Recommended bowl: Aomori + Marushin roots

Master Kikuchi-san is from Aomori prefecture and started working at a Chinese restaurant when he was 23 years old. He then worked at the Ogikubo ramen shop Marushin, where he stayed for over 25 years. He opened his own shop, Kikuchi, in 2006. His dashi is made from chicken, saba, soudabushi and kombu, with the choice of shoyu, shio or miso tare. There's also tsukemen on the menu, but most customers go with the shoyu ramen (ramen kuro). This is typical old school Ogikubo style shoyu. Noodles supplied by Daiei Shokuhin.