This post was written in 2009. Shop details and prices may have changed since then.

Having come all the way to Tokyo, I couldn’t not have a bowl of ramen. Tokyo is where you can eat the trendiest ramen in the world, after all. After agonizing over what to have, I settled on Kissui, a sanma (Pacific saury) ramen shop. I’d been there before and it left a strong impression. It’s just a short walk from the West Exit of Ikebukuro Station. It’s a pretty unusual ramen, so people tend to either love it or not. If you don’t like a slightly fishy taste, you might not be a big fan. Ramen trends change fast, so really I should research the newest shops and seek them out every time, but this time I just didn’t have the chance. It looks like things will stay that way for a while, which is a bit of a shame.

Tabletop water dispenser

It looked kind of unusual, so I poured myself a glass, but it’s really inconvenient. -_-;; It felt like it took five minutes to fill one glass… Seems like it’s basically just for decoration…

Jo-shoyu ramen (premium soy sauce)

What I actually like is tsukemen, but I got there a bit late and the noodles had sold out -_-;; So I had no choice but to order the standard ramen. The soft, clean-tasting broth seemed like it would be great for a hangover too. And of course the toppings were top-notch.

The noodles look like this…

I have zero complaints about the taste, but for a noodle fiend like me the portion of noodles is way too small. Two or three mouthfuls and it’s gone… I should have had the tsukemen… sob.

And this is onion

It does make the broth taste better when you add it, but since it’s raw it gets a bit sharp if you eat all of it. I wonder how it would be if they blanched it lightly before serving.

It’s a tasty place, but these days I think tsukemen suits me better than regular ramen. Of course, the morning after drinking you still need ramen with broth to cure the hangover.

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