I was out on a mission this afternoon – go to guitar stores, have ramen, urban-hike Tokyo, find an early-opener izakaya with Sunday hours, and get drunk. MISSION ACCOMPLISHED, BY GUM. The guitar stores were in Shin Okubo today (Korea town, also interestingly invaded these days by people whose provenance causes them to open spice […]
ramen
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Tsujita Ramen, Yaesu (二代目つじた、八重洲)
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before. Or just go on to the next entry, because I’ve certainly told you this one before. The metaphoric you, you understand. Tsujita is one of my favorite ramens and I don’t like to miss a chance to eat there. Fortunately they’ve opened a new branch right near […]
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Machidaya, Shin Yurigaoka
So I broke my glasses. Not completely, but enough to make you think they could break any time, and I’ve got stuff coming up where I really need to be wearing glasses. Like my life. So I walked up to the station and ordered some new ones, walked around and did some errands, and then […]
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Abura Soba, Akasaka (油そば 東京油組総本店
Fattay, fattay, fattay. It had been a while since I ‘challenged’ the abura soba. I say ‘challenge’ in the Japanese way, meaning to try something new or perhaps distasteful. There’s nothing distasteful about this shop (except perhaps the pained expression of the guy looking at my camera), but I generally don’t see the need for […]
Yattai Soba Hachiman, Monzen Nakacho (屋台ソバ 八幡)
You just never know, you know? This place has been hanging around on one of the most boring streets in Monnaka, and I always thought it might be OK in that dumpy-but-delicious ramen way. I was put off by it being across from a chain fugu place, the kind with the sad fish swimming in […]
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Kikuya, Kita Senju (菊や)
I used to ride my bike along the Arakawa almost every morning, and at some point I read about this place. Then it started bugging me to know that it was just over the levee. And like so many of these places, I finally gave in and found the time to go. ‘Found the time’ […]
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Sakari, Sumiyoshi (らーめん屋 盛)
I’ve had this thing for Ganko ramen…pretty much since I met the guy who started the style 20+ years ago. It’s sort of like meeting someone who started Nouvelle Cuisine or whatnot. Now every time I see a bone outside, and a black sign, I get all jazzed up. This one is funny because they […]
Mazeru ramen, Akihabara (麺処 マゼル)
Mazeru? Yes, yes I will. With an offer like that, how could you not get excited? It means ‘stir’, and the implication of the name and the sign is that you’re going to get maze-soba (pronounced mah-zay), a lot like the junk from Junk Garage, for example. And that is a gooood thing. I’m fond […]
Hakata Ramen Center, Iidabashi (博多ラーメンセンター)
Meeting everyone’s favorite ‘Cock is a good opportunity to explore rare neighborhoods. I mean, Kudanshita is rare for me, and he doesn’t go out to lunch. For some reason Ikaruga wasn’t doing maze-soba today, and I decided to boycott out of protest. As if all the other people in line cared. And on a back […]
Taniyan ramen, Monzennakacho (深川谷やんラーメン本店)
This is on the outskirts of Monnaka, where Kasaibashi Dori bends down to meet Eitai Dori and it’s hard to cross the street if you’re walking to work – which I was, for several years. And the grease and stains on the yellow awning here kept calling me. Plenty of evenings I’d wobble by on […]