Shanghai Shokudou/Ebisu上海食堂/恵比寿

 

Shanghai Shokudou in Ebisu, just east of the station, is a somewhat new and fairly plain Chinese restaurant that has large amounts of decent food at relatively low prices (for Ebisu). I usually get the large chahan (almost big enough for 2 people) plus a plate of 8 large sui gyoza, all for 950 yen. The interior is basically like a cafeteria, but I doubt anyone goes there for the atmosphere. The Ebisu branch (I think there is one in Shibuya too) has three floors (B1, 1 and 2). Service is quick one day and slow the next. If you are in Ebisu and want cheap Chinese then this place and Chinese Cafe 8 are good options, portions are slightly bigger here but CC8 has a larger selection.

basic information in Japanese
some more pictures
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Yasubee/Shibuyaつけ麺 やすべえ/渋谷

 

The Shibuya branch of Yasubee (yah-soo-bay) is on Meiji-dori just south of Shibuya station, on the west side of the street. Down the middle of the street you can see the surface construction for the forthcoming new "line 13" of the Tokyo Metro. At 6:30 PM on a weeknight there was a line of about 10 people inside and outside the store. I had the shoyu tsukemen, which had a fairly sweet broth and very plain noodles. The sui goyza that I added to the order (4 for 300yen) were good but rather expensive for the size. Watch your head when you sit down and stand up as there is a coat rack and a luggage rack right behind the counter. All in all, while it was decent, there's nothing to specifically recommend this shop. There are somewhat better options in the area, for example Kookai or Sakurazaka.

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Tabelog page (more pictures)
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Taizou/Ebisu節骨麺たいぞう/恵比寿

 

Taizou is a small chain of three shops in Shibuya-ku and Setagaya-ku. Mostly they have shoyu and gyoukai flavors of ramen soup, along with shio tsukemen. They also have some black pork gyoza that are quite good. Recently they started advertising a new Ramen Jiro-like dish, a special (katsuo) mega bushi-men that is intended to be a lot like Jiro (Jiro-inspired) in terms of pork, vegetables and noodles. It's decent but it doesn't really come that close to Ramen Jiro. It was less garlicky and more salty, though the taste was decent overall. They don't put the garlic in it for you, you have to crush it yourself with the press on the counter. The broth has a high suspended fat ratio, but it was moderately-strained, no huge clumps of fat. The noodles were sort of the right consistency and color but too thin to compare to Jiro. The pork was very crumbly and fell apart, it's meant to be dunked in the soup and melted a bit I think. It was a total of 6 slices since I bought a extra chashu ticket from the machine. The veggies were mostly moyashis. Taizou's noodles are also available for order on-line. There will usually be at least a short line outside this shop most weekdays between 12 and 1.

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Supleks page
OTaqe's Blog page
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Taishoken/Higashi Ikebukero大勝軒/東池袋

 

This is the new Taishoken in Higashi Ikebukero that opened in February to much acclaim, and to some, rather unexpectedly. The original Higashi Ikebukero Taishoken was finally knocked down last year (after one stay of execution if memory serves) to make way for one of the usual glass and concrete monstrosities. The founder of Taishoken and the supposed inventor of tsukemen, Yamagishi-san, sits outside this restaurant on days both cold and not-so-cold, chatting with customers and greeting them with a "domo, ki o tsukete" when they exit. Someone behind me on line who presumably didn't know who he was asked him to make change for a 10000 yen note. You can see Yamagishi-san on the left of one of the pictures above. Occasionally while I was waiting a customer or two asked to have his or her picture taken with him. I've walked past this place two or three times since the opening but didn't have the time to stop and try it until today, the line has been 20-30 people long each time. Well I am glad to say that the line moves quite quickly actually, an average of one person every 1-2 minutes I think. Be sure to get your ticket *before* you get on line, I had the mori chashu (もりちゃーしゅう, middle ticket on top row) which is a quite sweet tsukemen broth (from yuzu I believe) with a medium-sized helping of glassy light-colored noodles that sort of look like spaghetti but are much softer after cooking. All Taishoken's broths taste like this. Probably one of the sweeter broths around. A few menmas and negis and half of a boiled egg also, but that's it. There were only two pieces of chashu in the bowl and they were decent, but for the price (1000 yen) I think there could have been a bigger portion, I guess that explains why people were coming in and out so fast. The interior of the place is nice, newly constructed, 11-12 seats at the counter and 4 or 5 tables for 2, with photographs and hand-drawn pictures of Yamagishi-san and the old original Taishoken on the walls. If the line here is too long you could always walk down the back street to Kuro Nabe. The Taishoken on the other side of Ikebukero Station and the one next to Ikebukero Jiro serve roughly the exact same dish with crowds but no serious line, people are coming here for the novelty factor. I think Taishoken is good food and I give it a recommended rating based on this, however I can't say that it is the best tsukemen in Tokyo.

