'd hope it would. 

   I was there a while ago and don't remember a lot else about it aside from the thick noodles and chashu.

    I wasn't there very long either, as you can imagine.

   A great bowl and definitely worth the visit if you're in the area. While you're lining up you can check the biggest pile of bean sprouts I've ever seen. I'm sure they go through a lot.

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Japanese Soba Noodles 蔦 - Tsuta, Sugamo

味玉醤油そば - Shouyu Ramen with Egg, ￥850

    With the weather starting to cool down the ramen magazines are back on the shelf introducing all of the new shops and some of the old, and Tsuta is the store taking home all of the accolades after opening in January 2012. The master's father once owned a famous ramen shop and despite his son's best efforts to not follow in his footsteps, after a stint in the corporate world, he returned to the ramen world. It was also a return of sorts for me having lived in this area a few years ago.

    With a pretty wide variety on the menu (including a red chili and tomato ramen) it can be a hard decision to make, but I went with shouyu ramen. I think it is a pretty good barometer as it can vary quite a lot, as opposed to miso ramen which is always good. Anyway, a pretty simple looking bowl can hide lots of things and this was no exception with the standout being the noodles which are made in-house. They had a very natural taste and seemed quite similar to soba. Could be something in the name after all...

   A nice bowl and definitely worth checking out if you're in the area. It's another shop following the recent trend of 'posh' ramen, but there is nothing wrong with that at all.

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Tsuta Homepage

富山ブラック 麺家いろは - Iroha, Ikebukuro

ブラック味玉らーめん - Black Ramen with Egg, ￥880
 
    Lunch with Brian from Ramen Adventures turned out to be quite the adventure with Iroha located on the 12th floor of the Tobu department store in Ikebukuro which took about 20 minutes and four attempts to reach. Each time I ended up in a different building. Oh well, now I know...
    Iroha originated in Toyama and specialises in a black shoyu ramen and also a shrimp ramen dish, one of which they may have even won an award for...

    Ramen isn't your standard fare on the restaurant level of department stores which are usually filled with other 'classier' restaurants, but as the ramen world becomes more and more competitive and diverse, Iroha didn't seem at all out of place... 

   If I'm not mistaken this looks like it was the black style ramen. For all of their awards (One by my count) Iroha didn't quite live up to its reputation. A pretty solid bowl but seeming to lack something extra. I am usually a big fan of peppery ramens too... Is it worth the effort of navigating a massive department store?

I'll let you decide...

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Iroha Homepage

節骨麵たいぞう - Bushikotsu Mentaizo, Ikebukuro

節骨こってりらーめん - Bushikotsu Kotteri Ramen ￥680
   
   After a hard day of throwing a frisbee around (see drinking) in the park, you need to replenish your spent energy, and there really is no better way to do this than a nice bowl of ramen - particularly when you have good company. And so it was off to Ikebukuro with some friends to check out their local recommendation.
   Taizo specialises in tonkotsu gyoukai ramen, but by the look of the ingredients on display outside the shop it looks to be more gyokai than tonkotsu.

     Predominantly a ramen shop, it also sells curry and other goodies, like gyoza. The all-you-can-eat curry for ￥750 seems like a good deal, but that will have to wait until next time. The gyoza was a nice little appetizer before the main event though.

     Our ramen finally made an appearance...

    It was definitely more fishy than porky which is a nice variation on the theme. The kotteri part means it's a little thick and oily, but there was a perfect amount of fat floating around the bowl - not too heavy. And, it's fish, right? So it must be healthy. However, since this place also allows you to crush your own garlic, there was most likely a pungent aroma permeating our table. I didn't notice though...

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Taizo Homepage

麺創房 無敵家 - Mutekiya, Ikebukuro

本丸麺 - Honmarumen (Tonkotsu Shoyu), ￥780

    Mutekiya is never without a line. Every single time I have walked past there has been at least 3 people waiting. One can only assume that with so many willing to wait that the ramen must be pretty good. This place has been on the list for quite a while but knowing that I was going to have stand outside always put me off. In the end, I just waited for a stormy day to make the wait even more pleasant.

    It's pretty much shoulder to shoulder inside, so if people slurping all around you isn't your style, it might not be for you.

     Someone will come and take your order outside so it's not just a matter of hitting and hoping on the ticket machine. The good part about this is that they have refined the system to an artform and the ramen arrives almost instantaneously. I opted for the flagship, honmarumen, in favour of the not-so-common kanimiso bowl.

     There is a lot to like about this bowl - It offers up some more wonderful Tokyo style tonkotsu, which is often a pleasure to look at as a basic-looking simple bowl and it also has room for the use of nanohana (rape blossom) as an unusual ingredient. It offers a very fresh, healthy contrast to the abura-laden tonkotsu soup. The noodles here were some of the better ones I've had. 

  You can also find some gyokai powder on the counter if you want to change things up a little and add a fishy flavour to your soup.

