九ツ家 (Kokonotsuya in Hachioji)

九ツ家

Hachioji is, yes, a bit out of the way. I was working out here for the day, and wanted to go to En, one of the highest rated shops in Japan. But the soup had run out, and I was turned away at the door. Such is the life of a ramen adventurer.

Instead, I went to the nearest shop, a Yokohama style ramen shop just around the corner. I like the name. Counting in Japanese is confusing. Though kyu means nine, if you are asking about 9 objects, you should say kokonotsu. Confusing, yes. But when you are drinking with a group at the 150yen beer joint, screaming out "Coconuts!" will get you another round of 9 beers. Try it sometime! I'm not sure what this ramen shop has to do with kokonotsu, or coconuts for that matter.

The bowl was nothing special, but the pork was close to the original ie-kei style in Yokohama.

I'll be back (just around the corner though).

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東京都八王子市横山町22-1
Tokyo, Hachioji-shi, Yokoyamacho 22-1

Open 11:00-23:00

克味 (Katsumi in Akebonobashi)

麺匠 克味

Thick, delicious tonkotsu soup is the specialty at Menya Katsumi. How thick? I don't think this stuff could be thicker and still be classified as a liquid. How delicious? Real delicious.

Katsumi hails from Nigata, at a shop called Naoji, a shop serving Jiro-kei bowls. Luckily, their Tokyo opening goes in a different direction.

I decided on the tonkotsu miso this time around. LV40. The LV corresponds directly to soup viscosity. Go thick.

Intense. If this is your first time here, choose the shop's specialty, a LV60, thick as mud tonkotsu.

More of a sauce than soup. Katsumi bills their ramen as NEO tonkotsu, a name that I'll agree with. But instead of an inventive combination of pork bones and other animal products, the soup here is straight pig. You'll see the kanji 濃厚 a lot. Noko means thick. I said, "mud" before. If the streets of heaven are paved in gold, the off-road motocross racing circuits of paradise are full of this stuff.

If it wasn't 11am, I might have indulged. Does your beer face look like that? How about your ramen face?

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東京都新宿区住吉町8-10 ライオンズマンション市ヶ谷1階
Tokyo, Sinjuku-ku, Sumiyoshicho 8-10

Nearest station: Metro Akebonobashi

Open 11:00-23:00
Sundays until 22:00

さぶちゃん (Sabu-Chan in Jimbocho)

さぶちゃん

I pass by this shop on an almost weekly basis, but never even noticed it until I was on an unrelated adventure to buy gas for my camping stove. Searching for the outdoor shop, I turned down a nondescript alley. Jimbocho is the place to go in Tokyo if you want to buy outdoor sporting goods, by the way.

The line is always long. Even longer is the history.

Kinoshita-san, a chain smoking old ramen chef, has been serving up classic Tokyo noodles for ages. He is truly a ramen master, working tirelessly day after day. Focusing on his customers.

Even when a reporter from Tokyo TV was asking him questions, he remained 100% on the ramen. She decided, instead, to interview me. What followed was not fit for television, as my Japanese language skill was a little rusty that day.

Simple and good. But Sabuchan is only half famous for their ramen. Their claim to fame is in 2 parts. The ramen, of course, and...

... a side order of fried rice. This may seem normal, but Kinoshita-san was the first guy to put these 2 menu items together. Someone had to be the pioneer, no? A lot of the seasonings can be used for both the soup and the rice.

It should be noted that the menu has only a couple options, but everyone gets the half and half special.

Very normal, but great. If you are trying to capture the history of ramen in this great country, Sabuchan is a must stop.


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東京都千代田区神田神保町2-24
Tokyo, Chioda-ku, Kandajinbocho 2024
Closest station: Metro Jinbocho

Open 11:30-15:00, 16:20-19:30
Closed Sundays