Ramen Jiro/Tochigiラーメン二郎/栃木街道店

         

The first Jiro in Tochigi-ken, the northern-most Jiro, and the last Jiro for me on Planet Earth. What a long strange trip it's been - I've completed my personal goal of eating at every Jiro branch in Japan. There are 35 of them as of this writing, with a couple that have fallen by the wayside. Took 3+ years, my cardiologist be damned.

The Tochigi Ramen Jiro is way out of the way, near Mibu Station on the Tobu Utsunomiya line. All in, 1-3/4 hours from JR Meguro Station. After getting off the train, there are actually several taxis lined up with sleeping drivers outside the station. You could wake one of them up to take you to the Jiro, but it's only about a 15-minute walk through a pleasant residential neighborhood. About 10 parking spaces around the building. The line at 12:30 PM on a Sunday stretched about 20-25 people all the way around one side of the building. Large roomy interior with seats for 5 or 6 people to wait. One of the benefits of being out in the sticks is the low rent I guess. I had the buta double tsukemen, only available in the summer. The winner here is the broth - fully blended between tonkotsu and shoyu. Creamy and rich. Even though this isn't the best Jiro in my opinion, it's pretty close to the top, and the broth itself has to be one of the best ones of any Jiro anywhere.

The first picture above is the "noodles sold out" sign ("men kee-ray"). Get there on time and don't let this happen to you.

Thank you for your support. Okage sama de.

Google Maps