Koukaiya/Asagaya航海屋/阿佐ヶ谷

 

Koukaiya is an "old-style" ramen shop, with an old look, old walls, old fixtures and old customers, spanning several branches in Tokyo, including branches in Asagaya, Shinjuku and Ikebukero. The large pieces of pork in the chashumen picture (チャーシューメン) on the menu web page at the link below are what attracted me to this place. If you go to this branch you will be asked what broth you want to choose from when you order, there are two types - one that is fish-based (gyoukai) and one that is chicken-based (tori-bara). I had the gyoukai one. The broth was moderately watery, a bit more watery than it should have been for the texture of the noodles, which were fairly plain. The pork slices were from a giant piece of kakuni buta but once they got to me they were only about 1/2 the size of the ones in the picture - I have been in Japan for a while now and really should have known better than to trust an ad picture. Very cramped store and it seemed like all of the customers and employees knew each other. You can see pictures of the different dishes also on the menu right outside the door, but you will still buy a ticket at the machine directly inside the door when you go it. Interestingly, they sell blocks of the kakuni buta right outside the shop for 500 yen each, you will need to tell them that you want one as there is no one manning the stall outside, I bought one and it was decent.

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