Kindenmaru らーめん金伝丸 おきやま

Planning is so important, and I learned my lesson the hard way when I decided to meet a friend for lunch without planning. I had planned to visit a ramen shop in Shibuya, but when I didn't have a backup plan, we had to settle for just any ramen shop in Shibuya.


Kindenmaru was in our sights, and from the pictures outside, it looked pretty good... so we gave it a chance.


Walking into the shop, we saw wooden crates of fresh noodles sitting there waiting to be cooked. This was another good sign. But little did we know what was coming.


I opted for the tokumaru (特丸) ramen. It's their "special", and it looked decent in the picture.


What came was a pretty average bowl of ramen. As you can see with the charshu, it was very lean, and not to my liking.


The tokumaru had two kinds of pork, the second kind was a bit better, but there was not much of this in the bowl.


The broth was fairly balanced, not too much fat, but the flavor was not very good. I couldn't tell whether it was tonkotsu, or shouyu, but whatever it was, it wasn't done very well.


And the tamago was cooked too long, the yolk being pretty hard and not liquidy at all.


Perhaps the most disappointing thing was the noodles. Seeing those fresh noodles in the crate, I expected at least the noodles to be decent. But it reminded me of instant ramen, and I might have had better with some of the instant ramen I've bought from a convenient store.



A very disappointing experience to say the least. If only I had a phone with internet access, I would have gone to my main source to find something in the area. I am not sure how this place stays in business, and it's rating in ramendb speaks for itself. There probably have something that is half decent, but with so many choices in Tokyo, I would skip this shop entirely.

City: Tokyo, Japan
Location: Shibuya, 3 minutes walk from the station
Hours: 10am - 7am
Website: No official website, http://ramendb.supleks.jp/s/7611.html
Ordering system: Machine
Available in English: Minimal

Koukaibou こうかいぼう

Ramendb continues to be my main source to find the absolute best ramen in Japan. So during one of my business trips, when I found that one of the top rated ramen shops was just walking distance from the office, it was a no-brainer to give this place a shot.


With just a short 10-minute walk from the IBM office near Hakozaki, I convinced my colleagues to take a nice walk to Koukaibou. They had faith in me in my ramen adventures, and I had faith this ramen shop was going to deliver. By the time we arrived, the shop was already full and there were even a few people waiting outside. This came as a surprise as this shop isn't exactly in a heavy foot-traffic area.



Tonkotsu Gyokai (豚骨魚介) ramen has simply just dominated the charts as far as top ramen is concerned in Tokyo. There's something about the way pork bone has blended with bonito fish flakes that has gotten people in Tokyo all nutty about this soup based. And to be honest, I don't blame them. Because it has won me over.


The presentation is simply amazing. The ingredients provided by the Koukaibou is first class. Charshu is well prepared, the menma looked great, and I couldn't wait to dig in.


As you can see the charshu is well marbled. Although it was cold, this is typical. Charshu is prepared ahead of time, then sliced before it is placed in the ramen bowl. Once you soak it in the soup and it warms up, the taste is really good.


The soup did not disappoint. It was as good as I have tasted in Tokyo, could easily be one of the better soups I've ever tasted. What is amazing about the Tonkotsu Gyokai (豚骨魚介) soup base is that if done right, it provides the right balance of flavor and thickness, meaning if you have a taste for something a bit more savory, this soup really provide the right touch. As you can, Koukaibou does it well, and it's not oily at all.


The noodles and egg is also of very high quality. Great chewiness in the noodles, the egg also done very well. There is no surprise that this shop is ranked as one of the top shops in Tokyo.


I left here very impressed, and ended up coming here a few more times after the first trip. A minor gripe was that the serving size was a bit small by my standards, but definitely more than enough to be a filling meal. I ended up have a huge affinity to this place, because this place didn't have a ticket machine, but the owners were so gracious and friendly, it made the experience that much more memorable. If you are in the area, I would highly recommend this place. Easily one of my favorite shops in Tokyo.

City: Tokyo, Japan
Location: Monzennakacho Station, 7-8 minute walk from the station
Hours: 11am - 3pm, 5:30pm - 6:30pm (Only lunch on Saturday and holidays)
Website: No official website (http://ramendb.supleks.jp/s/1298.html)
Ordering system: Menu
Available in English: Minimal

Kohmen 光麵

One of the more famous chains in Tokyo, Kohmen has always had a decent reputation for bringing unique taste. Don’t be fooled by a chain ramen shop, this one is actually more than decent.