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Tenkaichi/AkasakaMitsuke天下一/赤坂見附

 

Not a lot to say here. Decent for a quick cheap stop, that's about it. Down the same street from Abura Soba, going towards the station. Think of it in the same vein as Hyaku Ban. Standard chahans, stirfrys, basic ramens and some tsukemen. Noodles all taste like supermarket style. About the same ambiance as a high school cafeteria. In all fairness it is reasonably priced for a basic meal (large shoyu ramen and 1/2 chahan 700 yen). There are 12 or so of these shops in central Tokyo including one next to Yodobashi Akiba.

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Ippudo/Ebisu一風堂/恵比寿

  

What Tokyo ramen site would be complete without mentioning Ippudo. The Ebisu Ippudo (technically it is in Hiroo) is a branch of a well-known Hakata-style tonkotsu ramen chain, actually that chain's first branch in Tokyo. They have a broth that is not *extremely* fatty but still has a rich taste (it is very salty though). Since I work near the Ebisu branch I find myself in there (with my coworkers) for lunch about once or twice a month. At this and pretty much all Ippudo locations that I have been to, you get free spicy moyashi, karashi takana (spicy greens) and shoga at your table to eat on your rice or on your ramen. The Ippudo shiromaru or akamaru lunch sets (ramen, gyoza and all-you-can-eat rice), for 750 yen at the Ebisu shop, are probably one of the best deals in town, along with the special "African tea" pitchers at each table. The akamaru is a slightly stronger flavor, I recommend the shiromaru but they are not that different. My personal recommendation is to ask for the noodles to be "katame" (somewhat firm), although you can get them extremely hard "harigane". A couple of months ago they also introduced an "ultimate" version of the akamaru, called kiwami shin-aji, with some suspended egg in the broth, a bigger portion, and a side dish consiting of a strange cube of a miso-like substance which I believe was meant to be mixed into the broth to your own taste. This ultimate version was 1300 yen and was good but wasn't worth the extra cost IMO. Also the waitstaff at this location is used to foreigners and is very friendly, although they are very rushed too. Chances are you will wait on line if you go between 12 and 1 PM. If you are visiting Tokyo for the first time and you only have time to go to one ramen shop while you are here, this would be my recommendation.

Also of recent interest is the announcement that Ippudo will be opening a branch in NYC: http://intertrend.com/wordpress/?p=387

2008-03-16 - UPDATE - Ippudo has switched to slightly smaller platform bowls (agesoko?, third picture above) so the base soup amount has gone down, and the price also recently went up to 850 yen. And they don't give you a stick of gum anymore. However everything that was tabehoudai before still is (rice and veggies), and it looked like the buta slices were a bit bigger and thicker. Still my area recommendation though.

2008-3-28 - ANOTHER UPDATE - Here is the flyer that they are handing out in Tokyo to advertise the opening of the new Ippudo in New York City:



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Hong Hu Jiao Zi Fang/Futako Tamagawa紅虎餃子房/二子玉川

 

We stopped into Hong Hu Jiao Zi Fang Chinese Restaurant after shopping a bit at Garden Island in Futako Tamagawa. This chain from Kiwa Group has a number of locations throughout Japan, several in Tokyo. The walls of the Futako Tamagawa have Chinese motifs on them. The Peking black vinegar sauce pork was one of the most incredible dishes of this type that we have ever had. The pork was cooked until you could cut it with a fork, moist with no gristle. The vegetable ramen was quite tasty, frequently some places throw a bunch of veggies into a simple chicken stock and call it vegetable ramen, however this tasted a level up from that and the noodles were ample, this is a dish for two people to share. We also ordered the sanratan (hot + sour soup) and that was made with white vinegar when most places make it with dark vinegar I think. Not too crowded at 3 PM on a Friday afternoon. They have an excellent menu with pictures and both English and Japanese descriptions and everything is very reasonably priced. The service was quick and friendly. Definitely a good way to start or end a day of shopping near Futako Tamagawa station.

