Gyoku/Kawasaki Cityぎょく/玉

 

Gyoku (the on-yomi for "tama", as in "tama negi", see their logo?) is another winner for tonkotsu gyokai in the fair state of Kanagawa-ken. Richer taste than most, and the pork was grilled on the outside and cut more thickly, and had less fat. The noodles are made in-store. Excellent. Not much more to write here. You can take a bus east from the bus stop locations on the southeast side of Kawasaki Station to get to the area quite easily, about 7 mins.

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Tomita/Matsudoとみ田/浅草

  

With a score of 99.532 as I write this, Tomita is the #1 ramen shop in Japan according to Supleks Database. If you also want to make the argument that Japanese ramen is the best in the world, then I guess the logical conclusion is that this is the best ramen shop on the planet. Doesn't look like much from the outside though, but looks are deceiving as anyone who has spent any amount of time in Japan can tell you.

Tomita combines high-quality tonkotsu gyoukai broth, very thick and rich, puts chopped onions and menmas in it, and serves it up hot. The noodles are well done but are a shade darker and thinner than other similar places like Rokurinsha. The pork is slightly fattier than I would like but overall is quite good as you can see from the picture. There were about 25 people on line as I got there and my total waiting time before I sat down was about 1 hour. No benches, but fortunately it was a nice day outside, a rarity for the middle of August, and I was happy to be on line for ramen (and not at work, I took a vacation week). Is this ramen significantly different from other tonkotsu gyoukai places such as Naoji, Rokurinsha, etc. No, not in my opinion.

Make sure that as soon as you get to Tomita, you buy your ticket, even before you get on line, as they come out from the shop every 5-10 mins or so to take the tickets from the last few people on line. This enables them to tee up the proper amount of noodles in the pot so that your bowl is in front of you within a minute of you sitting down - this is a difficult trick to get right all day I guess.

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Sagamihara Liberty Gourmet Plaza/Sagamihara相模原 リバティグルメプラザ/相模原

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This place used to have a larger number of ramen shops in it, but it looks like it has seen better days. There are a number of decent-looking places down the street though, including a couple Nagahama ramen places, Nagahama ramen is more-or-less largely equivalent to Hakata ramen.

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Tsushima/Asakusa中華そば つし馬/浅草

 

Tsushima is a fairly-highly-ranked niboshi tsukemen and ramen shop in Asakusa, inside the Shin-Naka-Mise covered shopping complex near the Metro station. A very thin broth, true classic tsukemen type, with a fair fish flavor, slightly sweet. A bit skimpy on the chashu for the price though. Full of non-Japanese tourists, as you would expect and can see from the picture, given where it is. Nothing wrong with that, just be aware. They do have an English menu that they will bring out if asked, and then you point to what you want and they put your money in the machine for you and do the needful, etc. Would this be my first choice for the area though? Maybe not - Asakusa actually has a fairly large number of shops (approx. 20) that are ranked 40 or better, including 7 that are ranked 50 or better. In the area you can also go to Ganso Ebisu Ramen, which isn't on my favorites list but is something that many foreign ramen-interested visitors come across due to its presence on the worldramen.net page. Interesting and probably worth it if you are in Asakusa, or need to take some visitors to an authentic ramen shop after a day sightseeing, but I personally wouldn't make a special trip, even though it is good.

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Tonchin/Kawasaki City屯ちん/川崎市

 
 

The Kawasaki City Tonchin is on the 7th floor of the Moas Building, right across from the various bus stops near the station. Note that in a future review where I cover Gyoku, I will tall you how to take the bus from one of these stations since in order to get to Gyoku it is a rather long walk. In any case Tonchin has two branches in Tokyo (one in Ikebukero, the original store, with long lines frequently, I walk by it whenever I go to the Ikebukero Jiro as it is right down the road) and the other one in Shinjuku, which I have not been to. Tonchin bills itself as true Tokyo tonkatsu ramen, however they offer both ramen and tsukemen. The Kawasaki store also has a fish/pork blend base ramen "uo-ton" (the red and blue buttons in the lower left), and similar chuuka sobas (orange). I had the chuuka soba this time, with extra chashu topping. The pork pieces were large but fairly thin. There was a few of those weird curly menmas in there too. The taste was good but not spectacular. The most popular one according to them is the "toku" one, the one on the upper left of the sign in the picture below.

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Setagaya/Shinagawaせたが屋/品川

  

Technically this store is in Takanawa, in Minato-ku, however I list it with the location of Shinagawa above since that is what many people will search on. The Shinatatsu Ramen Street is located just south of JR Shinagawa Station's Takanawa exit (the west-side one). It shares the distinction of being in this location with several other famous shops including Tetsu, Nantsu-Tei and Keisuke. To be honest, while Setagaya's ramen is good, it's not in my opinion up to the standards of the others and the taste was not that strong to me. The noodles are thing and not particularly special. I ordered the menma extra plate too, those were good. I know people go on and on about Setagaya, and it also has a branch in NYC, but I just can't get that enthused about it compared to some of the other places in Tokyo. It is owned by the same chain that owns the shio tsukemen place Hirugao (which just opened a branch on the Tokyo Station Ramen Street).