    Maybe I added too much... Or perhaps it was the amout of seabura floating around the soup. Almost got there though.

 

   I can understand why people are keen to wait outside, but it would certainly depend on the length of the line. Remember, this is Ikebukuro and there are plenty of places where you can slurp away. However, If you are willing to wait...

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Mutekiya Homepage

屯ちん - Tonchin, Ikebukuro

東京豚骨ラーメン - Tokyo Tonkotsu Ramen, ￥650

    Part of living and travelling in Japan is eating the local food that originated in that area when you're passing through. A trip to Osaka can't be made without sampling either okonomiyaki or takoyaki, or both. Therefore a ramen nerd making their way to Tokyo must indulge in a bowl of Tokyo style ramen. And a perfect place to try it is at Tonchin in Ikebukuro which prides itself on this with 'Tokyo Tonkotu Ramen' adorning just about everything - including the lightbulbs!

   There are a few of these around Tokyo (naturally) and if you want to continue with the authentic experience this store in Ikebukuro is the the honten, the original store. Even though I'm sure this lad isn't the creator, the hontens are usually much more popular than others bearing the same name.

    Arriving slightly before midday to avoid the lunchtime rush everything was ready to go.

     And the lunchtime crowd started to wander in just as my bowl arrived.

   Defining Tokyo ramen is quite a difficult proposition as there are so many different varieties that have been available in Tokyo for such a long time. However, I'm led to believe the most common feature is curly noodles. Tonchin has these ( 3 different amounts all for the same price) and your regular ramen ingredients. The soup here is also a very rich flavour with a fair amount of floating abura that will have slurping until you empty the bowl.

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Tonchin Homepage

ばんから - Bankara, Ikebukuro

ばんから角煮, Bankara Kakuni (Tonkotsu Shoyu), ￥980

 "Douzo, douzo. Iraishaimase."
   I thought that being a ramen chef could be a pretty interesting job - The people that do it are obviously well into their ramen, there is often a high-paced yet friendly atmosphere in the kitchen and they get to be creative. But after sitting at the counter directly across from the kitchen window at Bankara and watching the chef utter these words again and again, I'm not so sure. He didn't seem to be having fun and the scene was reminiscent of a cartoon character working away robotically as though he'd forgotten why he wanted to be a ramen chef in the first place.

    There are a few Bankaras around Tokyo and two in, what some say is the ramen capital of Japan, Ikebukuro itself. I made my way to the honten, the original store. It's actually a quite large store despite the fact that it's about 2 metres wide for the most part. It's just very long. And quite popular too as there was quite a big turnover and it remained full. One reason for this could be that people weren't interested in queuing up at neighbouring Mutekiya. (I'll get to it.)

  You'll need this...

  The ramen didn't take too long to come and looked as you would expect a bowl of tonkotsu shoyu to look except it was more of shoyu flavour with a little tonkotsu mixed in. 

    The bowl's a little busy...

    The overwhelmingly strong shoyu flavour which was most obvious in the chashu which tasted as though it had been soaking in a pot of soy sauce for days.

    I could only get this far with the broth as there was just too much abura floating on the surface and you have to draw the line somewhere when you're eating so much ramen.

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Bankara Homepage

すがもラーメン - Sugamo Ramen

 

とん塩ラーメン - Ton Shio Ramen ￥700

    I spent a good 15 months living in Sugamo so I would say I know the area reasonably well, but that didn't really stop me from frequenting the ramen shop that was closest to the station which is clearly not a seedy part of town at all.

                           

      Sugamo Ramen is a little unique among ramen stores in that it is definitely in the 21st century and follows the eco-friendly trend that has been popular in recent years. The ticket machine dispenses reusable plastic tickets rather than anitquated paper ones which you then place in a small plastic container on the counter (unfortunately, the staff usually ask for mine before I have a chance to follow this procedure...) Actually, now that I think of it, I see no reason why paper tickets can't also be re-used. And much like the subway system, everything is conveniently colour-coded.

    Surprisingly for this area of town I didn't see any old ladies (Sugamo is known as "おばあちゃんの原宿" or "Harajuku for old Ladies") inside, but just a couple of younger ones who were chatting away in much the same vein, but they seemed harmless enough. I was more worried about my ramen since I was lucky enough to be seated at the dreaded number 13!

    I opted for the tonkotsu shio ramen which was not the bowl that I tended to get when I was a regular customer but I though it sounded pretty tasty anyway. In retrospect, the tonkotsu shouyu is much better, but this wasn't the first time I had made the same mistake.

   Sugamo Ramen does seem to have a lot going for it. It's close to the station, it has a cool ticket machine, an easy name to remember and amazing looking ramen, but it's good, not great. 

   I asked for just the regular amount of fat (油) but, by looking at the bowl, I was sure they'd given me a really fatty bowl. In the end I just couldn't finish the soup. Maybe next time. 

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Sugamo Ramen Homepage