Tomita 中華蕎麦 とみ田

I have been monitoring ramendb for a few years now, and in the past two years, there have been a few shops that are consistently in the top. For a good year or so, it was Menya Kissou, but in the last a year or so, a new shop in Chiba took over the crown. And since it took over, it has not looked back.


Tomita is not to be messed with. It's been on top of the ramendb charts, and with my love for ramen never wavering, I had to try it out for myself. Now Chiba isn't exactly close, but traveling to far places to try ramen was never a problem for me.


Located within minutes walk from Matsudo Station (松戸駅), I treked out from Shinjuku on a Saturday morning, and arrived around 11am. As you can see, the shop is not hard to find. Just look where the crowd is.


This shop definitely has character. From the exterior design of their window, to the interior decor of a traditional Japanese furnishing, it makes this shop a unique experience just to be here. But of course people don't travel all the way to Chiba for the decor. I must first apologize for the poor lighting of the pictures. I forgot to check the setting on my SLR, so the pictures turned out way too dark.


Tomita offers ramen and tsukemen, but it was evident that tsukemen is the prize here. From reading the reviews, it was clear tsukemen was going to be my choice. The picture isn't clear enough, but the tonkotsu gyokai (豚骨魚介) soup was absolutely superb. Some place is too light, some place too heavy, Tomita provide just the right balance of flavor and taste.


To achieve top billing in ramendb, you must do everything well. And tamago is one of the most critical piece to any ramen/tsukemen. Tomita is no exception. Soft on the outside, liquidy yolk on the inside, just perfect.


The amount of noodles you get with tsukemen, even with a normal order, never ceases to amaze me. It's a wonder how Japanese stay so skinny (but I guess not everyone eats ramen as much as me). The noodles were a prize possession here, thick, chewy, and immensely satisfying. The charshu, not charred as much as I like on the outside, but the serving was so generous and well marbled which made up for it.


The thickness of the soup can be seen through how it stays on the noodles. And when I took my first bite, it was as good as I expected. Sometimes when you set expectations too high, often times you are disappointed. Not here. Tomita is ranked #1 for a reason. It does everything well and has no weaknesses. If there are any minuses here, it's that it is all the way out in Chiba, which makes it a bit hard to get to. But if you are ever adventurous, and just want to have the best, head to Chiba. You won't be disappointed.

City: Chiba, Japan
Location: Matsudo, minutes walk from the station
Hours: 11am - 5pm (closed on Wednesday)
Website: No official website, http://ramendb.supleks.jp/s/282.html
Ordering system: Machine
Available in English: Minimal

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

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

Shibaraku 博多ラーメン しばらく

It all started with Jangara, and I still love tonkotsu ramen. But that definitely has taken a back seat in Tokyo, since the rise of tonkotsu gyokai (豚骨魚介) has pretty much taken over first place in my heart. Still, every once in a while, it is nice to have a change and go back to my roots. Shibaraku, being close to the office, was one option that I had to explore.

Hakata-style ramen shops has your typical menu. Ramen, with topping options, kaemada (another serving of noodles), gyoza, and some rice options.

I love gyoza, but it's not something I usually order at a ramen shop. Pretty normal for the locals to have ramen + gyoza, or ramen + rice. The gyozas here were good, nothing spectacular, but more than fit the bill.

Here comes the ramen. Bowl is small to begin with, which means the bowl is completely filled to the top with the noodles, soup, and toppings. The bowl looks small, but there is more than enough food in there.


Soup is well balanced here, but the hakata-taste was a bit stronger than I liked. But if you like the hakata-style flavor, this place is good for you.

The tamago was done VERY well. Nice orange color, soft on the outside, yolks still a bit liquidy. Amazing!

Noodles were your standard hakata-style thin noodles. It is what we come to expect. As with any hakata-style ramen shop, you can ask to have the noodles cooked longer to be a bit soft, or shorter to be a bit hard.

Being close to the office, it earns kudo points already. And this place wasn't bad at all. I've been back a few times, and it's always done consistently. You'll have to like Hakata ramen though to appreciate this place, but it is one that usually has a packed hour during lunch time. The businessmen around the area know, if they want a good meal for lunch, Shibaraku is a solid option.