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Shoujin Kadofuji/Kashiwa City匠神角ふじ/柏市

 

Kadofuji is a member of the Kouji Dream group of shops - this also includes Tomita (next review, currently the #1 shop in Japan), a couple of Taishokens, and 25-3- other shops in the Kanto area. Kadofuji has been on television a few times and the emphasis there is always on the giant noodles and the heaping bowls of veggies and pork that are provided - sort of like Jiro (see some of the pics below). If you scroll down through the chain's home page below, you will see some of the examples and then also some of the stranger ramens that they have experimented with in the past. In any case today I went there to try their extremely thick tsukemen noodles with shoyu-yuzu dipping sauce. The emphasis at this shop is on very strong flavors. The yuzu dipping sauce was extremely potent and salty, I was almost looking for something to water it down with. A bit lighter on the yuzu ttaste (relative to the shoyu) would have helped also. I was unable to get the "baka buta" (バカブタ), the "stupid" amount of pork topping selection for 300 yen, since that was sold out already. However I only arrived at about 1 PM so if you want to get that one then better get there earlier. Note on the ticket machine they also have a special "collagen ball", recommended for women, that you can purchase as a topping for 100 yen (I didn't). Now the most importany thing in your bowl are the noodles, and these are some of the thickest around. fairly katame and almost as thick as the chopsticks at the thick end, these were excellent. You will be asked what size of noodles you want, the chuu-mori (370g) was enough for me, that was 3/4 pound of noodles. You can get even bigger sizes if you want and I believe that some of the TV shows that have highlighted this place show people getting 1.5 pounds, 2 pounds of noodles and then eating them all. Also not to be missed was the slightly fried shoyu garlic mixture in containers at each seat, you can see some of it on the menma in the picture.

The second-to-last picture above is actually that of a interestingly-owl-themed yakiniku shop a few doors down.

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Ramen Jiro/Moriyaラーメン二郎/守谷

   

Second to last Jiro today. I was on vacation this week and the week was leading up to this. If you have to wait on line outside for 30-60 mins, I figured today was the day. Weather has been unseasonably comfortable and not humid the last couple of days. Ramen Jiro Moriya is the only Jiro branch in Ibaraki-ken. You can get to Moriya very conveniently by taking the Tsukuba Express from Akihabara, I believe it is the 15th stop from Akihabara. Once you get to Moriya, you can then change to the Kantetsu Joso line and take it in the direction of Toride just one stop, to Minami Moriya Station. Then it is a pleasant 10-15 minute walk from the station through a seemingly middle-to-upper-middle-class residential neighborhood, videos of which someone was kind enough to post on Youtube here (the back way) and (the front way)here. Some of these semi-city folk have some pretty impressive vegetable gardens. In any case after arriving at the Ramen Jiro, there is actually a parking lot and the line spills out into it. Inside this is easily the largest Jiro I have ever been to, with the possible exception of Ikebukero. Very roomy, with two line of chairs on opposite sides of the room. The one to your left when you walk into the place is the first one that you will be waiting on, with the last seat right next to the water dispenser and the mirror. (there are two dispensers). Note that the mirror says "From the Mita Hon Ten" on it. The ticket machine will be on your right and I recommend that you get the sho buta single or double. This place has all of the hallmarks of being a Jiro classic: juicy pork and good cuts, not all dried up. Noodles were very thin, not over- or under-cooked, although some people might ask for them a bit more al dente. The broth, or should I say gravy, was the best part. For most Jiros, the broth (while still very thick compared to regular ramen broth), is still thin enough where you can see the suspended fat, and if you let it sit for a while, the oil comes up to the surface and the real meat broth drops to the bottom. Not so with this Jiro - the abura, oil and broth are blended together in some weird way to form real pork gravy - I really felt like that's what I was eating. Unbelievably thick, like some sort of pork stew gravy. Three people behind the extremely roomy counter, first time I have seen that in a long time. Tea/water vending machine outside. At this shop there is no sign up listing the no-charge toppings, however I know that you can ask for more/less garlic, veggies and abura. I realize this is way out of the way, but I have to recommend it.

