Is this the best ramen in Shinjuku? I think it comes pretty close.

Ramenya Shima is the picture-perfect chicken shoyu, and only accepts reservations. I had my eye on it for months, but never could line up the time to go with when the bookings opened up for availability.

What makes this ramen so famous both its lineage as well as the luscious layers of chicken and aged soy sauce. A quick bit of ramen history: Shina Soba-ya was one of the major influential shops of the modern shoyu ramen we know and love. Sano Minoru, the founder of Shina Soba-ya, still appears in framed photographs in ramen shops around the country, a testament to his legacy and vivid personality. The owner of Ramenya Shima trained there for years, and that classic DNA can be seen in this perfect bowl.

Layers of refined chicken flavor dance with smoky, robust shoyu. Noodles are long and straight, neither too firm nor too soft. It is one of those rare bowls where time stops and you’re suspended in perfection. Less