City: Tokyo, Japan (one other location in Tokyo, three in Fukuoka)
Location: Nihonbashi area, 5 minutes walk from Suitengumae Station
Hours: 11am - 8pm
Website: No official website, http://ramendb.supleks.jp/s/3840.html
Ordering system: Menu
Available in English: Minimal

Rokurinsha 六厘舎

In Tokyo, there perhaps is no ramen shop that is more famous than Rokurinsha. Even my friends who do not like ramen have heard of this place. At the time I started using ramendb, this shop was consistently in the top 10, and it is known to be the godfather of tsukemen, where the tsukemen sensation all started. Since then, tsukemen shops have popped up EVERYWHERE, and like the greats, the new shops have slowly but surely surpassed Rokurinsha as being the best.

I was fortunate enough to have gone to the original shop in Ōsaki. This place is of course no longer opened, due to the neighbors complaining about the number of people waiting in line during business hours. And the amount of people waiting in line is pretty ridiculous. On the day I went, my friend and I arrived at the shop at 11:10am, and by the time we sat down, it was 1pm. No sane person would wait nearly two hours for ramen, but I guess those of us who were waiting were all crazy.

One of the possible reasons for a usual two-hour wait is due to the size of the shop. I think they only seated 12 people, so turnover definitely going to be slow. Now, one of my BIGGEST regrets that day was forgetting to charge the battery for my SLR, and thus, after taking pictures outside, my camera was dead when I got indoors. The following pictures was taken with my pathetic Nokia E71 at the time, and the pictures are blurred... (TEARS)

Even with the blurred pictures, the ramen looks amazing, and just by looking it brings back memory. This was one of my first experiences to have gourmet ramen. What is gourmet ramen? Well, Rokurinsha defined it for me. At no point in my life did I ever wait two hours for food. And Rokurinsha was well worth the wait. From the limited menu, seating, to the quality of the food, this was gourmet ramen.

The charshu here isn't just done well, it's nearly perfect. I consider good charshu being well marbled, charred from the outside, soft inside, and Rokurinsha's effort was absolutely superb.

The tamago was just as good, with the yolk half boiled and still liquidy. Just the way I like it!

The noodles, amazing. Just the right thickness, just the right amount of chewiness. Absolutely amazing!

My friend went the tsukemen route, which also looked amazing. Now most tuskemen shops only offer cold noodles due to the cooking and cooling process, but Rokurinsha will add another step and warm the noodles again. This was for those who don't want their tsukemen soup to be cold after half way through the meal.

This had to be one of the best ramen experiences I had at the time, and even with my many other adventures, to date. The shame is that the original shop is close. But never fear, Tokyo Ramen Street is here.

On my subsequent trips to Tokyo, after learning the Ōsaki location had closed, I was so happy to hear that it opened in Tokyo Ramen Street. By this time, I had started my tsukemen tour, so Rokurinsha had to be experienced.

The consistency of the soup is seen here. From my first trip to Rokurinsha, to this experience at Tokyo Station, the soup looks pretty much the same. I didn't get to try the Tsukemen at Ōsaki, so I can't compare the two. But ramendb has the Ōsaki branch rated much higher, but I found the Tokyo Station shop pretty amazing.

If anything, the charshu didn't look as good compared to Ōsaki, this could be because for Tsukemen they provide different charshu. Who knows? But it is evident that this serving is a bit thinner.

The noodles however, absolutely amazing.

As with most tonkotsu gyokai (豚骨魚介), the soup is thick, rich, and topped off with bonito powder for extra flavoring.

The tamago remains of the features for Rokurinsha, and done just as well as the Ōsaki.

This picture is simply painful to look at not being able to take a bite. It is every bit good as I expected it to be, and it was easily one of the most memorable tsukemen experiences I had.

Rokurinsha has lost some of its mystique over the years, but it continues to have the longest line at Tokyo Ramen Street for a reason. Whether it is just because of the name, or the quality of the food, Rokurinsha continues as a strong presence in Tokyo. It's like a veteran ball player who knows all the tricks. The newer shops may all the flare and fame, when it's all said and done, if you need a closer at the end of the game, you don't need to look much further than Tokyo station.

City: Tokyo, Japan
Location: Ōsaki (closed)
Website: http://rokurinsha.com/

六厘舎TOKYO
City: Tokyo, Japan
Location: Tokyo Station
Hours: 7:30am - 10am (breakfast), 11am - 10:30pm
Website: http://www.tokyoeki-1bangai.co.jp/shop/shopinfo.php?shopcode=S0161&kubun=1
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