井の庄 (Inosho in Nerima)

濃菜麺 井の庄

Let's take a moment and switch gears. Though we can all agree that a thick tonkotsu-shoyu soup is ambrosia, the nectar of the gods, we might not be able to agree on which god is slurping away up in his (or her) kingdom.

If you look at my ancestry, it's a Jewish gd. If you look at my recent travels, I am a devout Buddhist. If you look at the hip hop on my iPod, I associate with Muslims. I've chanted with cults, sang gospel in churches, and been audited by Scientology. This stuff fascinates me, and when I have the time, I will listen to people's religious spiel.

I ran into a group of 20 year old Mormons on their mission out on the Seibu line. Japan . . . not a bad place to be stuck for 2 years! Land of soy sauce and Mothra. They seized the chance to tell me more about their passion, and I took the chance to do the same. And that is how Elder Prince, Elder Zamarripa, Elder Reynolds, and I ended up at Inosho.

Inosho has a fairly famous shop in Shakujikoen. Their spicy tsukemen has been ranked on the short-list of Tokyo's hottest. I was completely unprepared for the Inosho in Nerima.

Jiro-kei?

It would appear that way. I'm not the biggest fan of the garlic-ladden, male-sided Jiro style, but I'm in the clear minority. Inosho's stand-out difference was the atmosphere. Relaxed and friendly.

Get the ベジ topping. It's a bowl of cabbage and bean sprouts and extra that you dump in your ramen for a kick. The extra in question comes in 4 varieties. The ジロベジ was suggested by the staff. You can probably guess what comes with that.

As the name jiro-vegi suggests, it's garlic, garlic, garlic.

The spicy topping needs less of an explanation.

The tomato-vegi topping looked popular with the ladies.

Definitely an intense bowl, as all jiro-kei bowls are.

Thanks guys! Hope you didn't get any soup on your white shirts.

Official Site Here

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東京都練馬区練馬1-6-18
Tokyo, Nerima-ku, Nerima 1-6-18
Closest station: Nerima

Open 11:00-16:30, 17:30-1:30am
Sunday 11:00-16:30, 17:30-23:30

も一回ソラノイロ (Return to Soranoiro)

Neat business card. I had a chance to talk with Miyazaki-san, tencho at Soranoiro. This place is extremely busy at lunch, but in the evening it is a bit more leisurely. A perfect time for some ramen talk. Even though they are known as one of the best newcomers on the shoyu-scene, I was compelled to sample the vegetable offering on my first visit. Very good, and worth a try.

Get ready for some collaborations. At the time-of-slurping, Soranoiro was making a shio wontonmen with noodles from across-town ramen shop Nyaganyagatei.

Everything but the noodles are from Soranoiro, by the way.

Great looking men!

Nice execution. The wonton were super good and super big. So big that any attempt to lift one with the spoon resulted in said wonton reverting back to it's base ingredients. Using chopsticks is near impossible.

Though the shio was good, the shoyu was better. Smoky and rich, this is a satisfying bowl.

I mentioned collaborations a minute ago. Get ready for a ton of the hottest ramen shops in Tokyo to not only do an April bonanza of collabs, but a stamp rally / point card . . . with prizes. I'll let you know more when I know more!

My camera is incapable of taking good photos in other people's hand.

Original Post Here

はやしまる (Hayashimaru in Koenji)

麺屋 はやしまる

I kind of had to come here, to this Koenji local ramen spot. You see, in a recent issue of プレイボーイ, I claimed Hayashimaru as the best wontonmen in Tokyo. At least, that is what was printed. The truth is that Abram, the other half of ラーメンアメリカ人, was the one who made that quote. I hadn't even been here. Hayashimaru quickly moved to the top of my list.

Homemade noodles and homemade wontons are rarely a losing combination.

As expected, this place is great. It's very . . . local. Don't expect a line, or even another customer for that matter. But the mixed wontonmen, with a few pork wontons and a few shrimp wontons, is great. It's Tokyo-style, meaning a niboshi-shoyu soup. Although not technically part of the Tokyo-style definition, most shops like this have wontons. It's always worth the extra yen.

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東京都杉並区高円寺北2-22-11
Tokyo, Suginami-ku, Koenjikita 2-22-11
Closest station: Koenji

Open 11:30-15:00, 17:00-21:45
Weekends 11:30-21:00
Closed Wednesdays and some Tuesdays