Ramen Mistress

I almost lost a friendship over niboshi once.

We had plans to meet for ramen and I was to pick the place. I knew she hated fish, so I checked the restaurant’s Twitter to be sure they had something for her that day. I saw a pork emoji and thought “oh, looks like the daily special uses pork so we’re safe.”

When her ramen arrived, it was the MOST bitter niboshi I had ever tasted. The pig emoji just meant they dumped a bunch of pork back fat on top of the bowl. So it was extra fishy and tons of globs of pork fat dripping down the sides to boot.

Niboshi is a good barometer for a friendship. We still talk today.

This spot featured is Menya Deko in Musashi Kosugi. It’s easy to access and a great foray into niboshi style if it’s your first time.

📍 Men-ya Deko 麺や でこ
🚂 Musashi-Kosugi
💴 ¥1,000 for ramen / ¥1,100 for tsukemen
🕰️ Open daily for lunch and dinner, with a break from 3:00-5:00pm

#ramen #tokyo #japan Less

The machichuka is a hidden gem most people breeze past in their search for a good bowl of ramen. That’s a mistake.

This machichuka for example does “lu rou fan” ramen, which is genius. Everyone loves braised pork, so why not put it on noodles with lots of wok fried vegetables?

One thing you MUST order that I did not on this day is a side of gyoza. Each restaurant Maggie’s then their own way, and are a quintessential dish at any machichuka.

The ramen is always pretty simple and traditional, but also styled as the shop likes it.

I love machichuka and need to visit more in 2026.

📍 Chinese restaurant 唐家村, Bashamichi, Yokohama
⏰ 11am - 2am daily

#japan #japantrip #japanesefood #tokyo #yokohama Less

The menu at Tagamiya is simple. It’s just one bowl of ramen for 900 yen ($5.70 USD). You can add extra pork, extra noodles, or green onions, but that’s pretty much it.

They sell canned beer as well, which I guess makes sense if you just got off working third shift.

The bowl is pretty balanced in its ratio of soy sauce to tonkotsu soup. I’d like to see a bit more spinach, but was impressed at how freshly cooked it was (which you can tell in the photo.) For this ramen style, I always recommend ordering extra nori. I just love the way dried seaweed soaks up that fatty, soupy goodness.

📍 Tagamiya 横浜ラーメン 田上家

🚂 6 minutes from Gumyoji Station on the Yokohama Blue Line

🕰️ Open from 7:00am - 2:30pm, Closed Tuesdays

#ramen #japan #japanesefood Less

Omakase gets the spotlight, but kappo is what we should really be seeking out. I hadn’t heard of kappo style until I went to Kirinji in Nagano.

Omakase and “ryotei” are high-end (ryotei even often involve geisha and are invitation only!) but kappo is a down-to-earth approach to premium cuisine. It’s kind of like what Bib Gourmand is to Michelin. Kappo literally means to cut and grill, which reflects what customers can observe after placing their order from their intimate counter seats.

The chef at Kirinji has a fascinating backstory, opening his restaurant just two days after the Great East Japan Earthquake of 2011. He distributed flyers and offered 100 free meals for two days. Now, 15 years later, Kirinji is one of the highest rated ramen shops in Nagano.

Menu:
🐓 塩そば (Salt ramen) ¥1,200
🥢 つけそば (Tsukemen) ¥1,000

Location:
📍 Noodles Kirinji 麺道 麒麟児
657-4 Kawanakajimamachihara, Nagano, 381-2224

Research:
📝 https://kirinji-gp.com/concept/
📝 https://www.jikko.jp/news/ryoutei Less

Need the Snooup for the life?

Yes, yes I do.

$nooup was the absolute last place I thought I’d find in rural Miyazaki, home to mountains, wild horses and weird Pokémon (I’m looking at you, Exeggutor).

The branding, the menu, the ingredients are all like something you’d find in California, not remote Japan.

Which makes all the more sense if you suspect Snoop Dogg is behind some sort of collab. But regardless, $nooup opened in 2010 and specializes in tomato ramen with additive free chicken stock. It feels quite healthy and wholesome, and they even make amazing coffee to go as well.

