Honta 麺処 ほん田

About 20 minutes north of Shinjuku by train hide a small area called Jūjō (十条). This small town is actually a hidden treasure for ramen, believe it or not. With three of the top ramen shops in Tokyo in this area, I had to pay a visit myself. My first stop, Honta Men Toroko.


Even arriving pretty early one night after work, there was already a line outside. To my surprise, since Jūjō isn't exactly like a very populous place, I was amazed that there was a line, no matter how high it is rated.


My taste for tonkotsu gyokai (豚骨魚介) forced me to order their tokusei version of this ramen. The soup was very thick (濃厚), but more so than anyone I have ever tasted. As you can see with the picture, this soup was going to pack a serious punch of sodium.


The tamago was a bit disappointing here. Dried out and overcooked.


What makes Honta special here is that they give you two styles of meat. One is a very dried charshu.


The other being a smoked duck, which was a very different, but nice touch. Enjoyed that very much!


And the noodles were the highlight here. Nicely cooked, very chewy, definitely helped catapult the shop to the top tier of ramen shops in Tokyo.



At the time this review is written, Honta was rated #5 in ALL OF JAPAN according to ramendb. It's definitely a quality bowl of ramen, but a little too powerful for me as far as flavor, and I like my food on the heavy side. I went with a friend from Taiwan and it definitely was too salty for her. The quality is there for sure, but the taste may not be for everyone. They offer a shio version, and it was rated very high by many reviewed on ramendb. There is now a shop at Tokyo Ramen Street, which isn't rated as high, but I would say it shouldn't be that far off. If you can't make it to Jūjō, head to Tokyo Station and give it a try. You might find me there waiting in line to try their Shio ramen.

City: Tokyo, Japan
Location: Jūjō, 8-10 minutes from walk Jūjō or Higashijūjō Station (also at Tokyo Ramen Street)
Hours: 11:30am - 4pm (no longer opened at night)
Website: No official website, http://ramendb.supleks.jp/s/14009.html
Ordering system: Machine
Available in English: Minimal

Nidaime Ebi Soba 二代目海老そば外伝

Tokyo Ramen Street is simply a genius idea. Place a bunch of the more popular ramen shops in one of the busiest stations in Tokyo, and give locals and tourists a chance to try some of the great ramens that the city has to offer.


Nidaime Ebi Soba is a very different concept. Take ramen, which has been one of the staples in the Japanese diet, but integrate ebi (shrimp) into the soup base. What you get is a very different experience of ramen consumption.


One of the huge wins for this place is it offers Sapporo draft beer (one of my favorites)! Kudo points for sure!


The ramen (or soba) option is unlike everything I have ever tasted. The soup based with packed with shrimp flavor, which was quite a pleasant change to the usual tonkotsu, shoyu, gyokai ramen soups that seems to be everywhere.


As you can see the soup is fairly dark, very flavorful, and really tasty.


The tamago is done very well here, and certainly one of the highlights of this place (along with the beer).


The noodles, on the other hand, were very average. Maybe because I am use to ramen, and this was more close to soba. And because of the nature of Japanese food, they decided to pair a seafood-based soup with soba style noodles instead of ramen. I wasn't blown away from the noodles.


Everything from this shop is pretty well labeled, even it's spoon has the shop's logo.


My friend took the chance and ordered the tsukemen, and as soon as her order came, I had food envy. The noodles were very different, and she said they were very good.


And as you can see, the soup, also ebi-based, was very thick, and she also said it was very good. Sometimes you can tell by just looking at it, but to me, I realized I made a mistake by ordering the ramen/soba instead of the tsukemen.

Is Nidaime a place I would visit time and time again? Probably not. But with so many options for ramen and tsukemen in Tokyo that offers the same soup-base, you won't find many that offers an ebi-based soup. As far as I know, the shops on Tokyo Ramen Street will change from time to time, and at the time of writing this review, Nidaime Ebi Soba is already long gone. If you are interested in trying a ebi-based ramen, the only other one I know of is in Takadanobaba, with a similar name: Nidaime Ebi Soba Keisuke 二代目 海老そば けいすけ. I am not sure if they are related or not, but if you are interested in ebi-based ramen, give it a shot and let me know.

