Japanese ramen comes in so many styles, and there are so many famous shops, that it’s hard to say any one place is the best. Around the New Year, TV shows and magazines all rush to publish their rankings, but the top-ranked shops often mean a long wait, and the taste tends to slip once they get crowded, so plenty of times you go and end up disappointed.
Then, on a word-of-mouth food site I visit often, I came across a tip about a shio (salt) ramen shop that could fairly be called the best in Tokyo. Setagaya, a famous shop that only opens at night, opened a daytime-only ramen shop last year, and almost everyone who has tried its ramen raves about how good it is. It’s near Shinjuku, so not far at all, and I headed over right away.
I’d heard the shop was in front of Shinjuku Gyoen, so I went toward Shinjuku Gyoen, but it turned out to be quite a way from the park. I got a little lost.
A Buddha statue I shot on the way
It’s a large statue of Jizo Bosatsu. Nicely looked after ^_^
Finally found it.
Trying to find it using Shinjuku Gyoen as your landmark is a bit tricky. Leave Shinjuku Station by the East Exit and walk along Yasukuni-dori, which runs in front of Kabukicho, for about 15 minutes until you reach a pedestrian overpass. Turn into the alley right behind the overpass and you’ll see a small park; the ramen shop is tucked away near the back of it. The interior is so stylish for a ramen shop that I nearly walked right past it.
Maybe because it’s pretty out of the way, or because I went on a weekday, I got in without much of a wait even though it’s a famous shop. For the time being, though, it’s only open from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. And it closes as soon as the soup runs out, so keep that in mind if you plan to go.
The table
Simple but stylish. I guess that’s the trend these days. At the back there’s a card explaining why their ramen tastes so good. I read it while waiting for my order.
Close-up
They say they use no chemical seasonings at all. To build the flavor of the soup they use loads of good-quality natural ingredients. On top of that, the noodles are a mix of three different thicknesses to get the most out of the texture in your mouth.
At last, the shio-tama ramen
Ramen with a soft-boiled egg. Calling it Tokyo’s number one was no exaggeration. I savored the soup one spoonful at a time. The way the noodles felt in my mouth was something special too. AFURI in Ebisu is delicious as well, but considering it isn’t shio ramen in the usual sense, I don’t think it’s far off to call this shop’s classic shio ramen the number one in the shio ramen world.
A photo I took mid-bowl, deeply moved
That said, shio ramen is mild, so it may not suit Korean tastes. If anything, I’d say it leans toward what women tend to like… I can’t recommend it to just anyone, but if you think you’ve had your share of ramen, it’s worth stopping by once to level up your experience.
I hear their tsukemen is good too, so I’ll have to come back next time I have business in Shinjuku.
A Taishoken offshoot
On the way back I spotted a Taishoken offshoot. I really should try this place once too, but who knows when I’ll find the time… there’s just so much to eat.