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Hyaku Ban/Nishi Gotanda百番/西五反田

 

This branch of Hyaku Ban (there are several) is near Fudomae station in Nishi Gotanda. The lunch teishoku was decent but unremarkable, a ramen + rice + scrambled egg set. The ramen was Tokyo shoyu style and tasted very "regular". There weren't many people in the store at the time I went. If you are in need of a cheap meal, this is acceptable, but Chinese Cafe 8 would be a better choice for cheap Chinese food. I have to admit that they did have a large number of things on the menu (but few pictures though) and if you want to have a large number of things to choose from it might be worth a try.

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Kayu Santin/Meguro謝朋殿 粥/目黒

 

Kayu Santin is a nice place to go in Meguro Atre for a quick and inexpensive Chinese noodle fix. In addition to noodles, this place has a few Chinese congee (= rice porridge) dishes on the menu, including ones with kaku ni pork or shrimp wontons. The Japanese word for porridge is "kayu" 粥. They also have several nice side dishes including a spicy onion and cucumber dish that we both enjoyed. The kaku ni noodle soup and porridge were both good, and omori portions are available. My wife especially enjoyed the cup of hot jasmine tea, which was freshly-brewed in front of us in a clear glass mug via some hot water and jasmine tea leaves. This chain is run by the same company that runs the Shahoden restaurants, another one of our favorites, of which there is also one in Atre 1 (5F).

Meguro branch page
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Bankara Ramen/Ikebukeroばんから ら～めん/南池袋

 

Starting to get mid-October cool in Tokyo. Certainly took long enough. The line at Mutekiya was too long as usual so I headed around the corner to Bankara. Bankara is a small chain, the Ikebukero branch is located in an area of Ikebukero where there are several other shops including Mutekiya, Kohmen and Ramen Jiro. Kaku ni (角煮) boiled pork is still not common at Tokyo ramen shops, but Bankara makes a decent kaku ni tsukemen. The dipping sauce here is reminiscent of one of the specials at Ramen Kazuki, a spicy shoyu with a lot of sesame in it. The kaku ni was decently sized and not too fatty, the noodles were well-done but there wasn't enough of them - get the omori, and if you do, don't worry when the noodles show up and don't look like an omori-sized portion - they will deliver the rest of them later. Special garlic presses on the counter allow you to crush your own fresh garlic into your soup. The only thing about this place is that it's very cramped at the counter and there will typically be someone standing right over you while you eat. They also had Chinese-speaking counter staff. Note that there appear to be several ramen shops/chains with the same Bankara name and similar logos.

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Story about Bankara's founder in Japan Times
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Bannai Ramen/Gotanda喜多方ラーメン 坂内/五反田駅前

 

The Bannai chain is a good and reasonably-priced chain of Kitakata-style ramen shops that I have already written about here. I won't repeat all of that information for this shop listing (this is the second of the two shops in Gotanda), other than to say that this is the larger of the two Gotanda shops, and that this one is closed on Sundays. It's tucked into a little corner just north of the West Exit of the station (don't cross the railroad tracks). Side note - one of Tokyo's few "large size" shoe stores is right around the corner from this branch of Bannai, you will see signs for it when you exit the station and walk north. In any case they had a couple special items on their menu until September 30 - one of them was a special summer tsukemen with goma dare (sesame dipping sauce). The weather was starting to cool down a bit this week in the metropolis so I wanted to go there and try this one out and also see what this store was like. Well while the pork and noodles were up to Bannai's high standards (for a chain in this price range), the goma dare tasted off to me for some reason. Now this has nothing to do with this shop specifically, as I'm sure most or all of the Bannai branches carry the same dish and probably make it in pretty much the same way. It was a bit bitter and rough-tasting and didn't go well with the noodles. Not quite to my liking. Also they sprinkled ground goma on top which doesn't go well (to me) for a tsukemen dipping sauce as it affects the texture of the noodles that you taste. To dip noodles in a thick sauce like that, it really has to have a good taste and harmonize well with the noodles, and this didn't quite do it for me. Definitely go to this shop, but I can't recommend this dish. Some of their other cold dishes such as hiyashi chuuka soba might be better choices and are actually available all year round.