City: Tokyo, Japan
Location: Tokyo Station - Tokyo Ramen Street (closed)

Nidaime Ebi Soba Keisuke
City: Tokyo, Japan
Location: Takadanobaba, 5 minutes walk from the station
Hours: 11am - 11:30pm weekdays, 11am - 11pm weekends and holidays
Website: http://www.grandcuisine.jp/keisuke/nidaime.html
Ordering system: Unknown
Available in English: Unknown

Sakura Zaka 中華ソバ 櫻坂

Shibuya is known for many things: shopping, nightlife, hachiko, 109 girls, but not really known for being a ramen place. But just within walking distance from the station, I found not only Hayashi, which easily became one of my favorite shops for tonkotsu gyokai ramen, but found Sakura Zaka, which was also highly rated on ramendb.

Sakura Zaka is known for some very interesting ramen styles. There was one called tonkotsu shio, which was pork bone w/ salt, and this I had never seen before in any other shop. But at the time when I visited, I was on a tsukemen eating streak, so I ordered the tonkotsu gyokai tsukemen.

Very standard tonkotsu gyokai soup, whether you are looking at the texture, thickness, or transparency, it was everything you expect from a tonkotsu gyokai base.



Noodles once again very good. I felt a bit thinner than some of the shops that serve the real thick variety, but this I didn't mind at all.


As you can see the thickness of the soup, with some hints of black sesame seeds, and it was not oily at all.


Charshu was very good here. Very soft, very good for tsukemen. It blended well with soup, and make the easy experience very easy.


We have a winner with the tamago here. It was done very very well. One of the highlights at this shop.


All in all, a very good experience. I regret not trying the tonkotsu shio, and it looked very good and definitely worth a shot. Foot traffic is already pretty dead by the time you reach this shop, but it's good ramen attracted enough people as it was more than half full on a Saturday afternoon. Pretty impressive for non-feeding hours. The tsukemen is good, and the tonkotsu ship ramen is just interesting enough that I will have to visit this place again.

City: Tokyo, Japan
Location: Shibuya, 5 minutes from east exist
Hours: 11:30am - 9pm,
Website: No official website, http://ramendb.supleks.jp/s/309.html
Ordering system: Machine
Available in English: None

Sandaime 三代目（助） MARUSUKE

In my many trips to Tokyo, I pretty much always stay in Shinjuku. Let me take this opportunity to prop up the Hilton Tokyo in Shinjuku, one of my favorite hotels in the world. Great location, friendly staff, and amazing lounge. If you have diamond status, it is one of the better lounges I've ever been to.

Okay, on to the main event. While I don't mind traveling a long distance to have good ramen, it's always nice to find something in the neighborhood. So thanks to ramendb, I've decided to give Sandaime a go on a Saturday afternoon.


One great thing about Sandaime is the decor and how spacious the shop is. Many of you ramen lovers will attest that some of the ramen shops in Japan are way too small. It makes the experience special and cozy, but for a big guy like me, it can get difficult to maneuver. The way the interior is designed reminds me of a sushi shop where you sit at the bar with the sushi chef preparing your food.


Sandaime offers a variety of ramen flavors, but based on recommendations, I went with one of my favorites, tonkotsu.


The bowl is nicely decorated with a nice, white, creamy looking soup, nice and evenly marbled charshu, menma, tamago, and usual other toppings. All in all looking very good.


The noodles not like your traditional hakata-style noodles, but also of the thinner variety. Cooked to just the right chewiness.


Charshu was the highlight of this place. Made just exactly the way I like it, not too lean with just the even amount of fat.


The egg was also done very well here, another signature item here, although the yolk is cooked a bit too long and not as liquidly as others.


All in all a very nice, quality bowl of ramen. Does it stack up to the greats? Probably not. And chances are I still prefer Ichiran if I need a tonkotshu ramen fix. But if you happen to be in the Shinjuku Sanchome area and looking for a nice bowl of ramen, you should give this a try.

