GSTA-MEN/Kanda Surugadaiグスタメン/神田駿河台

UPDATE 2009-02-01: This place is now called DON Go-ju-ban, it appears as though the author of the amasan blog went there yesterday, but it's not clear whether it is still open or closed, since supleks has it as closed: http://amasan.livedoor.biz/archives/51393876.html#trackback



If you are fan of the rich and spicy "dan dan men" (坦々麺) then this is one ramen shop you can't miss in Tokyo. If you don't know what dan dan men is then please refer to the Ramen Glossary on the left. This shop is done out in this interesting LA gangster rapper motif, all the way from the murals on the inside walls of the shop to the bullet-shaped GSTA-MEN logo outside above the front door. There were only a couple of other people in there when I went, I imagine this type of ramen goes down much better in winter than in summer - I can't believe I went to this place in the middle of August. The dan dan men was quite hot/spicy, it was hard to finish the whole bowl. It has a tonkatsu-looking really really deep fried giant thing in the middle of it that I'm pretty sure was pork. One nice touch was that afterwards the ojisan (a young guy) offered me a glass of a syrupy lemon drink, sort of like an intermezzo, and it really helped get the hot taste out of my mouth. With one exception, dan dan men is the only type of ramen that they have on the menu, so make sure that's what you like. It's in the middle of an area that has lots of skiing and snowboard shops. Overall this is different enough and well-done enough to earn a Recommended, just make sure you can handle something like this before you go.

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