【Atmosphere & Service】 A popular ramen shop a few minutes' walk from Hongo-sanchome Station. It's a compact, counter-only space, but the sight of the owner carefully finishing each bowl is striking, and many ramen fans come from far away for the limited-edition menu. It's a highly skilled shop known not only for its regular menu but also for the polish of its seasonal limited-edition noodles. 【Dish】 ・Hiyashi Kue Soba 【Taste】 That day's limited item was chilled soba made lavishly with the luxury fish "kue" (longtooth grouper). The first surprise is the overwhelming umami of the soup. Even though the soup is cold, kue's distinctive refined, rich umami builds in layer after layer, and a single sip conveys the power of the ingredient. It puts the seafood umami front and center with no off-flavors at all, and the finish is astonishingly clean. The crisp sharpness unique to a chilled dish also stood out. The noodles are thin, firmly chilled in cold water. They're supple and springy and slurp smoothly, carrying the rich yet delicate soup well. The more you chew, the more you taste the wheat, and the noodles and soup come together beautifully. 【Summary】 Menan Rikyu's "Hiyashi Kue Soba" is a limited-edition bowl that lets you fully enjoy the delicate yet rich umami only a luxury fish can offer. Precisely because the soup is cold, the refined flavor of the kue stands out, and its harmony with the noodles was superb.

I've been here 4 times already, and every time they transform seafood and vegetables rarely used in typical ramen into a superb soup. I'm not a fan of strong seafood flavors, but this soup is a mass of umami cloaked in elegance, without a trace of fishiness or harshness, even for me. It amazes me every single time. I like classic genres of ramen too, but since discovering this shop, it's become the ramen shop I most want to recommend in my life. By the way, it's not just the soup — the chashu and seasoned egg are also of very high quality, and I always order the "tokusei," which comes with these toppings as a set on a separate plate. Waiting for the ramen while drinking beer with those as a snack is pure bliss. The owner has the air of a craftsman yet always serves customers warmly and attentively — a really pleasant person. A great shop I want to keep coming back to.

Menan Rikyu," the Honsan ramen shop I'd been dying to visit for ages. The owner came from Hechikan, which I love. But rather than Hechikan-style niboshi, they use their top-tier niboshi-making techniques to extract the umami of all kinds of seafood and luxury shellfish and fish, and you get to enjoy a bowl from a genius owner. Last year they were closed for a long time, so I couldn't find the right moment to go. When I checked X at the start of the year, there were the words "Open for lunch only." And the limited menu was... ・Kue soba ・Lobster and sweet shrimp mazesoba ・Abalone liver soba ...no way! What is this New Year's special edition!!! This was a must-go, so my companion and I charged over by train. About 10 people were in line. Totally fine, so we joined the end of the line. Right before we got in, the mazesoba sold out. In that case, ■Rich Kue Soba (wild kue from Hirado, Nagasaki) ■Abalone Liver Soba (wild black abalone liver from Ibaraki) is what we ordered. The bowls that arrived were utterly simple. Soup, noodles, and a bit of garnish. That's good — that's exactly what's good. First, the soup... ......whoaaaaaa. The refined umami of kue, and a soup with real punch — sublime. What is this soup. Next, the abalone liver... ......ohhhhhhh... A rich, creamy soup that seems to extract only the umami of abalone and its liver, without any harshness or fishiness. Irresistible! Neither one is just about using luxury ingredients. The umami is skillfully extracted to the fullest, so even without toppings like chashu or menma, simply soup and noodles make a superb bowl. A genius, this owner. I'll have to come back regularly for the limited items. Wow, my first noodles of the new year in Tokyo were a total, glorious win. I left the shop feeling very happy. Thank you for the meal!

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A ramen shop near my workplace; I'd struck out several times when it happened to be closed, but I finally got to eat there. The quality is just really high, with a menu of about 3 creative-style items. For the coming season, the chilled dishes are especially recommended. This time I ordered the chilled firefly squid tsukemen. An irresistible bowl for anyone who loves squid shiokara — no fishiness, and the perfect saltiness and the smoothness of the noodles going down were so well matched that I wolfed it down in one go. A very satisfying bowl.

A different menu appears almost every week, so I always look forward to it. I check the menu on social media and go when there's something I want to eat, and it never misses — always highly satisfying. Personally, I think the shellfish broth ones are often especially delicious. Also, every year I look forward to the noodles made with corn, which I love. This year I had two dishes made with corn, and both were wonderful, carefully made ramen. The aedama is also high quality, so I recommend it. The ticket machine doesn't accept the new banknotes, but they'll make change for you, so don't worry.

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