Iroha/Odaibaいろは/お台場

  
 

Ramen Kokugikan is another one of the "ramen theme parks" in Tokyo. I am going to be trying to go to some more of those over the next few weeks. It is located in the Odaiba Aqua City in Odaiba, one of the larger shopping areas of Tokyo, on the bay in sight of Rainbow Bridge. You can reach Odaiba by the Yurikamome (the monorail) or the Rinkai lines. I presume that this place is supposed to be named after the famous sumo tournament location in eastern Tokyo, the Ryogoku Kokugigan. There were suprisingly few people in there for a Sunday afternoon. Of the stores in the shop (a picture of the shop list on the wall is above, as well as a picture of Rainbow Bridge), I decided to go with Menya Iroha as the Toyama black shoyu "kodawari" ramen with extra pork (5 thick-cut slices, 200 g of pork total) looked quite good - a bit pricey at 1300 yen though. Kodawari = extra special ingredients and attention to detail. All of the shops have small sizes, they feel that perhaps they can get people to try more than one. The noodle portion was quite small, only 200 grams, and that was the omori size that the waiter offered as a free service. The broth was quite rich, a "grilled" or "toasted" taste, but it was a taste that took a second or two to develop in your mouth, the broth was served really hot too. There is a bottle of extra-strong black shoyu on the table and it is worth adding some more of that to your bowl. You can also get ramen kits at this store to take home and make it yourself, those are the black and white boxes above the ticket machine.

Ramen Kokugikan Home Page (English)
Menya Iroha Home Page
Diddlefinger Map (English labels)
Google Map