胡心房 (Koshinbo in Machida, #30 in Japan)

胡心房



The plan was to go to a shop called 69 N Roll One, out on the far edges of Tokyo in Machida. But they were closed, taking a few days to head up to the annual Nagano ramen festival. So Nate from Waseda Ramen and I found the closest ramen of quality, a place called Koshinbo.



Nate said to me, and I paraphrase here, "I think there's a shop around here with only chicks serving ramen created by a chick."

Ramen being a very "guy" thing in Japan, we had to check this out.



This could go one of two ways.

1. A bunch of fat, drooling dudes coming to idolize the ladies serving up their favorite sustenance.
2. A female friendly shop that anyone is comfortable in

Luckily #2 was the reality. They even have a ladies set which comes with salad. I left my wig at home, so I had to get the standard. Nate added cheese to his, and I went with an extra serving of the house menma.



Well done ladies. A very solid bowl.





Nozu Rie, the owner here, really made a bowl that anyone could get behind. And for someone who is high on the ramen fame-o-meter, she is surprisingly humble, clearing tables and welcoming people to the store. Usually, the more famous a shop gets, the meaner the master's grimace gets. It's nice to see nice food for the nice people.



I had no idea, but this is #30 on my outdated Top 30 in Japan list. Keep in mind, everyone's a critic and there are at least 3 major top of the game lists that come out in various publications or TV shows each month out here.

Shop info here.