凪西新宿店 (Nagi Niboshi in Shinjuku)

特級中華そば 凪

A last minute invitation to attend a Soka Gakkai event had me out the door at 11am on my day off*. I decided to precede the religion adventure with one a bit more worldly. A ramen adventure worthy of praises on high!

Or at least something convenient on the way.

Located in the same building as Nagi Nicai, this ground level Nagi (nagi icai?) does a powerful niboshi ramen. Lot's of dried fish go into the soup. Oh, if you want some water, look up.

Also look behind, there is a cool "History of Nagi" poster on the wall.

The New York Times article made it into their history. Very cool.

Every Nagi shop is different, and the niboshi style is definitely something new.

If my slightly blurry photo is any indicator, this was just a so-so bowl. I've always disliked raw onion with my noodles. That is until I ate at nearby Dokkan, which is similar to what I had today, plus lots and lots of fat. It makes a difference, those mounds of pork fat.

But I love that every Nagi shop tries something completely new. And the lunch crowd was strong, so as far as niboshi ramen with tons of raw onions, maybe this spot is up in the top tier.

Congratulations Keizo on a year living the ramen dream. I still remember day 1. As long as I can get another visa next year, here's to another!

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*I'm not a religious guy, but anytime someone invites me out to something, I go without a second thought.

田村屋 (Tamuraya in Ochanomizu)

酒と肴と麺の店 田村屋

From a recent visitor to ramenadventures.com,

"Daishi is getting hot in Bunkyo. It's about a 15min walk from Yushima. A former TV Champion (on TV Tokyo) Ramen King claims it will break through into Ramen fame. Basically Chuka-soba-style with chicken oil. Thoroughly prepared and delightful. For more stimulation, you can try Tamuraya. Closer to Hongo-Sanchome. Their Miso-Niku-Tofu-Tanmen is spicy-hot (if you get the "karasa-ari"), maybe a bit salty and pricey (1,100yen)."

Now that's the kind of comment I like!

Tamuraya has about 6 or 7 types of tantanmen available. Regular, vegetable, meat, or tofu; plus some seasonal dishes.

The cheese cream tantanmen at was appealing, but I went with the miso mabodofu tantanmen (as recommended) instead.

A massive brimming bowl. At 1100 yen it's kind of pricey. And though the tantanmen part of the bowl was excellent, the mabodofu was fairly normal. I used to work in the same building as Iron Chen Kenichi's mabodofu shop, so I'm a little spoiled when it comes to the spicy tofu stir fry.

As always, anything in East Tokyo gets compared to Kikanbou, my favorite spicy miso shop in the area. And as always, I say go to Kikanbou first, and all the other places second.

I think I'll come back for that cheese cream though.

Official Site Here

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Tokyo Ramen Show 2010

Ramen Show 2010

I've heard that the annual Ramen Show in Komazawa Park draws a crowd, but this was ridiculous.

I arrived at noon, with exactly 3 hours to eat before I had to be somewhere. I can eat 4 bowls in that time. I can try at least.

First up with a collaboration between Keisuke and TETSU, 2 of my favorite shops. The show was all about collaborations. Almost all of the 30 or so booths were mash ups of top shops from around the country.

Being opening day, the news reporters were in full force.

Japanese lobster from Keisuke, and fish from TETSU.

It was ok, but tasted a lot like what you get at the Tokyo Station shop. Total time in the line - about 30 minutes.

Congratulations SF Giants.

While in the next line, Keizo brought by some Taishoken. Solid.

I figured I'd go for a miso. What better than one from Saitama. Here's where I started in line just before 1:00.

Here's where I got to by 2:45. It took almost 2 hours to move halfway in line. And the line was even longer when I gave my leftover tickets to my friends and went on my way.

So be warned, this event is absurd. I left after having a bowl in 3 hours. This was a national holiday, so Thursday and Friday should be a little better. Unfortunately, I don't think I can make it back, Komazawa is a little out of my way.

I don't know if I enjoy these ramen events, to be honest. I've never had a stellar bowl at one, and eating ramen out of a plastic bowl in a crowded park isn't much of an adventure in my opinion. Maybe I'm just jaded after today.

If it rains this weekend I'll go back though.

Official Site Here

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