IKEBUKURO: Ramen Ichiran for breakfast! Oh man... the sun is up :(

Monja... Drinks at a tiny Mama-san bar... Karaoke... and we close out a very very long night out at 24hr Ramen Ichiran in Ikebukuro.  

Ramen starts at 790yen

You can customize your ramen with a whole list of options~.  Practice your Hiragana!

The shop is U shaped and within the "U" is the kitchen...

Peeking thru my window to see the opposite side... notice the little window thats open... there's a customer sitting in there.

And so my ramen arrives thru the little window.

There it is!  Unfortunately I don't really remember how good or bad this ramen was.

Just an FYI post if you are in need of a 24hr ramen spot. Ramen score is a very reasonable 3.37pts on Tabelog.  There are shops all over Japan.  

Shop: Ramen Inchiran - Ikebukuro East Branch

Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/ramen.ichiran

Ichiran Website: http://www.ichiran.co.jp/index_hp.html

Foodie Website: http://tabelog.com/tokyo/A1305/A130501/13019994/

Address J: 東京都豊島区東池袋1-39-11 サニーサイドビル

Address E: Tokyo, Toshima-ku, Higashi Ikebukuro 1-39-11
MAP:

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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

MAP:

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ROPPONGI: Ippudo Ramen for Akamaru! I finally made it!!

Ippudo is a favorite among my foreign friends but as my ramen repertoire expanded I stopped frequenting these large chain ramen shops in favor of owner/chef style spots... well when I'm sober that is.

Free toppings.

English Menu's

This place has great mini-gyoza's with a side of yuzu spice paste.

Soup was very flavorful... charsiu very tender... and the thin noodles had a great chewiness to them.

Spicy boiled bean sprout topping for free! Gives a nice kick to the ramen.

The Chef!

For some reason I've always met friendly people at Ramen shops...

We'll be back!

Shop: Ippudo Ramen - Roppongi Branch

Ippudo Website: http://www.ippudo.com/products/menu.html

Foodie Website: http://tabelog.com/tokyo/A1307/A130701/13005378/

Address J: 東京都港区六本木4-9-11 第２小田切ビル

Address E: Tokyo, Minato-ku, Roppongi 4-9-1
MAP:

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