煮干鰮らーめん 圓
Ever since En was elected as the best rookie shop of 2009, it has been the talk of the town. But this small town known as Tokyo is geographically skewed. Though most shops of note can be found via a short train ride, some are a bit of a trek. Many many people live out west in the Hachioji area, but it can be a tough journey for the rest of us.
As is the norm with most shops that determine their hours based on soup availability, I have been to En a few times, only to be turned away.
This time I was there early. I didn't even have to wait in a line, though those arriving mere minutes later wouldn't be so lucky.
The shop offers 3 bowls of note. Niboshi, mukashinagara, and shio. The mukashinagara, which roughly translates to old school, was tempting, but the niboshi was chosen.
You can see why this would be a top shop. Every aspect of the bowl is top-notch. I can't recommend it enough.
The niboshi taste is lighter than other popular shops, and finishing the entire meal is no problem. An omori size would be no problem.
I'm not the biggest fan of raw egg on rice, but when I saw how En does it, the draw was too appealing. For 300 yen, you get your pick of fresh eggs. Choices vary daily, and this time duck, Araucana, and brown Cochin were presented. How neat is that!
Like I said, I'm not the biggest fan of raw egg on rice, but this fresh duck egg was great. As with everything at En, supplies are limited. Get there early.
東京都八王子市横山町21-21
Tokyo, Hachioji-shi, Yokoyamacho 21-21
Closest station: Hachioji
Open 11:00-about 14:00, 17:00-about 19:30
Closed Wednesday
7 comments:
Hi! I recently found your blog while trying to find some good ramen shops to try out. This one is a bit far, but looks so tempting that I just might have to venture out there soon. Thanks for all the info!
It's worth it if you are in the area for sure.
One of the best in Tokyo no doubt
I went there yesterday with very high expectations because it is the highest rated ramen shop in Tokyo on tabelog.
Noodles: very high quality, perfect size and texture
Pork: just normal
Soup: terrible! I was hoping for some sophisticated anchovies flavor but it was more like very bad dashi.
Because of the soup it was one of the worst ramen I ever had...
Brian took my family and i there last fall-- simply put the broth of the niboshi--was one of the best i've had==in any soup-- complex, layered , yet clean and focused--mu son had the "old school" we were planning on trading half-way thru--after the first few slurps --no way--
Maybe I'm an idiot but I mostly agree with Phi. The soup wasn't terrible, it was clean and tasty but nothing stuck out to me as special. I drove 40 minutes to try this ramen and I'm wondering what I'm missing.
Was it a bad day for them? Or is it just not my taste? My friend who I took also felt the same way.
I'll have to get out there again soon. They are still highly ranked among those who rank stuff, but they might have changed some aspects of it.
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