Junren/Takadanobaba純連/高田馬場

 

I don't review a lot of miso ramen shops since it is not one of my favorite types. I find it significantly saltier than other types of ramen and the smell is sometimes not to my liking, the way some people find the smell of certain tonkotsu ramen shops unpleasant. However since Junren is one of the oldest and most consistently-highest ranked miso ramen shops, and it came recommended by a Japanese coworker who is aware of my preferences w/r/t ramen styles, I decided to give it a try. I went on a weekday vacation day, early in the afternoon, so as to hopefully not encounter a long line. Unfortunately this was not to be, and the line was about 15 people long outside, with two or three inside. Note that there is a sign on the sidewalk right outside the door, specifying that people lining up outside have to stay to one side of the sidewalk. Some woman who walked by reminded us of that forcefully. In any case I ended up getting the miso chashumen for 1150 yen. Large wrap-around counter inside with 5 guys working the kitchen. The miso taste itself was very good but salty, and I think it was a bit overpriced for the taste and the amount. Not a very thick miso, some miso ramens are very thick in texture. The pork was good but again not particularly special, cooking it more or grilling it would have made a big difference. I got the sense that a lot of the people on line were out-of-towners. Many people want to get the whole Sapporo miso experience with the corn and butter and all, that was just too much for me. I recommend getting either the extra menma, or the rice and dumping it in near the end to mix it up like a risotto.

Shop Home Page
Google Maps

Eleven Omori/Omoriイレブン大森/大森

 

This style of broth is sometimes referred to as Tokyo tonkotsu. It's a flavor that seems to have a lot of tonkotsu and shio but not much shoyu. The pork as you can see from the pictures was excellent, really well cooked and falling apart. Lots of wakame and seaweed, almost a bit too much seaweed. Good home-make thin curly noodles, this is almost more like a Chinese soup with this style of ingredients. Omori chashu men was 1150 yen and definitely worth it. Shop has this odd stadium seating type of arrangement with some private eating areas, sort of like Ichiran.

Kigeki Ramen Page
Google Maps

Aojima Ramen/Akihabara青島ラーメン/秋葉原

 

This unassuming little shop tucked into a boring corner of Kanda scores 80+ on Supleks. Very good, rich, dark shoyu. Generous amount of well-cooked pork and menmas. Noodles were plain but good. Served incredibly hot. Go before it becomes too famous, I did.

Shop Home Page
Kigeki Ramen Page
Google Maps

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.

Shop Home Page
Google Maps

MomoNoKi/Shinjuku Gyoenmae桃の木/新宿御苑前

  

This place was formerly called Hirugao and got a Recommended rating at that time, based more on the grilled pork more than anything else. Working behind the counter today were two young female ramen-ya-sans, the first time I have ever seen that, no men at all. They have two broths to choose from, the one on the left in the picture of the sign above is "konbu-shoyu", the one on the left is shio flavor, more specifically "ten-pi-shio" or "ten-jitsu-en" (the exact pronunciation is not clear) sun-dried sea salt flavor. I had the salt flavor broth as that is what Hirugao was famous for before. The noodles are also similar in taste and texture to the ones originally from Hirugao, albeit a bit thicker. No toppings are available any more, although they can do the noodles as atsumori (in warm water) if you want. The broth now has shaved pork slices in it, similar to the slices you get in the beef bowl at Yoshinoya, along with chopped up onions and thin strips of agedoufu. I'm disappointed that the pork is no longer part of the picture anymore. Water is self-serve, put your dishes up on the counter when you leave. I certainly hope these two ladies succeed but their approach doesn't seem special enough to me, it is basically no different from nikushiru udon, almost.

Men Koi Blog
Google Maps

Kosumo at Vinawalk/Ebina古寿茂 at VINAWALK/海老名

    

Ebina Vinawalk is another one of these giant shopping malls way outside of Tokyo, that contains one of these "ramen theme parks", as we refer to them on this site. Actually this place was not a shopping mall so much as a giant collection of outdoor individual stores, sort of connected by an odd collection of roofs and walkways. Mostly clothing stores but also an Outback, some pachinko places etc. The food court and supermarket are worth checking out on their own as they have some stalls and shops not normally seen in other places of this type. So the included ramen theme park, called "Ramen Place" or "Ramen Tokoro", contains seven shops including branches of Iroha, Aoba and Seishoumaru. I chose to go to Kosumo (古寿茂), a very clean and large shop that specializes in chicken broth ramen or "toripaitan", written as "鳥白湯". This is a very salty but very clean-tasting chicken-broth-based ramen that was very rich, with a generous amount of fat and oil in it. The "chashu" is actually several moderately thick slices of white-and-dark meat chicken, the breast + whatever else. The noodles were medium thickness and tasted as though they were in-house made. Some chopped negis and menmas also complete the picture. They have English menus on the wall and next to the ticket machine which is on the left immediately when you come in. A very rich filling taste on a rainy day.