Check their insta at @snooup_is_yours and search up $nooup®︎ on google maps (yes, with the trademark, too). They’ve got a few locations scattered around Kyushu. The place is a VIBE. Less

Everybody’s heard of Takachiho Gorge, the stunning volcanic waterfall canyon in Miyazaki prefecture. But the true hidden gem is Hinokage-Onsen, a defunct railway station just 20 minutes downstream. After massive landslides forced the Takachiho Railway to permanently close in 2005, Hinokage converted their train station into a ramen restaurant with an onsen on the second floor. And if that’s not enough, visitors can rent one of the old train cars to stay the night.

It’s not first-class sleeping by any means; the interior is identical to when the train was in service. The driver’s seat, gauges, fare box, windows, and luggage racks remain unchanged.

Now, the station entrance sells onsen tickets rather than train tickets. Timetables still paper the walls, and the upstairs baths have sweeping views over the river valley. The second floor onsen is all natural, and has both indoor and outdoor baths. I never thought I’d be taking a bath literally inside of a train station, but Japan has truly thought of everything.

The ramen is, quite frankly, fantastic, and just like the location, one-of-a-kind. Miyazaki is located in Kyushu prefecture, which is famous for champon. Thick noodles, a rich broth of pork and chicken, with oodles of seafood and vegetables. With champon, you cook everything together in the same wok—even the noodles—which thickens and melds the flavors together into a comforting hearty experience. At Hinokage Onsen, the champon is heavy on the seafood and an extra thick tonkotsu pork base. It’s perfect for when the mountains get chilly at night.

Hinokage Onsen is an era suspended in time. It’s one of my favorite places in Miyazaki. Less

If you’re going to Kyushu, you better be eating tonkotsu ramen every day. The smell from the sidewalk alone is enough to stop you in your tracks.

Ramenman (拉麺男) is in the Tabelog Top 100 for western Japan, which is a list of ramen shops selected for their quality and popularity on the well-known Japanese reviewing platform. And it’s only 20 minutes by car from Miyazaki airport, making it an easy choice the second I got off the plane.

The light soup あっさり was super good; my friendly got the heavier pure tonkotsu with back fat. They also do a ¥500 half size ramen and let you get two different bowls so as to try them both. But if you go with someone else, there’s less of a need to do that if you don’t mind sharing 😜

Ramenman is open from 6am to 9pm, closed on Thursdays. So basically go anytime and you’ll be pleased. I’d recommend the light one for breakfast though! Less

If you hate soggy noodles, this recipe is for you.

The best thing about a saucy, crunchy, cold noodle bowl is that it travels really well and makes meal prep a cinch.

It’s called mazesoba which literally means to mix up the noodles in Japanese. One of the perks of the style is that you get to really taste the texture of the noodles, which remains consistent throughout eating and doesn’t get soggy in a hot soup like standard ramen.

This particular bowl of mazesoba is from Hama Momiji in Yokohama. At Hama Momiji, they make all their noodles in house and you can choose between five different thicknesses, and whether you want them massaged and wavy or straight. And the star of this particular order is the creamy tofu almost like a cream cheese. It blends in super excellently with the soy sauce, space and the wedge of lemon. I could eat this every day for lunch! Less

The neighborhood of Kamata is a hive of eating and drinking spots, and the “Sun Road” walking street is one of my favorite places to wander, rain or shine. It’s a covered shotengai (a shopping street) straight out of the 1980s.

Halfway down it is Yamafuku, which opened in 2021 and is most famous for their toripaitan, a creamy chicken soup.

They’re actually a branch of Yakiton Tonbancho in Kamata, a popular low-key spot doing grilled pork skewers. It’s cool when a shop has two locations, each using different cuts or elements of their products in different ways. Does the pork in this soup taste better because they source good stuff for their other spot? I like to think so.

The noodles are made by Sugano Noodle and are straight, medium-thin, and not too big a portion (150g).

The day I went, they had a special limited-edition ago niboshi soup, made with flying fish and dried sardines. It was fishy, full of umami, with a perfectly balanced soy sauce tare that wasn’t too tangy or sour. The grated daikon was FIRE on this. I don’t know why more shops don’t follow suit.

All the cuts of meat were succulent and tender. I really loved the sous vide chicken on this one.

Only eight seats. Out of all the places to choose from in Kamata, it can get overwhelming, but you won’t forget Yamafuku. Less