Appearances are deceiving. I went into this place expecting normal ramen in a normal environment. It turns out to be shrimp ramen in a decidedly old-school space. I enjoyed the old posters, and especially liked the full-length one from Tora-san’s 1976 year-end feature Tora’s Pure Love.
Koala and I both had ordering fails, but mine was more intense – based on the pictures, I wanted to eat the thin noodles in shrimp soup with dried, fried shrimp topping. I ended up with thick noodles, out of soup, with no toppings. Oops. If you go, I think that option is the thing to get, but I can’t tell you what it’s called; the descriptions on the menu buttons weren’t very descriptive.
Coming back to my theory of ramen greatness (most shops have 1 or 2 good to great elements, but very few put them together), this place was all about the soup. A clear broth with a heavy and (dare I say it?) rustic taste of shrimp (as opposed to the very refined Ise-ebi broth at Keisuke Gaiden in Tokyo Station), it was nice. Outside of that, the noodles were lackluster – by getting tsukemen, I evidently put myself in line for udon instead of ramen. The chashu was soft but overly fatty for me. The vegetables were forgettable. The overall effect was filling but not quite satisfying.
I feel like I missed the best choices here, so I’d actually like to try it again. Fortunately, in another 3 working days I’ll be released from the prison of daily newness, and then can hit Daizan for a second visit any time.
Oh, don’t get the large-size noodles. That’s what they mean by ‘daizan’.
[That site seems really good, by the way.]
03-3292-9557
Wow, it's the Tokyo station area's number one food site! Damn, too bad I quit my Otemachi job a month ago.