{ Kiraku — 喜楽 }

2014, Jun 27

Located in Shibuya, this popular ramen joint has been around for years and serves delicious golden shoyu-based Chinese noodle (中華麺) ramen. It seems to be very popular amongst salary-men, students, and many of their loyal customers tend to be male. It’s located in a rather sketchy area (somewhat of a red light district…), but this place serves flavorful and delicious ramen.

The first floor counter seats were full when we arrived so we got seated in the second floor area. The workers were speaking Chinese to each other as we waited for our ramen. Both of us ordered the “Moyashi-men” (もやし麺) for 800yen. The generous amounts of moyashi with the golden shoyu-soup went perfectly together and I can see why many people love this place. Other popular ramen choices seem to be “Moyashi Wonton-men” (900yen), “Chashu wonton-men” (1000yen), and their gyoza (500yen). The ambiance is not necessarily nice nor does it have great service but the ramen is definitely good. Come check it out if you’re in the area.

Note: Some of their prices went up from when I took the photo of their menu

Closed // Wednesday
Hours // 11:30am – 8:30pm

Address // 2-17-6, Dogenzaka, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo, Japan (map)
Phone Number // 03-3461-2032
Website // n/a

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{ Yakumo Ramen }

2013, Feb 2

Yakumo Ramen is a popular ramen shop that’s been covered in magazines & TV and has even been awarded “Tokyo Ramen of the Year” for 2012-13. For all these reasons, I’ve been wanting to try it for a while and it did not disappoint. We went on a weekend night and it was surprisingly empty. Might be because it’s located in a random residential neighborhood on the 2nd floor of an obscure building so it’s a little confusing to find.

They are famous for their white soy sauce broth ramen with wonton but they have quite a few options to choose from aside from that. Everything comes in one of two different broths, the salt-based “white broth” (白だし）and the soy sauce-based “Black broth” (黒だし). We ordered the “Meat wonton noodles – white broth” (肉ワンタン麺 – 白だし) for 850yen, and the “tsukesoba with meat wonton – black broth” (つけそば肉ワンタン付き – 黒だし) for 850yen. While we were waiting, we noticed that the chef was carefully choosing each strand of meat and menma (bamboo shoots) and placing them onto the ramen very methodically. When we finally got the ramen, the presentation of the food was done to perfection. I had the white broth and it was strongly flavored with delicious wonton and I was very satisfied. I had a sip of my friend’s black broth but I personally liked the white broth more.

The cost performance was very high with the amount of food we got for 850yen. If you want a slightly untraditional ramen with wontons, give this place a try.

Address // 2F, 1-7-2, Ohashi, Meguro-ku, Tokyo, Japan (map)
Phone Number // 03-3476-2708
Website // n/a

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{ Soba Combo Watanabe – Ippudo }

2012, Apr 4

The famous Ippudo Ramen opened a Soba House in February (2012)!

It’s located inside of an Ippudo ramen house, but it’s separated into it’s own area once you walk in. They named it “Soba Combo Watanabe” and this Ippudo is actually the only one in world that serves soba at this point. It’s pretty interesting because they use their famous pork broth soup in one of their 4 menu options. The other 3 soba come with a katsuo (bonito)-based soup.

My friend and I both tried the “Spicy Tantanmen Soba” (790yen), and thought it was pretty good but it reminded us of the peanut sauce which is often used in Thai food. When you are about to finish your tantanmen, they give you some rice to eat is as “Zosui“, which i thought was fun. The other one pictured above is the “Imoten Soba” (730yen) and it felt like more of a traditional soba. Even though the soup was quite strong, I wish I had ordered that one! It comes with Sweet Potato Tempura and you eat one with the sauce, but they advise you to eat the second one with honey as a type of dessert.

Not sure how this new concept of Ippudo Soba will do here but it’s definitely is a fun idea. The employees were very nice and the ambiance was a traditional counter space with a modern twist.

Address // B1, 3-8-37, Aoyama, Minato-ku, Tokyo, Japan (map)
Phone Number // 03-5772-1521
Website // http://www.ippudo.com/index.html

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{ Ippudo Ramen }

2012, Jan 30

Ippudo ramen is famous for their tonkotsu-based (pork) soup which originated from Hakata, Japan. They are located through out Japan, and in recent years, they have branched out to locations internationally such as Hong Kong, New York, Singapore, and Seoul (though their international locations have slightly different menus).

Depending on the location, there are lines out the door, and during lunch it’s usually hard to get a seat. If it’s your first time, I recommend you try their “akamaru” or “shiromaru” ramen with a side of gyoza – so good! If you are craving a spicy ramen, try their “Ippudo karakamen” — for which you can specify different levels of spicyness (I can only go up to level 3!). I also love that they have a wide variety of condiments and side dishes so you can mix up the flavors. For example, they have takana, ginger, crushed sesame seeds, garlic etc. The moyashi (a free side-dish) that is on the table is slightly spicy but is one of my favorite things to eat before having ramen.

PS: Check out what you get when becoming an Ippudo Premium Member

Address // 1-3-13, Hiro, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo, Japan (map)
Phone Number // 03-5420-2225
Website // www.ippudo.com

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{ Seika }

2012, Jan 4

Seika is a Japanese Restaurant in Jiyugaoka that serves a variety of traditional Japanese dishes – one of which happens to be ramen. Though it may seem like just another menu item, it is absolutely a hidden gem. Their golden soup – created with chicken, fish, vegitables broth, etc is cooked for over 6hrs and is just marvelous. The chef even went so far as to use quail eggs instead of a regular eggs so that the egg yolk doesn’t change the color of the golden soup. The ramen also comes with a rice ball that you can eat on its own or eat as “Ochazuke” (boiled rice with tea) after you finish all your noodles. The dashi of the soup mixed with the black rice is just so good. Can you believe all of this is just 1000yen? To top it all off, their iced green tea was refreshing as well.

PS: I recently noticed that their lunch ramen set has gone up to 1260yen.

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自由が丘の”星火”は和食のお店です。バラエティー豊かなメニューの中の隠れた逸品は、星火ラーメンです。写真だと一瞬ラーメンとは思えないかもしれませんが、鶏、魚、野菜などをじっくり6時間以上煮込んだ黄金のスープはまさに”素晴らしい”の一言です。ゆで玉子には、遠方まで仕入れに行っているこだわりのうずらを使用しています。うずらの黄身を使うことで、スープの色を濁さないようにしているそうです。

こちらのラーメンセットには、黒米のおにぎり又はラーメンのスープで頂くお茶漬けが付きます。スープのだしと黒米が良く合い、セットで1000円はとてもお得だと思います。食後は冷えた緑茶でさっぱりでした。

PS: 最近お店の前を通り過ぎたらランチのラーメンセットが1260円に値上がりしていました。

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Address // J121 Building 1F, 1-21-4, Jiyugaoka, Meguro-ku, Tokyo, Japan (map)
Phone Number // 03-6421-4328
Website // www.seika-firemark.com

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