I heard a rumour that there was a good niboshi ramen specialist tucked away in a corner of Asakusa, so one evening I dropped in on my way home. Niboshi here means dried sardines. A quick search suggested the main shop is in Akabane.
The front entrance
The sign reads Jikaseimen Ito, which means house-made noodles. If they make their own noodles, I was curious what they would be like.
The sign board
From this alone it is not easy to tell that it is a ramen shop.
The ticket machine
I ordered the niku soba, which comes with four extra slices of chashu. The basic chuka soba apparently gets no topping at all except negi.
Niku soba
There is no need to take a separate photo of the noodles here, because the soup only comes halfway up the bowl. When I actually tasted the soup, it was such a strongly extracted niboshi broth that no topping other than negi would really go with it. I am a fan of ajitama, but I had to admit this ramen is already complete as it is. The springiness of the noodles and how they were cooked were both spot on, so I could enjoy the noodles chewing one strand at a time. It is a ramen you can eat slowly and savour. There were not many people when I visited, so they could put their heart into every single bowl, and I think that was part of the secret to such a tasty ramen. If the crowds grow they probably would not be able to keep the noodles this springy, but it is a neighbourhood ramen shop, so that is unlikely. I had no idea there was a ramen shop this good near my home; for a while I will have to dig deeper into Asakusa.