Recommended bowl: Niboshi Pioneer

This legendary shop opened in 1988, and according to some sources it was one of the very first shops ever to serve intensely flavored niboshi ramen, with heavy amounts of dried sardines in the soup stock. The shop looks like a house, with the shop on the first floor and living quarters upstairs. Master Itō-san likes to do things his own way, and the shop is barebones with some various items strewn about. He serves an extremely simple bowl, with home-made noodles and niboshi-heavy shoyu soup. No MSG. If you want pork chashu, you need to order it. Itō-san's younger brother now runs the head Itō shop in Tokyo, and his nephew runs a branch in Akabane. The brand has four shops in Tokyo, but this is the og legend. Only open for lunch, 11am-2pm. Not many make it here, but it's an epic experience.