City: Tokyo, Japan
Location: Shinjuku, minutes from the Shinjuku Sanchome station
Hours: 11:30am - 11pm,
Website: No official website, http://ramendb.supleks.jp/s/2562.html
Ordering system: Machine
Available in English: None

Yasubee つけ麺屋 やすべえ

UPDATE: I met a new friend recently who had lived in Japan for a few years, and had the same passion as me for tsukemen and abura soba. During our many conversations, she tried to convince me that Yasubee was the best tsukemen she has ever had, but I was not convinced. Having tried many, many high quality tsukemen, I couldn't believe Yasubee was her #1. So I had to try it again for myself.

As I mentioned in the original posting below, I was quite a tsukemen newb when I first visited Yasubee. To the point I didn't even know how to order egg or charshu. This around, I knew what I was doing, and I wasn't going to mess around.


This time I followed my friend's suggestion, and ordered the original flavor. Once again, it looked lighter than the usual tonkotsu gyokai (豚骨魚介) soup, even light than the miso version I got. I became suspicious about my friend's opinion for this place.


The tamago here is a bit dried out, but very typical nowadays for tsukemen shops. Very few shops are able to make the egg with the liquidy yolk.


The tokuse (特製) set of topping also included something I have never seen. Stir fried bean spouts, which was a nice touch. I wasn't sure whether I was suppose to add this into the soup, or just eat it separately. But I love bean spouts, and this was kudo points for Yasubee.


The noodles here was never a complaint. Nicely cooked, very chewy, very good quality noodles for tsukemen.

The charshu was a bit on the weak side. It was sliced a bit too think, a bit too soft (fell apart), but it wasn't bad. I've had better charshu for sure.

But with that said. After I took my first bite... OH MY GOD! I finally understood what my friend was talking about. Maybe she and I have similar tastes in food (I am starting to believe in that now), but the soup base had a little bit of a vinegary taste to it, which I absolutely loved. This was not the highest quality tsukemen I've had, but neither is Ichiran nor Abura Soba. And while I love a good steak or lobster, sometimes you just want "soul food", and Yasubee is just that.

And since there is a Yasubee just minutes walk from the Hilton Tokyo in Shinjuku, you can believe I will be visiting again, and again... :-)

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Walking in the streets of Shinjuku, you can't help but notice the amount of people that walk around the station area. Just one block away from south exit, I noticed a shop with a line outside. This had to be a good thing, and it definitely caught my curiosity and attention.


At the time I tried Yasubee, I had tsukemen fever. After having tsukemen a few times, I quickly understood why people in Tokyo were so crazy about it. My impression of Japanese food was always been that it was healthy and light, but after thinking about it, maybe it ain't so. From heavy flavored curry, tonkatsu, to ramen, it was evident that Japanese people had just as much craving for savory food.


As I walked over to shop at 2:30pm, I was amazed at how many people were in line. Sure it was a Saturday, but I can only imagine what this place is like during normal feeding hours.


The great thing about some tsukemen shops is that no matter what size you order, small, medium, or large, they charge you the same amount. This was such an attractive feature for someone with my appetite.


Yasubee in Shinjuku is not a large shop. Just the bar area which seats about 10 people if I remember correctly.


And here comes the soup. It looked lighter than most tsukemen tonkotsu gyokai (豚骨魚介) soups, so it was a bit different than what I had expected. It was even a bit translucent (not noticeable from the picture). Also, the soup came with sprinkles of sesame seeds, which was interesting.


Noodles are done very well here. As you can see the texture and thickness is just like all the great tsukemen shops, and the chewiness was also as good as expected.


The egg here is a bit dried out, but with the amount of people that plan to dine here, it would be nearly impossible to make them fresh. Eggs are usually prepared ahead of time, but that doesn't mean it's not good.


As you can see in the picture, the sesame seeds are plentiful. It didn't add anything for me, but I am sure the recipe calls for it for a reason.


