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

Menya Musashi Shinjuku 麺屋武蔵新宿本店

One of the most popular ramen shops in Tokyo is Mushashi ramen. It one of those shops that most people have heard about from the long lines that most people do not want to wait for. It was again one of the first ramen shops that was recommended to me, but for some reason, it took several trips to Japan before I finally made it there, even though it was a short 10-minute walk from my hotel in Shinjuku.

What makes Musashi ramen so special isn't just their ramen, which is good to begin with. A lot of times, eating ramen isn't just getting a bowl of noodles to shove down your throat. The overall experience include the design of the shop, the service provided, and even at times, the show that is put on in the kitchen. The Shinjuku shop exemplifies that with its open kitchen and the customers watching the servers preparing the ramen and their every move. When the person that is cooking the ramen begins to drain the noodles, he lets out two very loud yells, and makes the whole experience quite unique.

Musashi ramen is Tokyo-based ramen at its finest. Very similar to Menya Kissou, but I would say just a notch down as far overall quality. The noodles are of the thicker variety, and the soup also very rich and flavorful. The hanjyuku tamago is very good here, not quite on par with Menya Kissou, but very close. Additionally, they also have tsukemen, which is the dipping style ramen, and the portion is HUGE.

My first impression of Musashi was, well, a tad above average at best. I just didn't understand what all the fuss was about. Until I had it the second time, and then the third time. And after a while, it grows on you. The noodles are very chewy, very "Q", and the soup is actually very good. The charshu was average, but the tamago makes up for it. The tsukemen was just average, but all in all, Musashi is worth a visit.

The most interesting about Musashi is that their menu is not the same in all the shops. So I am curious to visit another Musashi chain in the greater Tokyo, and from their website, it looks like there are a few good ones I must try.

City: Tokyo, Japan

Location: Shinjuku, west exit from station (7 other locations in Tokyo)

Hours: 11am - 9:30pm
Website: http://www.m634.com/

Order system: Machine

Available in English? No