すずらん (Suzuran in Ebisu)

中華そば すずらん



Wow, it's been many, many years since I went to Suzuran. This is something I need to remedy. Suzuran is one of those shops that never ceases to amaze.



Their menu is deep, with a list of limited bowls that I can't even read. What the heck is 藍貝? Some kind of mussel? Ah, and there's the never-used Chinese character for crab, 蟹. And the last one is razor clam.

So, yeah, their ever-changing limited menu on this day includes four kinds of amazing seasonal seafood dishes.



But we were focusing on pork. By we, I mean AKB48 member Rena Nozawa and myself, filming with #tokyoextra. The shop's shabushabu ramen is topped with, you guessed it, shabu shabu. By the way, the Chinese characters for this dish are 涮肉麺.



The soup is light and aromatic, with plenty of yuzu to keep it fresh. The noodles? Top of the line homemade. Every time I come here I forget how amazing they are. I have a few foodie friends who are high up in the game, and they swear by this shop, making a trek here every time they visit Tokyo.

But how to you make it even better? Get a side of the shop's kakuni, stewed pork. Kakuni is rich and succulent, and Suzuran's melts in your mouth.



The lineup isn't horrible on a weekday, but expect a short wait.



Check out out #tokyoextra video:







東京都渋谷区恵比寿1-7-12
Tokyo, Shibuya-ku, Ebisu 1-7-12
Closest station: Ebisu

Open 11:30-15:30, 18:00-23:00
Closed Sundays

四代目 ねかし (Yondaime Nukashi in Ikebukuro)

四代目 ねかし 魚介とんこつ肉そば



Wasabi is an amazing ingredient. Most people don't know this, but the spicy notes of the root are completely neutralized by fat. Put it on a lean piece of nigiri sushi, and you'll feel the burn. Put it on some fatty wagyu steak, and it's like eating a pungent forest.



Nukashi takes advantage of this property of wasabi by covering your bowl in lightly grilled fatty pork pieces. This, added to the fact that the tonkotsu gyokai soup is already quite heavy, and you're left with an interesting bowl indeed.



My advice, and this goes for any bowl of ramen at any shop, is to eat about half of it without any spice. Then, flavor away to your heart's content. At Nukashi, that means wasabi, wasabi, wasabi.



Fun shop. This was actually for a TV shoot. I'm not thrilled when my TV shoots take me to shops that I haven't sampled before. You are pretty much required to love the ramen when the cameras are rolling. For me, personally, I will never endorse a place with bad ramen, but work is work. I pretty much knew that that roasted pork would be good, if anything else, but in the end the entire bowl was solid. Sign of relief. Check out the video!





And in total Ikebukuro fashion, they were filming some sort of gangster movie outside the shop in a separate shooting. Crazy Ikebukuro.





東京都豊島区西池袋1-34-3
Tokyo, Toshima-ku, Nishi Ikebukuro 1-34-3
Closest station: Ikebukuro

Open 11:00-2:00am
Friday and Saturday until 4:00am
Sunday until midnight

風来坊 (Furaibo in Fukuoka)

風来坊



I've said before that, for me, all these Fukuoka-style bowls of tonkotsu ramen are a blur of decentness. Great bowls, but they are hard to stand out. All of my Fukuoka memories, though, are full of happiness; slurping with friends and strangers, kanpais along the canals, and late nights with the crowds. I'm talking about the yatais, portable food carts that have been setting up shop here for years.



The bartender at a nearby craft beer bar suggested Furaibo. He didn't even know the name, though,  his description was to find the one with the white sign, the one on the right-ish side of the row.



Yatai serve all kinds of food and drink. Boiled, fried, and simmered, you're best to just choose one that looks good. Or maybe choose the one with the three friends who are in town for a wedding, their extreme elation was spilling out, and the entire group of diners were following suit.



The ramen here was typical, with that milky soup letting off just a slight tinge of stinkiness.



You sit, you slurp, and you drink. I'd love to be blown away by one of these shops, but I don't think it will happen. The distractions are just to great.



Furaibo is famous for their tebasaki gyoza, chicken wings stuffed with dumpling filling.



You'll see me there every day from now on!



Data for these shops is very hard to come by. It was located in the Tenjin area's yatai row along the canal. Most yatai are open from around 6pm until very early the next morning.