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Kake Ramen Ichiban/KamiOsakiかけらーめん一番/上大崎

 

Kake Ramen Ichiban is a small chain of about 6 or 7 ramen shops in Tokyo and a couple outside of it. Actually Kake Ramen is more like a Chinese restaurant that also has ramen on the menu. The Kami Osaki branch, just north of Meguro station on the opposite side of the street, has ample seating inside at both counters and tables. The food here is good, and it's *very* reasonably priced. They have several Chinese set menus such as pork + vegetables, chicken karage, many other items, sort of like Chinese Cafe Eight. They also recently started carrying a summer cold noodle menu and they now have several chahans (fried rice dishes) on the menu (these items do not appear on the web site, they may not be at all branches). An omori (large size) pork and egg chahan with a bowl of chicken broth on the side was 490 yen, that is an excellent price for a generous portion of food for this area of the city. I could have added a plate of 6 small gyozas for another 160 yen. If you want some cheap decent Chinese eats and you are in the neigborhood, this is the place for you.

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Tenkaippin/Ebisu天下一品/恵比寿

 

Tenkaippin is definitely one of my favorite chain ramen shops. It also has a few fanclub sites (not nearly as many as Ramen Jiro though). The thick broth is best enjoyed in winter, but I still go there in summer occasionally as they do have cold noodle specials from time to time. Tenkaippin is actually chicken bone/collagen-based ramen and it's a very different flavor and consistency than other ramen shops on this site. It's a very "kotteri" (こってり) or thick ramen, the broth is almost like a sauce or gravy in its consistency. To me it also has a *slightly* gritty taste, you can taste some texture in the liquid. (They also have a more mainstream shoyu "assari" (あっさり) broth also that no one ever seems to order). Stopped into the Tenkaippin near JR Ebisu station today, they had various Japanese reggae songs playing. This branch has dual counters on the ground floor, and tables for 2 or 4 on the second floor. At times the second floor will be closed though. The "service setto", consisting of the kotteri ramen, 5 tiny gyozas and a small chahan (fried rice) is a good deal, almost as good as Ippudo's lunch special, which is slightly cheaper and comes with unlimited white rice and veggies.

I recommend that you try a Tenkaippin branch, but probably not as your first and definitely not as your only ramen experience in Tokyo...

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English review of a branch in Hawaii
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ManRyu/Ebisu満龍/恵比寿

 

Manryu Ramen is a miso ramen chain that is primarily based in Sapporo, the home of miso ramen, with 5 or 6 branches up there. They also have a couple of branches in Tokyo, one branch that they run is in Ebisu Garden Place, in the 2nd-floor basement of Ebisu Garden Tower. Ebisu Garden Place also contains the Ebisu Westin Hotel. The ramen here is pretty standard, it's OK but there's nothing special to make it a Recommendation in my opinion. If you are staying in the Westin but don't feel like walking anywhere outside, you can go to this place since there is a underground tunnel that connects the hotel and the other buildings. Also in the 2nd-floor basement is the Mitsukoshi supermarket/food court/gourmet area, which isn't the equal of some of the ones in Shibuya but not bad as Japanese depachikas go.

On this visit it was extremely hot and sweaty outside so I had the cold miso ramen. I'm not normally a fan of miso ramen but it was either that or spicy cold dan-dan men. On the hot side they have both miso and shoyu ramen, and chahan, but it was too hot outside for those dishes. One of the things about cold ramen (the kind that comes with a full complement of cold broth, as opposed to tsukemen or hiyashi chuuka) is that the coldness can dull the tastebuds a bit while you are eating. This ramen only had one piece of cold chashu and the noodles were "garden variety". The service was quick and polite but basically taste-wise, this was the same experience that you would have by buying the noodles and broth in the supermarket and making it yourself.

