After a wild night in Ginza, I didn’t feel like just heading home, so I came all the way to Tsukiji for a bite. This time I tried Inoue, supposedly the most famous place in the neighborhood.
Inoue is a long-established Tsukiji ramen shop, with plenty of history behind it. Korean visitors are hardly going to trek out to Tsukiji just to line up for ramen, so it might not have much appeal for them. I’ve been to Tsukiji plenty of times myself, but this was my first time eating the ramen here.
The owner
Hard at work getting ready. It was 4:30 in the morning, but maybe because it was a Saturday, the line was already pretty long. Prices have gone up a little since before, but they’re still nothing to worry about.
The sign
The shop has a great golden sign, but it didn’t come out well in the pre-dawn dark.
Here it is.
Ramen in a clean shoyu broth. Not just the broth, but the chashu is lean and light too. It’s not heavy at all as a breakfast substitute. It tastes good, of course, but it made me think, so this is why the place is famous. After drinking all night, that hot broth hitting a tired stomach really works as a hangover cure. The rich tonkotsu-style broths that are so trendy these days are a bit much first thing in the morning.
The noodles are standard.
The thin, curly noodles go well with the clean broth. The portion felt a little small, but if you’re eating it for breakfast, this is just right. I bet the Ginza salarymen eat this ramen and then sleep off their day off..
Eating right before bed felt a bit heavy, but I polished it off.
The more I think about it, the more I suspect that anyone who hasn’t partied a bit in Ginza can’t really appreciate this ramen. At lunchtime the line is really long, and since it’s a stand-up counter place the service isn’t much either, so if you’re here as a tourist, just go somewhere else..
The scene at 5 a.m.
The line is still long. It got shorter after 6, then grew long again later in the morning. Looks like this place has turned into a tourist spot too.
Since I’d come all the way to Tsukiji anyway, I took a look around the market.
The inner market
I didn’t go into the wholesale market itself, just wandered around the restaurants in the inner market.
Yoshinoya’s first shop
Inoue is the only one that opens at 4:30; the other places usually open at 5. This one opened at 5 too. I’d already had a bowl of ramen that day, so I’ll save it for next time. The chances come around pretty often ^_^
Sushi Dai
It hasn’t even opened yet and the line is long. Must be because it’s the weekend. I never thought it was good enough to line up like this for, though.. If you really want to go, I’d recommend an early weekday morning.
The line at Daiwa Sushi
Sushi Dai wins on points ^_^
The outer market..
The outer market only starts opening up one shop at a time after 5, too. Even at that hour you see the odd tourist. Such early birds..
Ankimo tofu, one of my favorites
It’s monkfish liver set like tofu. It’s pricey, but it tastes pretty good. The label calls it the foie gras of the sea, but it’s not quite that.
There are still a lot of places in Tsukiji I need to try. I think I should come back regularly.