NERIMA: (CLOSED) Hanaichi Ramen... Super friendly Single Mother Ramen Chef :) ** New Location is at Nerima-Kasugacho Station 東京都練馬区春日町4-18-8 **

In search of a great ramen spot in Nerima and came across Hanaichi via the Nerima Ramen Rankings...  Hanaichi is from the chef's daughters name "Hana-chan."

Free tiny ramen and juice for kids below elementary school...

Free ice cold tea

L shaped counter seating and in the back there is a small section with tatami style seating... noticed a few mothers with little kids in that area.

Slowly I started to notice little hints that the female ramen chef probably owns this place... Heart shaped toothpick holder.

Wasabi Charsiu Bowl looked tasty

Two basic Shio choices... Ramen or Tsukemen.

There it is! My 680yen Shio-Ramen... 

Melty charsiu that is grilled with a flame thrower thingy

You have the option to order "Hoso-men" (thin noodles) or "Futo-men" (thick noodles).  I'm a huge fan of chewy think noodles...

You can upgrade the amount of noodles for a few yen.

Overall this place was just so friendly and warm... the chef was so extremely polite, the ramen had a great rich flavor and just felt like I was eating ramen with made with love.  I'll definitely go back to support my very first ever female ramen chef spot.

Ramen shop was featured on TV (8.7.2013)

At one time this place was operated as a husband and wife team but two years ago they got divorced and the wife took over the ramen shop. http://ramen151e.blog71.fc2.com/blog-entry-472.html

Restaurant: Hanaichi Ramen

Restaurant J: はないち

Foodie Website: http://tabelog.com/tokyo/A1321/A132102/13054112/

Address J: 東京都練馬区練馬2-2-18 ハイツ練馬 1F

Address E: Tokyo, Nerima-ku, Nerima 2-2-18

MAP:

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ラーメン、つけ麺、油そば・まぜそば, 家族のらーめん食堂 はないち 春日町店

IKEBUKURO: Menya Musashi... Late evening Tsukemen! FREE Noodle Upgrades!!

Once again I follow my ramen connoisseur friend into the Ramen battle grounds of Ikebukuro... this night we hit up Menya Musashi.

All three of us went for Tsukemen... and the greatest thing about tsukemen is that upgrades in noodles are normally always free vs ramen.  Regular, Medium, Large and Extra Large portion of tsukemen noodles were all the same price.  I went for the Medium "Chu-Mori"

All counter seating

The noodles had a nice shine to it... Unless you ask for it the noodles will come out cold to hold its texture but if you prefer hot just ask for atsu-mori.

Only if I could remember what the soup tasted like... from vague memory (had a few too many beers prior to this at Koike Izakaya) it was a medium slightly light broth.

There were very small chunks of tender pork in the soup.

And of course always great to have a little red pepper to spice up the flavor... less boring.

After you are done with your noodles don't drink all your soup!  Ask for soba-yu (hope its the correct word)... they'll add hot soba ramen water to the soup so the flavor isn't as intense.  Great stuff.

Overall how can you go wrong with paying the same price for huge upgrades in noodles~.  Great atmosphere and nice and clean... I'm sure I'll be back.  There are locations all over Tokyo http://www.menya634.co.jp/

Shop: Menya Musashi Ikebukuro Branch

Ikebukuro Branch: http://www.menya634.co.jp/niten.html

Musashi Website: http://www.menya634.co.jp/

Foodie Website: http://tabelog.com/tokyo/A1305/A130501/13005593/

Address J: 東京都豊島区東池袋1-2-4

Address E: Tokyo, Toshima-ku, Higashi Ikebukuro 1-2-4

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SAKURADAI: (CLOSED - Building to be Demolished) Ramen Hagan "shiru-nashi" (soup less ramen)... What a wonderfully new experience!

Unfortunately Hagan has permanently closed.

I've passed by this shop many times on my way to Ramen Jiro but never thought about entering... the thought of having Shiru-Nashi ramen just didn't appeal to me.  I love ramen soup!  But anther thing was that you could also add Soup-Wari (water used to boil the ramen) to the bowl whenever you wanted... but I just wasn't too sure how to go about this.

But not craving the massive 1600 calories and even less desire to battle the long line of Jiro I decided to give Hagan Ramen a try.  Of course always always go for the top left hand corner button... without fail it is the shops most recommended selection.  650yen for 200 grams of ramen but next to that you can also go for 300grams for the same price!  

Red spice for alittle kick.

Lots of different instructions.  Nice to see everything written out so clear and detailed... perfect for the 1st timer.

And there it was... 

The pork was grilled to perfection... crispy on the outside and tender on the inside.  It was like they gave me free Yakiton with my Ramen.  Sooo good!

The noodles were covered seasoning much like Yakisoba... thick and chewy.  It was honestly just good.

On the bottom of the bowl there was some very very flavorful soup but as all the foodies recommend at some point you have to add the Soup-Wari (on the counter in large silver pitchers) to mellow out the flavor and start to enjoy the bowl like traditional ramen.  

This place always has a nice steady line and the flavor was just great.  Ranks neck and neck according to the foodie rankings with Ramen Jiro in Sakuradai so you really can't go wrong.  Give it a try for sure!!

Returned on 3.30.2013 with a friend and managed to get a little video of the Chef in action.

Shop: Ramen Hagan

Restaurant J: らーめん破顔 桜台本店  - まぜそば

Shop Website: http://ramenhagan.hippy.jp/

Foodie Website: http://tabelog.com/tokyo/A1321/A132101/13051251/

Address J: 東京都練馬区桜台1-5-11

Address E: Tokyo, Nerima-ku, Sakuradai 1-5-11
MAP: https://goo.gl/maps/uoeygLJHwUh6xpnt6

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油そば・まぜそば, 桜台駅, Japan, Japanese, foodie, yelp, tokyobelly, ramen, shirunashi, shiru-nashi, Sakuradai Station, Nerima, dinner, 

HOYA: Inoshow Ramen... RED RED HOT!

My ramen King friend Kenta was craving Inoshows spicy red ramen... seems the small franchise is known for this particular special.

The different types of Spicy ramen... they also serve regular ramen or tsukemen.

http://tokyobelly.blogspot.jp/2012/11/hoya-inoshow-ramen-11212012-grand.html

3 different spice levels: Normal, less spicy and less less spicy.  Ordered the less spicy for myself. 

Kenta went for the Spicy and he was hurting but there seems to be an addictive quality to this soup.  

The noodles were flat and on the very al'dente side.  Not quite what I prefer but very filling.  Char-siu pork a bit on the dry side.

Free water and extra spice!

Very fashionable interior for a Ramen shop

I didn't dare try to drink any of my soup... perhaps next time.

Seasonable white soup ramen.

After being spoiled by the massive 650yen quantities at Ramen Dai and Ramen Jiro its hard to justify paying 850yen for a normal ramen.   If you like spicy then it might be a nice option for you... clean environment and attentive staff.  

Shop: Inoshow Ramen

Foodie Website: http://tabelog.com/tokyo/A1328/A132801/13149754/

Address J: 東京都西東京市東町3-14-5 エミオ保谷 1F

Address E: Tokyo, Nishi Tokyo Shi, Higashi Machi 3-14-5, EMIO Hoya 1F
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