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Kagetsu/Hiratsuka花月/平塚

 

Kagetsu is one of the largest ramen chains in Japan, if not the largest, with over 210 stores throughout 30 prefectures, including almost 50 in Tokyo alone. They have a varied reasonably-priced menu with all major ramen styles represented, including miso, shoyu, tonkotsu, chuuka soba, tsukemen, some fried rice dishes, sides etc. On this visit I went to the Kagetsu in Hiratsuka, walking from the 戸越銀座 station.

The reason for my visit was that this chain had recently started advertising a Ramen Jiro competitive dish called Shin Taro. Well to say the least, it was a respectable effort but it wasn't the same thing. I realistically didn't think it would be the same thing as Ramen Jiro, but I was curious how far a large chain could come. First of all it was a respectable volume. They should have served it in a white bowl, that would have helped with the illusion a bit. The noodles were really not the same as Ramen Jiro noodles, they were darker and much thinner, almost like yakisoba color. The pork was paper thin and the veggies were OK in quality but not much of a portion. The soup did have some of the Ramen Jiro taste, but much more on the shoyu side. No garlic on the counter, just a little bit in the soup, and they didn't even ask me whether I wanted it or not. So while this is a decent place to go in general, I wouldn't make a special trip for the Shin Taro.

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Bannai Ramen/NishiGotanda喜多方ラーメン 坂内/西五反田

  

"Kitakata Ramen Bannai" or more simply Bannai Ramen is one of the largest ramen chains in the Kanto area, and they also have stores outside of it. It's a safe reliable choice when you want some basic good-tasting ramen quickly but don't want to go to one of the 390 yen stand-and-slurp places on the train platforms. The broth is a relatively clear pork and (slightly) fish-based broth, clearer and lighter to my taste than others but still salty, and the noodles themselves are a touch thicker, springier and wavier. For 150 yen extra you can get a large (o-mori) portion of noodles. The pork is good, cut into squares about the size of a matchbook, but the pieces generally have a large strip of clear delicate fat running through them. If this is not to your liking then it will melt into the soup if you leave it long enough.

The NishiGotanda Bannai Ramen is right next to a Tenkaippin branch as you can see from the picture above (this is kind of like having a McDonalds next to a Burger King) and neither store was particularly crowded at about 3 PM on a Saturday afternoon. There are actually two branches of Bannai in Gotanda, the other branch is called the Gotanda Eki Mae branch. "Eki Mae" = in front of the train station. The Eki Mae branch is larger but is also closed on Sundays. Overall I definitely like Bannai. On this trip I also purchased (1260 yen) a take home box with soup base, pork pieces, menma and noodles (the noodles come from the store's stock, the rest is prepackaged). I got three more meals out of this (OK actually two). Few large ramen chains have this, Tenkaippin does too actually now that I think about it. The original store on which Bannai's ramen is based is located in Fukushima Prefecture and apparently is so popular that they have tour buses that go to it.

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Yotekko-Ya/Ebisuよってこや/恵比寿

I can't say enough good things about the aburi chashu at the Ebisu Yotekko-Ya. It's grilled perfectly and makes a great compliment to the ramen broth and noodles. You can get it in the ramen, as a side dish, or on top of rice donburi-style. Outside of the occasional trip to Ramen Jiro this is probably my favorite chashu from any ramen shop. The Ebisu Yotekko-Ya is located on a corner just off of Komazawa Dori, within 2-3 minutes walk of several other good ramen shops including Tenkaippin and Kazuki. Yotekko-ya's broth is a basic tonkotsu that comes in several varieties including shoyu regular, karai (spicier), and a full Kyushu-style.

The Ebisu branch of Yotekko-Ya has an English menu with pictures, and they just added regular and spicy tsukemen dishes to their menu - I had the regular ("futsu") tsukemen with aburi chashu as a side dish. Recently for this summer they have also added hiyashi dan dan men (冷しタンタン麺), a cold tsukemen-like version of the spicy, sesame-flavored ramen dish that other chains specialize in. If you are visiting the Ebisu area I definitely recommend that you stop by. Or if you are in Shanghai there are four branches, and one in Hawaii.

