道 (Michi Kameari)

On a hot summer morning I visited 道 (Michi) in Kameari, a shop famous for its tsukemen. There was a line down the street and I patiently waited. And waited. For about 2 hours.

The back of the line was allowed to enter and order via their ticket machine. I ordered their basic tsukemen with an egg and got back in line. At least there was a cooler full of all the tea you could drink! Finally I took my seat and watched the chef line up our orders. Their tsukemen is served with a pink shrimp salt, a meat ball, chashu, menma, and negi.

I was sad to see that it was only half of an egg, but oh well. The noodles were a standard thick chewy tsukemen. In fact everything was standard except for the shrimp salt, which was quite a nice addition. Michi is not worth the wait. Take a trip down to Yokohama instead and check out Kuriyama. 3/5

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くり山 (Kuriyama Hakuraku)

Summer time in the Kanto region is rainy, hot, humid, and a perfect time for tsukemen (dipping noodles). The noodles are served cold with a small bowl of dipping soup. There are many shops that serve ramen and tuskemen, but only a few that specialize in tsukemen. くり山 (Kuriyama) in Hakuraku is one such shop. In recent entries I have been visiting places just before they reopen for dinner. I would suggest you try to do that if you want to avoid a long line at Kuriyama. There is something magical about watching a shop open up for dinner. After the lifting of a rolling metal gate and the placement of a rod adorned with tattered flags a ramen shop appears. The shop itself looked like an izakaya turned ramen shop, meaning that the wall between the counter and the kitchen was so high that I was unable to get a great view of the action.

But behind the scenes there is so much happening to make all the bowls of tsukemen!

Over the tall counter came my tsukemen. I ordered extra chashu and an egg from the man that takes the orders outside, which for more popular shops is a really great system. Their menu is minimal between tsukemen or ramen and a few standard additional toppings like menma, chashu, or an egg.

A generous dash of dashi topped my tsukemen soup which I immediately tried. It was rich and porky highlighted by the dashi and is Kuriyama's true hero. The bits of pork cooked with the soup were perfectly tender, but the extra pieces that I had ordered were a little dry. I cracked open the egg which was only slightly overcooked. The finest part of my meal came at the end when you return your soup bowl to the high counter and the chef adds yuzu seasoning and a thin broth. What a delight! For slightly dry pork and an overcooked egg Kuriyama gets a 4.5/5. If I return I will order just tsukemen with no extra chashu or egg because their soup is fantastic all on its own!

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つけめん むらさきたくみの (Tsukemen Murasaki Takumi Monzen nakacho)

Recently I have picked up some more part time hours, but more importantly, it was my birthday last week. Though I was working I managed to snag some noodles at a shop close to where I am working. Generally I like to save tsukemen (dipping noodles) for summer, but I noticed that these were curry noodles. Because of my new found lust for noodles combined with curry I decided to check out Tsukemen Murasaki Takumi in Monzen nakacho.

This shop has a well worn atmosphere with counter seating only. On a cold January evening I felt cozy while I waited for my curry tsukemen to be served. The staff member working was very friendly and tried his best to speak English. Of course I wanted the large noodles. Of course I wanted it hot! Because these noodles are super thick it took a little longer than I am used to for me to get my dish, so while I waited I took an inventory of the condiments: bonito, yuzu powder, hot chili pepper, regular pepper, and some kind of special tsukemen topping. Fantastic!

I was not disappointed. A beautiful thick curry was served topped with saffron and loaded with hokusai (napa cabbage) along with a separate bowl of Parmesan. Thick chewy tsukemen noodles complete with chashu, egg, and nori completed this round of a sublime noodle endeavor. I say sublime because no condiments were necessary and everything was cooked to perfection. I mean everything. Chasu practically fell apart in my mouth and check out this amazing egg:

5/5! Go to warm yourself up. I noticed this neighborhood also had a lot of cool looking places to drink, so it might be the perfect spot for a drunk noodle binge.

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つけめん あびすけ 日吉店 (Tsukemen Abisuke Hiyoshi)

This is rated as the number one ramen place in Hiyoshi according to Tabelog, but before I knew that a friend of mine suggested going there. Going in I had no idea what to expect. My friend had described a tsukemen place where you cook your own soup and one of the options was curry. It was a curious description so before I had to run to my アルバイト last week I decided to check it out. This was a strategic move because Abisuke is usually packed when I walk by. The machine had many options, but I decided that I wanted to try the black sesame and I added an egg from the extra toppings available.

I took my seat and the only staff member working seemed a little annoyed at trying to explain what I should do with the hotplate in front of me. I assured him I was ok in the best Japanese that I could muster and turned on my hotplate when he brought my soup out. Initially I was not impressed by the cold soup, but as it cooked I was getting more interested. Stirring the bubbling soup I noted that the white chunks on top dissolved. I beleive they were corn starch because as they melted the soup became more viscous. Then my noodles arrived. They looked way more like udon than any tsukemen I have ever seen, but because of their thickness they held the soup quite well:

The black sesame had a nice salty flavor and, after adding pepper flakes, a desired level of spice. It was a very rich taste, wtih a texture you might expect from ground black sesame. Because of the thickness it was perfect for tsukemen, as it would have been way too heavy for any kind of "normal" ramen. What impressed me most was the egg! WOW! It was perfectly preseasoned and soft boiled, so the yolk ran out after I busted it open. They are probably able to keep them cold too because of the way the soup is served and individually cooked. INGENIOUS! Abisuke's pork wasn't all that impressive and I felt they could have done more with it. It was just a thick slab of meat swimming in the soup. They have a point card system and I plan on coming back to try the curry flavor. Overall because of the unimpressive pork and sort of unfriendly staff (I want to go back when it's more busy because this is based on only one guy helping me) Abisuke of Hiyoshi gets 4/5. There are other locations as well in Shinjuku, Sumiyoshi, and Higashiyamata. 

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