Tabelog Shop Page
Vinawalk Ramen Tokoro Page
Google Maps

Kouya/Takanawadai香家/高輪台

 

Decent dan-dan men (with and without broth), some good gyoza, some good side dishes. Very cramped though. Various Chinese Shaoxing wines served from pots. Chain of several shops including one on the Gotanda TOC shop.

Shop Home Page
Google Maps

Shinnosuke/Totsuka中華そば しんの助/戸塚

 

Shinnosuke is located about 15 walk west of JR Totsuka station on the Chogo Highway (right above the Blue Line) and right near the Tokai-do overpass. They have two parking spots right next door. A little bit of an uphill climb and they are doing some massive construction project around the station as always seems to be the case. A bit of a line but they had several seats inside and two outside. Interestingly decorated wood counter that wraps all the way around the store. One table in the corner. No ticket machine, but a menu on the wall. The recommended dish is the niku soba (肉そば) for 990 yen, at the bottom of the menu. A preponderance of green onions in a rich tonkotsu gyoukai broth, served in a narrow but deep bowl - with 7 or 8 half-inch-thick half-dollar-sized chunks of grilled pork that was so tender it was literally falling apart in the bowl. Commercial Mikawaya noodles though, but they were good. You might want to consider the omori noodles for 100 yen extra as the amount is a bit small. Closed on Tuesdays and every third Monday. Some maps may suggest that it is on a road set back from the main drag but it is not, it is actually on the main drag.

Amasan Blog Page
Google Maps

Umenoya/Shirokanedai梅乃家/白金台

  

Takeoka is a small area of Chiba on the western side of the bay, on 495 South about 15 km south of the outlet for the Aqua Line tunnel. This location has a famous shop called Umenoya that is known for its deep, rich brown broth and its large chunks of grilled pork with chopped onions, overflowing from the bowl. I can't find any evidence that Takeoka ramen (竹岡ラーメン, Google it) is yet a style in and of itself, but it certainly is distinctive enough. So this place in Shirokanedai also follows that style, if you can call it that. I also can't find any evidence that these two shops are related, or that either of them are related to any other similarly-named shop. However I can say that the ramen at the Shirokanedai shop is very good, with very thin but curly noodles, large chunks of pork (that are not quite as grilled as some of the ones in pictures that I have seen of other shops). The broth is why you would come here though - very dark brown and salty with the onions, almost like "super shoyu". So strong the noodles seemed to take on its color. I had the #23 on the machine. Also they use the same chashu on the mini-chashu-donburi. Ticket machine outside facing the street, tissues on the shelf above the chairs.

Also around the alley corner is a new shop called Muri-Tei, the orange building in the first picture above. I have not tried that place yet but it is on the list.

Amasan Blog Page
Google Maps

Menya Musashi Niten/Minami Ikebukero麺屋武蔵 二天/南池袋

 

Every Menya Musashi branch seems to have a different type of pork that is their signature dish and a different way of preparing it. This branch, the Niten branch in Minami Ikebukero, is no different - their special way of doing it is to fry up the pork sort of pork- or veal-cutlet style with some egg and breading and herbs. The dish is called the buta-ten or ton-ten tsukemen (豚天つけ麺). I came in at about 1 PM on a Sunday and while there were 5-6 people waiting on line inside the shop, there was no one waiting outside. The broth was full-flavored and rich with several stand-alone pieces of pork in it. You can order regular, medium or large portions for the same price. Unfortunately they "forgot" my fried pork, while bringing it to everyone else for some reason, and I unfortunately had to ask for it. Based on that I can not give them a Recommended rating but the food was still good.

Shop Home Page
Jov's House Blog pictures
Google Maps

Dec 2009 To-Visit List

Occasionally I am asked "What places are on your to-visit list?" - the below is my first attempt at tracking this in a manner more scientific than post-it notes on my desk. I'll issue a new version of this post every few weeks or so with my updated list.

梅乃家
千葉県富津市竹岡401

純連
東京都新宿区高田馬場3-12-8

千里眼
東京都目黒区駒場4-6-8

麺屋武蔵 本店
新宿区西新宿7-2-6

つけ麺目黒屋
千葉県鎌ケ谷市馬込沢3-22

ムーリー亭
東京都港区白金台2-26-13

麺武 虎龍
東京都新宿区歌舞伎町1-8-5

小麦と肉
東京都新宿区新宿1-32-4

らー麺屋 バリバリジョニー
東京都江戸川区西小岩3-11-19