Recommended bowl: A gem in West Tokyo

Master Isoda-san worked at several famous Tokyo ramen shops before opening his own place, Antai Noodles, in August 2014. All of the shops where Isoda-san apprenticed specialized in a different style of ramen, so he had a lot elements and techniques to choose from when creating his own signature bowl.

Antai Noodles serves both ramen and tsukemen. The shoyu soup is made with chicken and gyokai. The tsukemen contains those ingredients, plus tonkotsu. The noodles are supplied by Murakami Asahi Seimen, an elite Tokyo noodle maker. The shop was among the 20 best new ramen shops to open in 2014, a competitive year for rookie ramen shops.

Antai Noodles is located in Isoda-san's hometown of Akishima in the outskirts of Tokyo. It's about 45 minutes by express train from Shinjuku – deep outskirts.