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

Nidaime Tsujita めん徳二代目つじ田

The http://ramendb.supleks.jp/ website is such a great resource for finding great ramen. During my month in Japan in 2009, I was absolutely looking to try as many of the great ramen shops as possible. めん徳二代目つじ田 was ranked as one of the best in Tokyo, so off I went to Ochanomizu station (御茶ノ水駅).

We arrived at 11:45am on a weekday, and the line was already out the door. I simply cannot believe how popular this type of ramen is. Almost every shop that sells this always has a line everyday, and this place no different.

As usual, a machine ordering system was available here, although none of it was in English. Thank god I had my Japanese friend here, so ordering was not difficult. However, if you love ramen, you be able to recognize the Japanese by reading some of the characters. The menu here is actually quite simple. They have tsukemen and ramen. Each type has three options that offers a set of topping. While I went for the ramen with the zen topping option, my friend took the tsukemen.

While waiting, there are descriptions on how flavoring of the soup, and they also offer free tea for their waiting customers, a very nice touch.

The open kitchen here is busy as they have a consistent flow of customers. You can see the trays of noodles, this is a good sign as these usually mean the noodles are fresh and delivered daily.

On to the ramen. The presentation here is great. I always love it when the splice the tamago in half, it’s almost like showing off how good the hanjukyu tamago is. You also have the standard menma, seaweed, and chashu.

The tamago simple looks amazing (and tastes amazing as well) here. The egg white looks great, and the yolk even better.

The chashu always looks average since it is pre-made and it is usually cold as they put it in the bowl. But after soaking it in the soup, it is quite amazing.

As you can see with the soup, this is a nice balance with just enough oil, and not too thick to the point that it was overpowering.

The noodles, simply one of the best I have ever had. Some of the ramen shops that offer thick noodles can be a bit too thick and it makes it feel too heavy. But not here. Very balanced and cooked just right.

And the tsukemen, while I didn’t get to try it, my friend said it was also very good. This soup seems a bit more oily than normal, but I trust my friend’s judgment. The noodles also looked very amazing.

Simply one of the better ramen shops in Tokyo, I truly enjoyed my ramen experience here. It doesn’t offer many options, but the two that they have should be satisfying enough for you to visit, again and again.

City: Tokyo, Japan
Location: Ochanomizu, Iidabashi, Kojimachi, Ogawamachi
Hours: Varies by location (check website)
Website: http://www.nidaime-tsujita.co.jp/
Ordering system: Machine
Available in English: Minimal