Ramen Jiro/Takadanoabaラーメン二郎/高田馬場

 

Hadn't been to a Ramen Jiro in about 6 months, if you can believe it. The two remaining ones that I hadn't been to so far are far away, whole-day or most-of-the-day trips. I have to couple those with some R+R overnights for the wife and I. So when the Takadanobaba Ramen Jiro announced that it was relocating, and became a new location (sort of), I put that back on my local list. It's moved from Waseda Dori a bit north up to ShinMejiro Dori, roughly across from the Bamiyan. So went there for a long lunch on Friday, I had been up until midnight on conference calls the night before so a 1-1/2 hour lunch *occasionally* is not something I feel guilty about. Felt a bit weak from a spring chest cold but I knew that the Ramen Jiro magic would kill off whatever was lurking in my lungs. There were about 10 people on line at about 1:15 PM. The shop is laid out so that it's almost right on the sidewalk, with a very shallow counter and no shelf below. Cabinets up about for belongings just like the original shop. They have tsukemen but were sold out at lunch. Overall the buta ramen was extremely greasy, with the oil making up about 1/4 inch on the surface of the ramen. In these types of situations it is important to mix up the broth with the oil, so that when you pull noodles and veggies out, they are covered in a combination of the two, not just oil. Then when you are done you leave whatever broth was left in the bowl, don't even think about trying to drink it. The pork was not in neat slices but sort of crumbled and chopped up. Self-service water dispenser (very cold) and metal cups. No drink machine in front. Noodles were decent as was the overall volume. Good but the extreme oiliness makes it debatable whether it is a Recommended or not.

Musashi Diary
Google Maps