They are several types of ramen offered here. Their standard ramen is shouyu-based, called 元祖光麵. Of course I chose 熟成光麵, which was tonkotsu-based. They also have 坦坦麺, which looks excellent.

The 熟成光麵 ramen offers tonkotsu-based soup, with thin noodles, and chashu. There is not your traditional tonkotsu ramen, as the noodles and soup are a bit different. However, it does bring its uniqueness here. The combination of chashu, menma, and tamago, with the soup gives just the right balance for a bowl of ramen. It won’t knock your socks off, but definitely good enough if you have a craving.

The next option in line is their 全部 toppings with your 熟成光麵, which they put all the super duper toppings on a plate. Included in niku (pork), chashu, tamago, menma, seaweed, fried garlic, some sort of veggies, and grilled negi. The tamago here is excellent, by the way. You add these toppings to your bowl of ramen as you wish. A very different way to eat ramen (haven’t found anything similar).

Last thing to talk about here is the gyoza. Nothing spectacular, but it’s pretty good.

You can say Kohmen is your backup plan, your go-to setup man that’s always reliable. It certainly won’t be dazzling your taste buds, but you will leave there a satisfied customer.

City: Tokyo, Japan
Location: Numerous locations throughout the city
Hours: Varies (check website)
Website: http://www.kohmen.com/
Order system: Menu
Available in English? Some

Kagetsu Arashi らあめん花月嵐

One of the bigger ramen chains, Kagetsu Arashi stretches not only all over Japan, but even to Taiwan, where a location exists at 華納威秀. This place offers a variety of ramen, and usually it feels quite gimmicky more than anything else. It’s not a lot of substance, just a lot of flair, if you know what I mean.

As you can see, plenty of condiments offered to help customize the taste of your ramen.

On a rather calm Sunday evening in Shinjuku, the ramen finally arrives only after a few minutes. Just looking at the bowl, nothing really stands out here. All the oil bits made the soup a bit too fatty for my taste, and the noodles were pretty average actually. The best thing about this bowl was the pork, which was pretty much the saving grace for this place.

It’s certainly done well for itself over the years, with shops ALL OVER Japan, so it must be doing something right. They'll have some new creative type of ramen like once a month, which again seem more like a ploy than anything. This is one ramen shop I would avoid if you want to have a taste of a truly amazing bowl of ramen. It’s very much all sizzle and very little steak. While you might not have to stand in line for an hour to enjoy the ramen here, the saying “the best thing comes to those who wait” really fits here.

Location: Everywhere (just kidding, look at website for locations)
Hours: Varies
Website: http://www.kagetsu.co.jp/index.html
Order system: Machine
Available in English? Maybe

Kudan Ikaruga 九段 斑鳩

Back in Tokyo again, I began my hunt for new ramen to try. Not that there is a shortage of ramen shops in Tokyo, but after having experienced ramen shops such as Ichiran, Jangara, and Menya Kissou, these taste buds can only accept high quality ramen. What can I say, I am a ramen snob.

So back on the internet I went, and found a few website in Japanese that had ramen reviews, and they looked very official. Lots of visitors, lots of reviews. But I stumbled upon this website called walkerplus. Well, this site had "Ikaruga" as the #1 rated ramen of 2008. Ikaruga was only four stations away from the office, and on my way back to the hotel, so off I went to Kudanshita.

The pictures of the ramen from the walkerplus site reminded me of Menya Kissou and Musashi's offerings. From the color of the soup, to the charshu, and tamago, it looked like each other's siblings. My colleagues and I arrived there for lunch time, and the line was already like this...

Fearing that this was going to be another wait like Menya Kissou, we quickly did some math and evaluated the situation. The line actually moved quite fast, mainly because there was about 18-20 seats, so we were able to get seated in 30 minutes even with the number of people waiting.

The menu is a bit more complex, but not as complex as you think. They basically have three ramen, they standard 'ramen', their 'special ramen' (which they only prepare 45 servings of), and they 'garlic ramen'. They have two specials at the time, a Japanese style tonkotsu ramen, and dan-dan men. They have the standard toppings, menma, two types of hanjyuku tamgao, and charshu, and some side orders if ramen is not enough to satisfy you.

There is a 5-man operation inside. One guy who takes care of the guests from getting their orders in, seating, to bringing the food. Four guys worked in the kitchen, and one guy was just cracking eggs the whole time. Their tamago was special, and required special care. That guy certainly knew what he was doing.

The ramen arrived about 10 minutes after we were seated. It looked almost identical to Menya Kissou, rather unfortunate for Itsukaga, because unconsciously I started to compare it to Kissou. It's almost like Kissou took their idea, because from the soup, to the charshu, to the noodles, and even the tamago, it was very similar.

