Torimen is an Udon noodle shop near our apartment in Tsutsujigaoka. Their udon soup is fantastic and they recently expanded their menu including some Ramen options. This Ramen was good but not great, the broth is much better suited to their Udon soups and instead of pork there was piece of Chicken which was also good but not standout good. For now on I will stick with their Udon which is top notch.

The second of my Ramen double whammy was this incredible bowl of Kakuni Ramen at Tetsuya in Koenji. After getting totally soaked and cold at the Awa Odori festival Ramen was the perfect choice for warming up. This shops headquarters are located up north in Hokkaido and this is their only location in Tokyo. The kakuni which is chunks of fatty stewed pork was just amazing. I can’t wait o go back and have another bowl.

This is the first of an unusual and unhealthy (but totally tasty) double Ramen day. Jiraigen Ramen in Daitabashi was really excellent. There was nothing standout about any one part of this Ramen but the whole bowl worked well in harmony. This shops tag line is ” Japanese Soul Food Noodle” and the whole shop was decorated with American Jazz, Soul and R&B memorabilia.

A new Kushiage (fried food on skewers) place opened in Tsutsujigaoka. The food is good but the service is pretty slow but it adds a nice change of paces to go in the neighborhood.

Another bowl of Ramen in Koenji. This one turned out to be fairly disappointing. When it was served my expectations were fairly high since it certainly looked like it was gonna taste great. But unfortunately I found the flavor to be quite bland overall. This was the Black Ramen, they also had Red and white, perhaps one of those will be more exciting? I did happen to finally get the name of a previous Ramen from right across the street which was Tabushi, their Ramen was quite good and I will have to go back for another bowl.

Shiranui

Tabushi

This Ramen turned out to be one of the best bowls of Ramen I have ever had. It is definitely a bit unusual and not traditional at all. The bowl was filled with large pieces of seared pork and fish cake as well as two wantons and a soft boiled egg. The broth also took on a nice smokey seared flavor from the meat. There are quite a few kinds of seared pork options on their menu so I will definitely have to return soon to try some others.

According to Natsuko the Dorayaki from this place is loved so much by the creator of Doraemon that it was the reason why dorayaki is such a big part of the Doraemon character.

After last years Chofu Fireworks we wanted to try this ramen but the line was too long and the rain was too heavy. This year there was still a line the weather was good. This was a solid Shoyu Ramen (Soy Sauce). Nothing about it was particularly unique or especially standout but the everything just worked really well. One thing I have come to learn about Ramen is that it is really hard to make all the different parts work well in harmony together but this Ramen is very successful at that.

Another good bowl of Ramen in Koenji. The noodles were a bit thick and hard for my taste but the soup and pork were excellent.

I have always been curious about Freshness Burger but for whatever reason I have never tried it until now. I was surprised to discover it was probably the best hamburger I have had here in Japan (not that I have tried too many). So if you are in Japan and you have a craving for a real burger with a bun skip McD’s or Mos and give Freshness a try.