MenYa Basara/Ookayama麺屋 婆娑羅/大岡山

   

This is a little bit of an obscure place near Ookayama Station (double or long "o") but it's a special find and merits a Recommended rating. The store is very clean and roomy. Water and tissues are along the side near the back, the ticket machine is in the front on the left when you pass through the door. I had the lunch tsukemen (they only have it at lunch time per the attached links below). The soup base has a distinctive Jiro-like flavor, but with some spicyness added, possibly via something like cloves, and there was an onion taste also. Not nearly as much suspended fat in the broth as Jiro. The noodles are made in the back of the store by the standard-issue giant green noodle machine, with the rolls of noodle dough hanging to the right ready to be loaded and cut. The noodles were very fresh and well done, and the 350g portion was pretty big when the veggies (cucumbers, tomato and moyashi) were heaped on top. Tomato is rare for ramen or tsukemen (not uncommon for hiyashi chuuka though). No pork comes with the base tsukemen however - the single chashu ticket (the one with 豚 on it but without the W on it) gets you two generously thick slices with very little fat, if any, on them. If you buy the W ticket you will get two slices more. If you are in the Ookayama area or stations close by (Midorigaoka, Jiyugaoka, Senzoku) on the Tokyo Meguro or Oimachi lines (Ookayama Station is a junction for the two lines), I definitely recommend you stop by.

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