I knew that a branch of Tomita, the famous shop in Matsudo, Chiba, had opened near Tokyo Station, but it was only when I watched the Ramen Daisuki Koizumi-san TV special that I found out this branch recreates the mori soba of the old Higashi-Ikebukuro Taishoken. That got me curious and I went to try it, but..

A look at Tomita..

One look at the queue told me it was a solid hour of standing before you got in.. and that’s with ramen turning tables over fast..

So.. I tried again when it wasn’t busy (on a weekday).

This time the line is much shorter. If you look closely you’ll see there are plenty of other ramen shops here too..

The sign explaining the Kokoro no Aji gyoza..

The table setup

Anyway, I got in right away and took a seat.

There’s a photo of Yamagishi-san up on the wall..

Kokoro no Aji gyoza

It’s enormous, and the filling is generous too.

The mori soba special set

It looks different, but the taste was exactly the old Higashi-Ikebukuro Taishoken flavor. Rather than today’s niboshi style it has a slight tartness to it — the closest thing would be Yasubee’s soup. Only.. the broth wasn’t hot. The old Higashi-Ikebukuro Taishoken was piping hot.. Apart from that the noodles felt better than they used to, like a version upgrade.

And then the chashu set

The chashu on the far right here really does melt the moment you put it in your mouth.. I didn’t know pork could be like this. It’s an amazing experience, so be sure to order it.

As a ramen that connects past and present, the recreation of the mori soba was moving. It was the first ramen I ate after the era name changed to Reiwa, and it carried exactly that much meaning. It would have been perfect if only the soup had come out piping hot — I wonder why.. maybe it’ll be a bit better next time I go..

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