Senrigan (千里眼) Tokyo

Recommended bowl: Top-level Jiro style

Senrigan is a shop you must visit twice. The shop's year-round specialty is Jiro-style ramen, but during the summer months a hiyashi chuka dish pops onto the menu. Both are among the best of their kind in Tokyo.

That's right: Senrigan's jiro-style ramen is just as good as the original, namesake Jiro Ramen. The flavors are fierce and the noodles are thick. This is an unforgettable Jiro-style bowl, with thick slabs of fatty pork, piles of bean sprouts and globs of suspended pork back fat.

Senrigan's take on hiyashi chuka, meanwhile, is the best we've ever tasted. This cold noodle dish is served only during the summer months (July-August). A heaping pile of diced daikon radish, mizuna, and cherry tomatoes are served over a generous base of choice chilled noodles, with chashu, pork back fat and a delicious sesame dressing topping it off. It's essentially a filling but refreshing ramen salad.

You get a lot of flexibility with your toppings at this shop. For any dish, you can add extra vegetables, back fat or 'karaage' (a spicy, crispy rice topping not to be confused with the fried chicken dish of the same name). We always go for extra veggies ('yasai mashi') and garlic. If you want to go hard-core, just say 'zenbu mashi,' which is extra of everything (it's free).

Senrigan is wildly popular year-round but the lines get especially long during summer, when ramen heads descend en masse for the hiyashi chuka. Less