This post was written in 2005. Shop details and prices may have changed since then.
I finally went to Shinjuku Gen, the ramen shop yepok strongly recommended to me a while ago.
It’s a Hokkaido-style ramen shop. It had moved from its original spot, so I had a bit of trouble finding it,
but it was worth the effort. The friends I went with kept praising how good it was. Of course,
it’s not the best ramen ever ^_^;; It’s a notch below Kinryu Ramen in Osaka or Taishoken in Ikebukuro,
but it was still excellent.
The photo below is the sign.
It says “Hokkaido Ramen Shinjuku Gen.”
The shop is tucked away somewhere pretty out of the way, so it’s extremely hard to find. Unless you’re a regular, it’d be tough to keep going there.
A Hokkaido-style miso ramen with a clean taste and loads of bean sprouts. The broth was so
perfectly balanced it needed no MSG, but the chashu was just so-so. At Kinryu Ramen
even the chashu was fantastic, but in Tokyo I’ve hardly ever seen a shop that pays that much attention
to its chashu. Probably my ramen skills just aren’t up to it yet..