Ume no Ya/Takeoka梅の屋/竹岡

    

Took a day trip to do some hiking along the Uchibo Line and the southern end of Chiba. Got off at JR Takeoka Station - cats and spiders all over the place. This is the famed source for Takeoka ramen - Umenoya. The pork is cut from a long fatty grilled block. The noodles are actually dry cup ramen or dry block ramen noodles - "kanmen", taken from dry ramen packs, could not see the name. It's a very informal shop with shared tables and a small zashiki area. It takes a long while (for me about 30 mins) to get the ramen, even though you preorder and there are 5 obachan's working the place, only about 20 seats. It's a very dark shoyu type broth - Takeoka-style with a lot of chopped onions, much darker and richer than ordinary shoyu, almost starting to get brownish-red. I strongly recommend the chopped negi's. The little street that you wait on is very narrow and even on a weekday, you should expect a line. There's a very small menu on the window near the door. After eating you can have a nice walk north along the coast from Takeoka, continuing up to Kazusaminato Station. Hard to say whether it's worth it for people who live in Tokyo - this is the greater part of a day trip, perhaps combine it with something else.

Google Maps
Good Pictures of the Interior