陸 尾山台店 (Riku Ramen Oyamadai)

The first encounter I had with Jiro style ramen was a challenge! Let me start at the beginning. Jiro ramen is a style (coming from an original shop, but there are MANY spin offs) which generally has a lot of toppings like cabbage and bean sprouts piled resembling a mountain plus thick slices of pork. It is very popular here and there are many shops that feature Jiro style. A Japanese friend of mine found out about my little project here and asked me if I had tried Jiro style before. I hadn't so he took me to one of his favorite places in Oyamadai. When I ordered the large size he laughed and asked me if I was sure. Undaunted by his laughter I replied with confident YES! We ordered and as we waited my friend taunted me and continued to ask if I was sure I could finish my order. My confidence was unbroken but then our order arrived:

It looked ok, the bowl was a little bit bigger than most, but the toppings were not mountain size like most other Jiro ramen places I have heard about. I began my quest to finish the ramen. What I noticed right away was that this ramen had almost no broth. It was mostly noodles, which were very thick. The broth was a salty delight and extremley flavorful. It reminded me of certain tsukemen broths that I have had. The pork was cut thick and also slightly dry but it wasn't a huge detractor from the overall bowl. I kept at it for a long time, but I didn't see an end in sight. It was as if the bowl kept replenishing itself. I wondered it was a magic curse, or if we had entered an alternate dimension. My friend laughed again, and said something about how he told me to be careful. As much as I was determined to finish, I was unable to complete my quest to defeat my first bout with Jiro style ramen. Defeated, I finally pushed the bowl away. Riku Ramen has excellent service and a delicious soup base. Their toppings aren't too much, but I warn you to get the regular. 4/5 bowls for the slightly dry pork.

As always a map: