九段 斑鳩(Kudan Ikaruga)

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特製らー麺、¥880。特製濃厚和風豚骨。
Tokusei ramen(shoyu base), Y880.
Tokusei noukou wafuu tonkotsu(pork bone broth).
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(June 6, 2009)
チャーシューガーリック油そば、¥1120。
Chashu(roasted pork) Garlic Abura-soba, Y1120.
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(Dec 27, 2006)
特製塩本鰹らー麺、¥1000。
Hongatsuo(some fancy version of dried bonito?) soup based ramen. Usually bonito soup never works for me but I really like this one. Thought it would have been nicer if the soup were piping hot, but after reading other people’s reviews, seems like the lukewarm temperature is deliberate. Noodles are perfectly cooked, the pork and the eggs are both soft and tasty. No wonder there is always a long queue. I went twice before but gave up because of the queue. This time I went early, around 11:30am, and I got in pretty quick. I sat at the counter and the staff in front of me(not the guy in pic) has his head quite interestingly shaved…seems like he is the owner. He is all smiley and softly singing(literally) irashaimase the entire time.
九段 斑鳩(Kudan Ikaruga)

信濃神麺 烈士洵名@春日 (Shinanoshinmen Resshijunmei@Kasuga)

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炙りチャーシューらーめん(太麺)、¥1100。
Aburi-Chashu ramen. For some reason the chashu comes in a plate separately from the ramen. The soup, the chashu, the seasoned egg and the seasoned Eryngii mushroom are all not bad but I find them too salty. You can choose either thick noodles or thin noodles. Thick noodles is made from barley and thin noodles is made from “black wheat”. Thick noodles is chewy and thin noodles is almost like soba. Both are good but I personally prefer thick noodles.
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チャーハン&半らーめんのセット(細麺)、¥850。白みそらーめん、¥800。
Cha-han(fried rice) and half ramen set. Fried rice is surprisingly nice.
Shiro-miso(white miso) ramen is not bad.
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辛みそ麺、¥900。しそ餃子、¥300。
Spicy miso ramen and Shiso gyoza are both so-so.
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特製冷し麺、¥800。特製つけ麺、¥850。
Special cold noodles(summer menu) with marinated vegetables, seasoned egg, chicken with mayonnaise. The sauce is some sweet dressing with sesame seed. Not bad but again…..too salty!!
Special tsukemen is not salty(phew!) and is quite good. The portion is so big that I couldn’t finish – the cheaper version of tsukemen is enough.
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焼肉定食+半らーめんのセット、¥1050。
Yakiniku set includes a half ramen. The pork is soft and the sweet sauce is not bad in a junky sort of way.
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ぶためし+半らーめんのセット、¥750。クレームブリュレ、¥250。
Buta-meshi(pork on rice) and half ramen set.The creme brulee is tiny but surprisingly nice for a ramen shop.

This is a branch of a ramen chain originally from Nagano. Not the kind of high-profile “gourmet” ramen shop that always has queue outside, but it is cheap and it opens really long hours(11:00am to 2:00am) which is kinda convenient.
Menu(J) here.

信濃神麺 烈士洵名@春日 (Shinanoshinmen Resshijunmei@Kasuga)
Add:1-15-6, Nishikata, Bunkyo-ku
Tel: 03-5684-2263

すずらん(Suzuran)

0706160053味噌チャーシューそば(平打)。
Miso chashu soba. Slightly spicy soup, lots of vegetables, and very very nice flat noodles! There are about 5 kinds of noodles in different thickness to choose from. I always have the flat and thick fettucini-like ones, which is 100yen more expensive. You can check out the photos outside the shop showing the available types of noodles.

Last time I had tsukemen(below), which you can really enjoy the taste and texture of the noodles itself, but normal soup noodles is also tasty.

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味噌角煮つけそば(平打)、1250円。
Miso tsuke-men with kakuni(simmered pork). I love the flat noodles!! Even though the miso soup doesn’t stick so well to flat sheet noodles but still like it. Many people ask for “soup-wari”, i.e. adding soup into the tsuke-soup(which is too strong to drink by itself) to finish it off. They have a large menu, e.g. curry ramen, chicken soup ramen, clam soup ramen etc. Want to go back to try others!

Suzuran すずらん (review)
Add: 3-7-5 Shibuya, Shibuya-ku.
Tel: 03-3499-0434

めん徳 二代目 つじ田 神田御茶ノ水店 (Mentoku Nidaime Tsujita)

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二代目らーめん、¥900。二代目つけめん、¥980。
Nidaime ramen. The soup is slightly thick but not a bit greasy or salty – very nice to drink.
Nidaime tsukemen. Seems like the most popular item on the menu. The shop’s instructions are: for the first 1/3 of the ramen, just eat with the dipping soup alone. Then squeeze the sudachi into the ramen and mix well. For the last 1/3 of the ramen, add the black chilli pepper. The noodles are elastic and very chewy. After you’ve finished the ramen, you can ask the staff to add soup into the leftover.
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チャーシューごはん、¥300。らーめん、¥700。
Chashu with rice. It is a lot of pork – not bad but quite salty.
Ramen. Same as Nidaime Ramen but with less toppings.
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二代目ごはん、¥280。つけめん、¥780。
Nidaime gohan – just rice with chopped pickled cucumber(also okra I think). A bit too simple for 280yen maybe?
Tsukemen. Same as Nidaime Tsukemen but with less toppings.
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There is always a queue outside but the staff are very efficient so the wait is never longer than 15mins even during lunch hours at weekends. There is a bench outside for you to sit and wait and even help yourself to some hot tea.

0904030002(Apr 15, 2009)
On a recent visit. Had Nidaime tsukemen. Still very good.

めん徳 二代目 つじ田 神田御茶ノ水店 (Mentoku Nidaime Tsujita)
Add: 1-4 Ogawamachi, Kanda, Chiyoda-ku
Tel: 03-5256-3200

ラーメン二郎(Ramen Jiro)

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豚入りラーメン、700円。にんにくと野菜(少なめ)をトッピング。
Finally went to the stomach-challenging ramen Jiro. A good introduction to the original shop here. The one I went to is a popular branch in Ikebukuro. I had the “small” ramen with pork. Four free toppings are available – vegetable(mostly beansprouts and a little cabbage), pork fat, garlic, and extra soy sauce tare. You can ask for all four toppings. The huge pile of beansprouts other people were struggling with just looked too daunting that when I was asked by the staff about my choice of toppings, I requested for garlic and a “smaller portion” of vegetables…and thank god I did. The noodles are very thick, and a lot a lot a lot of them. You can ask for “hard” noodles, as most ramen fans would prefer. A 5mm layer of fat was floating on the soup which made me hesitate in drinking the soup, but taste-wise it is good. The pork is hard and tasteless so maybe the simple ramen without pork(600yen) is a better choice(other toppings are free anyway). Altogether not bad actually, in a junkfood-ish guilty pleasure sort of way. Oh many people were saying the mysterious word “mashi-mashi” when they ordered the toppings, and I later found out that it is a term meaning “more-more”. So “yasai-mashi-mashi” means “veggy more more”. I wonder if they have a word for “less less”. ^^;;;
ラーメン二郎