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Chabuton/EbisuChabuton/恵比寿

 

The Ebisu area has a number of good ramen shops, both individual stores and chains. Opinions differ as to whether before the time Ebisu Garden Place opened, the area was a real ramen "center" or not. I didn't live here at that time so I can't really say for sure. In any case a new ramen shop that has recently opened (June 2007) in Ebisu is Chabuton, one of a growing chain of tonkotsu ramen shops in Tokyo and suburbs. It's right near the location where Komazawa Dori and Meiji Dori come together. If you've been (or are planning to go) to the Yodobashi Camera mega-stores in Akihabara, Yokohama or Umeda/Osaka, they all have Chabuton branches. There's even one in California. This franchise is related to the Chabuya in Omotesando Hills and to the Kagetsu chain. The Ebisu shop is a bit cramped and I had the misfortune of sitting right in front of the ticket machine, at lunch time no less, so it was a bit distracting. I had the tonkotsu tsukemen, this is a bit out of the ordinary since tontoksu is not normally a tsukemen broth, although Keika recently came out with one. It was delivered with two dipping sauces, one tonkotsu and one shoyu-based. The tonkotsu definitely has a strong pork taste, not as salty as Ippudo (my standard for Hakata tonkotsu) but still a rich creamy taste. My dining companions and I also detected a chicken taste also, which we confirmed later on the web site. The noodles are quite thin as is normal for this type of ramen, but they were closer to egg noodles in consistency. It's good that they allow you to mix your onions together as you see fit (se the above pictures), however not much chashu was provided, get extra if you can, there wasn't a selection on the machine for it when I went this time.

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Yoshu Shonin/Meguro揚州商人/目黒

  

The Meguro Yoshu Shonin is down the hill going west away from JR Meguro Station, past a row of several other ramen shops. There are two branches of Meguro Dori that converge down at the bottom of the hill. there's sort of a mini-ramen mecca in that triangular area, between 10-15 shops last time I counted.

Yoshu Shonin is one of the best low/medium-priced Chinese restaurants in Tokyo IMO. There are a large number of branches and the food is consistently good between all of them. It has a really varied and interesting menu (with big pictures so you can just point if worse comes to worse), the service is very speedy, and the prices and portions are reasonable. I've been to four of them within Tokyo, and they typically are just a counter plus a few 2 and 4-seat tables, so unless any given shop has special arrangements, you won't be able to bring a big crew here. The Meguro branch has no tables at all, just a counter.

My favorite dish is the suratanmen - if you live in or have been to the US and have ever had "hot and sour" soup from a Chinese restaurant there? If so, Yoshu Shonin's version of that called "suratanmen" or "sanratanmen" (スーラータンメン or サンラータンメン) will blow your mind, it has thin ramen noodles in it and it's the best I've ever had, really really spicy and peppery, I almost guarantee you will be sweating at the end of the bowl. The above picture is of the house chahan which is also very good.

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Kohmen/Kabukicho光麺/歌舞伎町

My Kohmen stamp card hadn't received any attention in a while and I was in Shinjuku station so I decided to stop into the Kabukicho branch there today. Kohmen has been one of my long time favorites, for the quality of its pork, broth and noodles. There is also a branch on the 8th floor of Yodobashi Akiba in Akihabara if you go there. I see it as a direct competitor (in the tsukemen area) to Kookai, also another exellent chain. The Shinjuku Kabukicho branch of Kohmen is smaller than most but for some reason I was the only one in there today save for a couple who was on their way out. I actually didn't have ramen today, it was too hot. I had the 炭火あぶり梅塩豚トロ丼 (charcoal-grilled pork (cheek meat) flavored with plum taste on rice) and the excellent hand-made gyoza, which come out scaldingly hot so be careful. At least this place gives you a decent-size glass of water. Toro-niku or pig cheek meat (the cheek on the face :-) is probably one of the fattiest and richest parts of a pig, but you can't get much meat out of a pig's cheek so the slices were thin. I don't believe this is the same cut of pork used in the ramen or tsukemen. The meat was really tasty and reminded me of Santoka that used to be in Ebisu where I work. Definitely recommended that you stop into some Kohmen branch.

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