There were a few well-known ramen shops in Tokyo I still hadn’t made it to, and this time one of them opened a branch on Tokyo Ramen Street under Tokyo Station, so I went. Ikaruga is famous for its women-friendly interior and clean tonkotsu. The pudding they sell separately as dessert is famous too, but it’s limited, so it seems you can’t get it unless you go in the morning.
First you buy a meal ticket and get in line.
You don’t have to queue nearly as long as at Rokurinsha.
Water glass
The design is cute, and I heard Ikaruga was the first to try this kind of interior. Before that, ramen shops were a hangout for middle-aged guys.
Vinegar and fried garlic
Add to taste.
Tokyo Station-exclusive tonkotsu ramen
The menma is rugged. The ramen is a clean shoyu tonkotsu. The level is high, but it’s not original.
The noodles
Still, with a reputation like that it can’t taste bad. It was worth the wait.
Maze-soba
Maze-soba seems to be the trend in Tokyo these days. It’s ramen you mix up before eating, and it’s so extreme you wonder if it even counts as ramen. Taste-wise I’d say it’s a notch below tsukemen.
They told me to dip it in the egg.
But the flavour didn’t really go with the egg, so it was kind of meh.
After mixing it all up
The noodles are thick, but a bit different from tsukemen noodles too. They’re the kind the sauce clings to easily. It only becomes reasonably edible once you add vinegar after mixing, and I don’t really get relying on condiments like that. Just getting the ramen would be a much better choice… And if I get the chance, I’ll have to try the pudding and the tsukemen. (Though when would I ever eat ramen first thing in the morning…)
Right next door is Junk Garage, a newly opened ramen shop.
This is the place that hit it big with maze-soba, and I was curious about the original, so I went back the next day. And it was seriously delicious.