Without making non-stop comparisons to Kissou in this paragraph, I will do my best to give a unbiased review of Ikaruga. The charshu was absolutely brilliant. It's like most ramen shops, where the charshu is not hot, but it's warmed up by the soup. It's very tender, with the melt in your mouth effect. The hanjyuku tamago was a nice touch in that it's already cut in half. The egg white was done just right just as the yolk was. The soup was rich, flavorful, but not overpowering. The noodles were at best above average, but nothing special to write home about. All in all, other than the noodles, I would say this is truly deserving of a #1 spot and is a very special bowl of ramen.

Now, it's impossible not to compare this with Kissou, just because the similarities between the two shops. While I think the charshu and soup is close to being a tie, Kissou still wins out on the tamago and noodles. There is very little weakness to Kissou's offering, and it is going to take a near perfect bowl of ramen to beat it out.

However, you can't really go wrong with Ikaruga. The wait outside speaks for itself, and so does the ramen. Where Ikaruga has the edge is there is more variety, and it's opened during lunch and dinner time. Sometimes accessibility scores you brownie points too. It's popularity is no joke as well, as there was a group of people from Hong Kong who had a Tokyo guide book, which obviously featured this place. If you are looking for a very special bowl of ramen, you really can't go wrong with Ikaruga.

City: Tokyo, Japan
Location: Kudanshita, 3-minute walk from the station
Hours: Monday - Friday 11:00-15:00 and 17:00-23:00, Saturday and Sunday 11:00-16:30 and 18:00-22:00

Website: http://www.kudan-ikaruga.tokyo.walkerplus.com/
Order system: Machine

Available in English? No

Kyushu Jangara 九州じゃんがら

The decision on which ramen shop should be posted first in ramen-otaku was a no-brainer. My first ramen experience in Tokyo was Kyushu Jangara, thanks to Okunuki-san for introducing me to ramen heaven. And while I may over use that word when it comes to ramen, Jangara's track record speaks for itself. It was voted as the most popular ramen shop in the Tokyo Metropolitan area in 2003, and at the three locations I've been, there is usually a line during meal hours.

Before we get to my experience, Jangara ramen is based from Fukuoka, and it is also known as Hakata ramen, with a tonkotsu soup base. Tonkotsu soup base is made from pork bone, and most of my friends who are ramen fans all love the tonkotsu soup base. It is easy to understand why many ramen fans like tonkotsu, and Jangara is a perfect example. They put the time and effort into make the soup, and it takes hours to extract all the flavor from pork bones to make the soup and give it its texture and taste. Jangara has six ramen options, Kyushu Jangara (original soup), Jangara Miso (my favorite), Bonshan (more fatty), Kobonshan (medium fatty), Karabon (spicy), Mugichan (not sure what this one is). There also have Tsukechan, which is tsukemen (will talk about in detail in future posts), but I have yet to be tempted enough to try them.

My first Jangara experience was at the Akihabara shop, which perhaps is the smallest one they have. Being my first time and the first bowl of ramen I was going to have, I ordered the standard Jangara ramen, with the 'zenbu' option that included all the toppings. I knew after the first sip of the soup that I would be a tonkotsu ramen fan. The soup was so rich, so flavorful, you and the toppings are also amazing. A bowl of ramen at Jangara packs a lot of flavor, so it's not for those who have mild taste buds.

Another distinction of Hakata ramen is the noodles. Ramen from the Fukuoka region all feature thinner, at times a bit more harder noodles, and this is tradition. I actually prefer the thinner noodles over the thicker ones that are featured in Tokyo-based ramen. Not that one is better than the other, it is simply a matter of preference. Typically the noodles are not cooked for a long time, and it comes out a little harder, so if you like them softer, you'll have to tell them.

I have visited the Akihabara and Nihonbashi locations. Go to the Akihabara location for the experience, but Nihonbashi is much more spacious and not so cramped. Not all the ramen options are available at every shop, but the standard ones should be. While there are other ramen shops that feature different options, different soup base, I can say that there hasn't been anyone that I know who was disappointed with Jangara. My mouth is watering just writing this, thinking about the soup, noodles, and toppings. If you are in the Tokyo area, this is a must try!

City: Tokyo, Japan
Locations: Akihabara, Nihombashi, Ginza, Akasaka, Harajuku, Omotesando, and Ikebukuro
Hours: Varies by store
Website: http://www.kyusyujangara.co.jp/
Ordering system: Menu
Available in English? Yes (confirmed at Akihabara and Nihombashi)