Recommended bowl: Best beef ramen!

Master Iwatate-san opened Matador in 2011, just as a mini boom in gyukotsu (beef bone) ramen was sweeping Tokyo. Matador immediately placed itself at the forefront of the nascent scene by winning a bevy of awards from ramen critics and Tokyo food magazines.

The shoyu ramen is recommended for first-timers here, but everything on the menu – shoyu ramen, shio ramen, tsukemen, Taiwan ramen, abura soba, and more – is delicious. All of the dishes use a beef bone soup stock, with noodles provided by the purveyor Mikawaya Seimen. Most bowls include the topping option for slices of house-made roast beef chashu.

On Mondays, the menu changes and only mazesoba (ramen without soup) is offered. Rather than the normal roast beef chashu, fried gyu-katsu is added. In 2013, Iwatate-san opened another beef bone ramen shop specializing in miso ramen, just a five minute walk away. Both shops are legit.