Nantsuttei, a ramen shop famous in Kanagawa Prefecture just south of Tokyo, opened in Ikebukuro at the end of last year. Considering that Ikebukuro is effectively the fiercest ramen battleground in Japan, that’s pretty much like going from a local name to a national one. Which tells you how famous the place is.
I was curious just how good it must be to be that famous, so I decided to go. Ikebukuro isn’t far from me, so it’s an easy trip.
The sign at the entrance
I guess the owner is famous enough that he’s been turned into a cartoon character.
The front of the shop
It’s popular, so there’s a line. The shop is big, but the ramen doesn’t come out all that fast. You have to wait a bit.
A random shot of the table
Pretty standard. Apart from the water jug.
The water jug.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a water jug at a ramen shop before.
The menu looks roughly like this..
Since it was my first visit, I ordered the 1,000-yen “royal road” (odo) course the shop recommends. The odo course is ramen + rice + a nori topping + a soft-boiled egg topping.
Rice first..
The rice is cooked really well.
The ramen with all its toppings
It’s a tonkotsu-shoyu style, and the broth is very rich. I think it’s because of the kuro mayu (black mayu), a black oil made from burnt garlic.. It was so rich that toward the end I couldn’t eat it without rice. The noodles are a little thicker than typical tonkotsu noodles. The chashu and the soft-boiled egg were in great shape. Overall it’s tasty, but way too rich for my palate.
So I left a lot of the broth.
The basics are solid, but it’s not my style. I don’t think I’ll be coming back.
A park I shot on the way home.
The one and only Ikebukuro West Gate Park! A refuge for young people with nowhere else to go. There were lots of kids hanging around till late.
A ramen shop with a line that I came across while walking.
It’s pretty long. It’s been a while since I’ve seen a place with a line like this. I plan to drop by soon. There are a few other places I need to try besides this one, so I’ll have to set aside a day and make the rounds. Two meals in one go is too much ^_^ so I’ll have to time it well.