NAKANO STATION: Butayama (Pig Mountain) Ramen! Asked the crows for a ramen recommendation for Jiro'style. (Canon G9x)

Of course my first top at Nakano is my favorite standing sushi just around the corner... but as a tradional closing task in Japan you must finish with ramen.

I tend to chat up the crows (guys standing around trying to guide you into hostess bars usually wearing all black overcoats) and this night Butayama was recommended.

Quite the full house at 10:35pm. Unusual to see elderly ladies dining this heavy thick Jiro style ramen.

Of course when you are lost push the top left corner button. 780 yen Small Ramen, 250 grams of noodles and 2 slices of tender pork.  I tend to struggle past 200 grams. For 730 yen you can try the 150 grams.

Chef will ask you about free topping volume. Garlic, boiled veggies, pork lard and flavor level.

Seeing more female chefs lately... nice.

Twitter if you wanna follow. 

Took a poll on my FB page... and will start adding more video.

My request: small portion veggies and fatty pork lard topping.

Look at that tenderness!  The fatty pork lard was sooo flavorful.

Pork incredibly melty tender... Yum!!

Noodles were almost like Okinawan soba style... not too thin and not too thick.  Perfectly boiled and a great chewiness. 

Free water on tap. 

Tried!  But I'm so not a 250 gram noodle person... max out at 200 grams.

If in Nakano you gotta try!  I will definitely be back. 

Spotted this young couple seemingly super drunk on this very cold Tokyo night.  

Glad Tokyo is a very safe place... if you do anything wrong the popo will definitely find you.  

Restaurant: Ramen Butayama Nakano Branch

Tabelog foodie: https://tabelog.com/tokyo/A1319/A131902/13235889/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/butayamabutako

Address J: 東京都中野区中野5-54-4

Address E: Tokyo, Nakano-ku, Nakano 5-54-4
MAP: https://goo.gl/maps/Uefovq8nHFBEuEKM7

ラーメン豚山 中野店, 中野駅, 二郎系, Japan, Japanese, Jiro, Ramen, soupless, canon g9x, nakano, lunch, dinner, noodles, tonkotsu, yelp, tokyobelly, foodie, beer, cheap

FUJIMIDAI: Butamaru Ramen Jiro'style (Jiro-kei) seemed a bit Jiro meets Miso Ramen... interesting (Sony RX100)

I came here on January 29th but they were closed!  Be aware they do suddenly close up shop for a day so be sure to check the shops twitter feed prior to visiting.

https://twitter.com/FrUkFrCXNmBslqC

10pm on a Wednesday night here I go!

Peek inside and it was totally empty.... the shop is located on the main shopping district road.

Noodle volume by grams.  Mini 150, Normal 250, Chu (Mid) 400 and Dai (Large) 500.

I'm totally a 200 gram person but there is never that noodle point... quite a struggle to finish.

This placard outsde says "Eigyo-Chu" roughly open for business.  If you see it flipped to "Jumbi-Chu" which is in the process of getting ready aka closed. 

Extended thier closing ours from Midnight to 1:30pm!  Guess they are aiming for the last train crowd of which many can be drunk and hungry for ramen. Customary to eat ramen before falling asleep.

Rather spacious for a ramen shop with a booth at the very end.

Pre-Pay at the vending machine.

If ever lost push the top left corner button.  BUT that button was for Mini 150 grams so went one over to the 250 gram ramen.   The buttons in black are soupless ramen and red is Goma/Sesame seed ramen. The maroon are for additional or extra toppings. 

Self serve water.

Now once you sit down you will notitce this yellow Free topping sign.  Extra flavor (Kah-Rah-Meh), Abura (soft jiggy fatty flavorful lard), Yasai (veggies aka bean sprouts and cabbage) and finally Nin-Nikuh (minced garlic).  Let the chef know what you want as topping. 

If interested in opening a ramen shop seems they are outsourcing form this company.

This is the ABURA!  So soft and flavorful.

The char-siu pork was extremely tender.  Yum.

If you love chunky noodles then of course you gotta stick to Jiro-style ramen.  I'm a huge fan and lover the texture vs thin noodles. 

The soup was rather unique.  Tasted like a combination of sweet Miso and thick Jiro style heavy tonkotsu soup.  I felt rather confused... think they should stick to just Tonkotsu.

Tender charsiu on the inside. 

Japanese on the BGM.  Paprika thats all the hit.

2 big surprises this night.  The lone ramen chef was a very friendly woman and it was empty.  And one more thing that was a first.  The soup was warm... I think the chef got her steps mixed up.  Perhaps she poured the soup into the bowl first then waited for the thick noodles to boil... by the time I was served the soup was not hot.  Normally customers sweat when eating ramen but not this night.

Restaurant: Butamaru Ramen

Ramen Database: https://ramendb.supleks.jp/s/123061.html

Twitter: https://twitter.com/FrUkFrCXNmBslqC

Previous Visit: https://tokyobelly.blogspot.com/2019/12/fujimidai-butamaru-ramen-jirostyle-jiro.html

Address J:  東京都中野区上鷺宮4-16-6

Address E: Tokyo, Nakano-ku, Kamisaginomiya 4-16-6

MAP: https://goo.gl/maps/7vbv7eMmb6zCHR1A6

ラーメンぶたまる, ブー郎, 汁なしブー郎, 西武池袋線, 富士見台駅, ラーメン二郎, ラーメン二郎系, Japan, Japanese, Tokyo, Fujimidai, Sony RX100, foodie, yelp, tokyobelly, noodles, tsukemen, lunch, dinner, jiroesque,