Perhaps my favorite picture is always after dipping the noodles in the soup. Just looking at it makes me hungry. If you haven't noticed, something is missing from the pictures I've included here. The charshu. That isn't to say Yasubee doesn't offer it, but at the time, with my limited understanding of the Japanese language, I really didn't know what I was ordering. So I blindly took the first option and of course had food envy as I watched all the others eat their tsukemen with charshu. If I ever go back, I will not make the same mistake.

I won't call this my favorite tsukemen shops, and there are indeed better shops around. But with 9 shops around Tokyo, this place offers quality tsukemen at a very reasonable price. If the line isn't too long, I definitely recommend this place for a try.

City: Tokyo, Japan
Location: Numerous locations in the city
Hours: Varies by location
Website: http://www.yasubee.com/
Ordering system: Machine
Available in English: Minimal

Mita Seimenjo 三田製麺所

The boom of tsukemen is no joke. From what I've read, the famous Rokurinsha started the trend, and it has snowballed into an absolutely phenomenon. Almost in every corner in Tokyo you will see tsukemen being sold, even the famous Ippudo now has it on the menu. So when I was arrived in Roppongi to meet up with friends for a night out on the town, I noticed Mita Seimenjo.

Now if you call yourself the tsukemen "specialist", you better do it well. So I went into the shop with some expectations. There are two kinds of tsukemen sold here. The normal tonkotsu gyokai (豚骨魚介) tsukemen and also a spicy version. Being my first time here, I put in my money for the standard version.


For any ramen shop to survive in Roppongi, you better stay open pretty late. And after a night of drinks and clubbing, what could be better than a nice satisfying bowl (or plate of noodles). There are only bar seating here, and very fitting for being in Roppongi, and even at this late hour, I was not the only one who needed a quick fix.


You couldn't complain about the speed here. After receiving my ticket, they quickly went to work I received my order within a matter of minutes. They definitely don't believe that good food requires time to prepare. But does that mean I will be disappointed?


As with any tsukemen order, you get your bowl of soup, and a plate of noodles and another with toppings. For some, the plate of noodles can be intimidating. It looks LARGE. Most tsukemen offerings start at 200g, then you can get 300g, and even 400g. This place evens offer 500g, which if you think about, that's half a kilo of noodles, which is too much even for someone with huge appetite like me.


The noodles look quite amazing. The traditional way of making tsukemen is quite interesting. They quickly rinse the noodles in cold water after it's cooked, and the belief is that it allows the noodles to keep its chewiness. It's evident that this method works.


The tsukemen soup is usually a bit more savory that the soup you get with ramen, meaning the flavor really packs a punch. The idea is you dip the noodles in the soup, and slurp it all in.


Even with my cheap-o camera, you can see the texture of the soup as being quite thick. This is normal. The powder I believe to be bonito (a type of fish) powder, which gives it even more flavor.


Perhaps one of my favorite things in ramen is the menma (bamboo), and this place doesn't mess around. It's quite thick and tasty. Very good.


If you want to be picky, you can see the egg was pre-cooked and have been sitting around. It's cooked to the right texture, but you can see the yolk has dried out a bit.



Charshu is not as marbled as I like, but this could be preferable to most people. It's still very good and it blended well with everything.


Because the soup is usually very thick, they provide hot clear soup for you to make a more drinkable soup. Very thoughtful!

As you can see, after the noodles are dipped, it look sooooo very appetizing. And I was not disappointed. It was one of my first tsukemen tries, so of course I was easily satisfied. But even after trying others, this place is still a solid option. Also, after going to another shop, my friend told me they also offer to cook the noodles in hot water after rinsing in cold water. The problem with tsukemen is that the noodles are cold, so it is almost as if you are eating cold noodles. And by the end, the soup you have becomes cold. Not all tuskemen shops offers this. Kudo points for this option.


This place has expanded to 10+ locations in Tokyo, so they must be doing quite well to have franchised throughout the city. It may not be the absolute best tsukemen, but if you having a craving, the offering and its convenience should make this a top choice if you are in the mood for tsukemen.

City: Tokyo, Japan
Location: Numerous locations in the city
Hours: Varies by location
Website: http://mita-seimen.com/
Ordering system: Menu
Available in English: Minimal