Inari/Kyodo稲荷/経堂

   

UPDATE: 2009-05-18 - Kyodo has moved to the Kinuta area, near Soshigayaokura station. New Supleks page is here.

The line for Inari started early and was 3-4 people long already when I got there just after it opened. Long red noren hanging down in front of the door, blocking the view from the outside, and there's a little camera with a light above the door, however the viewscreen seemed to be not working when I finally got in the store. I had a pleasant conversation in English and Japanese with a couple of other people on line prior to coming into the shop. The default amount of noodles is 300+ grams for 1050 yen, however I asked for a smaller portion and got that down to 200 grams for 900 yen. A very polite but rushed server brought it over. Make sure to try the grilled pork chunks (not slices), pictures of them are at the link below. Quite sweet shoyu broth, with moderately thin noodles that were a bit overdone. I had never been to Kyodo before (this shop is 10 mins from the station) but this is held to be the best shop in the area according to some of the people I spoke with. According to the locals, this area around the station had 20-30 shops at one time, but there are maybe 5 worth going to now. I must say that the store has a very strange layout inside, because it appears to be one of these shops that is carved out of the leftovers of two other shops. It had a single table for one, with your dining partners being the fish in the fish tank (pictured above) and a bunch of signs warning about the parking. There was also a raised counter, and another oddly shaped table for 3. When I left there were about 10-15 people outside on line.

Supleks review page
Another blog site
Diddlefinger Map (English labels)
Google Map