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Fuji Yoshida Udon/Ebara富士吉田うどん まるなが/荏原

 

Yes, I do know that I am only supposed to be writing about ramen on this blog. However I sincerely feel that as far as udon shops go, and things that are "ramen-like", this shop deserves a special mention here. This is the first udon shop that I have ever written about. I had a hankering for thick firm udon, not too far from where I live, but I thought my options were basically a) slim and b) none. But I did some searching and I located Fuji Yoshida Udon Marunaga in Ebara, about a 5 minute walk west of Togoshi Ginza and 5 minutes south west from the Gotanda TOC shop. "Fuji Yoshida udon" is first and foremost a style of udon dish that is available in some towns in Yamanashi-ken near Mount Fuji. There are also a couple of companies by that name or similar that make specialized udon and soba. Fuji Yoshida udon (the dish) is comprised of very thick udon noodles (#2 pencil thickness, although sometimes slightly flat in cross-section), not completely cooked through it seems, served in a warm or cold medium thickness meat/shoyu broth with cabbage and meat (frequently chicken) in it, sometimes also onions. There are also various other toppings that people add like raw egg, wakame, etc. The combination of all of these things has an excellent taste and mouthfeel. In terms of mouth feel, the thick noodles, the cabbage etc., the whole thing is not unlike Ramen Jiro. So I found this place in Ebara and hippity-hopped on down there. I can definitely say that the noodles there are very satisfying. They will cook them longer if you you ask, some people may not really like them that al-dente. I am told that occasionally this place will have a line outside, but that might more frequently be in the fall or winter. I had the niku-negi tsuke-udon (肉ねぎつけうどん)- served like tsukemen, with the broth separate. Very tasty and satisfying. This place would make a good start or end to the day after strolling around Togoshi Ginza or shopping at TOC.

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Ebisu Hanten/Ebisu恵比寿飯店/恵比寿

 

Standard basic ramen and chinese food place near JR Ebisu Station. Decent quality, larger than average portions for the price, the taste is decent but nothing special. Mostly caters to similarly larger-than-average salarymen at lunch time. I had the shoyu ramen and beef/peppers/onions on rice set. Long counter with tables in the back for four.

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Ryoka/Tamachiりょう華/田町

 

Literally only 3 minutes walk from JR Tamachi Station is the little shop Ryoka, situated on a corner right off of the Daiichi Keihin. This is a small shop with a 6-7 seat counter and one table. This place has an excellent Shanghai sui-gyoza and chicken shio broth ramen lunch set for only 800 yen. Very good chicken broth, definitely tasted like it had been simmered for a long time, with a real chicken no less, and also pieces of shredded chicken and horenso (spinach). The gyoza were firm, with a thick wrapper, and full of meat and very flavorful. Other items are the yaki gyoza, which look just like the sui gyoza except they are fried. Other than that the lunch menu there is limited though but don't worry about that, just get the lunch set and enjoy.

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Kamachi/Ebisu框/恵比寿

  

On our way to our usual 500 yen ketchi cheapskate lunch at Ebisu Sakura Suisan one day (no laughing please - I happen to like that place...), my coworkers and I saw the sign for Kamachi out on the road near the station. Being the daring adventurous types as always, we decided to give it a try. It's in the second floor of a nondescript office building directly across from Ebisu Station's east side, sort of south from the excellent Jin Din Roh. Kamachi is part noodle house and part izakaya - the term apparently is men-saka-ba (麺酒場, not sake-ba but saka-ba). At lunch time they have yasai ramen and also a tsukemen dish with good chashu, with various side options. The noodles here were excellent, possibly the best in the Ebisu area. Extremely mochi mochi, almost like spaetzle or perfectly-cooked very thick spaghetti in their springiness, easily the equal of Mita Seimen Sho or similar. Lunch until 3. Closed Sundays and holidays. Free upgrade to large portion.

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Chin Chin Tei/Musashi Sakai珍々亭/武蔵境

  
  

Chin Chin Tei serves one of the best abura soba (油そば) dishes in Tokyo. Basically a cheap, tiny cafeteria-like room in a nondescript building about 15 mins walk from Musashi Sakai station on the JR Chuo line, it always has a large number of people lined up in front of it, according to one of the people I was on line with. The woman will open up the window on the side of the building and ask you what your order is (e.g. "shou abura soba") while you are waiting. Their abura soba, actually the "chashu" abura soba, comes with a generous portion of pork, plain but decent noodles, and an excellent oily porky broth. The large is actually almost comparable to the Jiro "dai" so be warned. You have to be careful when you mix it all around so that the parts don't go flying. Black pepper recommended. The staff is very friendly and chatted with me in (easy) Japanese while I waited for my meal. Probably don't get too many Westerners there. They also have regular chukka soba on the menu too.

Liking (as I do) to combine multiple targets in one region on one run, on the way back to the station from Chin Chin Tei I stopped at a place called Hao Hao (好好). This place's Shisen sui gyoza were also written up in the June 09 edition of Dancyu magazine. While the gyoza were quite good, with a spicy peanutty sauce, the service was not as polite as Chin Chin Tei's that day, the Chinese owner (notice the Chinese flag out front in the pictures) must have had something in for Westerners that day. As for this place, enter at your own risk.

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