I went with tsukemen for no particular reason. There was spicy tsukemen and other flavors, plus regular ramen, but I got the shoyu tsukemen, large, 1,200 yen. It's mainly counter seats with just one table for 4. The tsukemen has thick-ish noodles with a nice firm chewiness. The soup is a slightly spicy tonkotsu-gyokai. A refreshing flavor, good for summer. Actually it was quite delicious. Personally, it's a tsukemen I'd want to eat again.

Ramen & Tsukemen Zoot (ズート) (Nishi-Kamata, Ota-ku, Tokyo / Nearest station: Kamata) The ramen shop "Zoot" opened in August 2024 down a narrow alley behind a commercial building with "まいばずけっと" on the 1st floor, a 4-minute walk from the West Exit of JR Kamata Station. The property was previously a meat bar called "N'sの肉研究所" (2021-2024), and before that an iekei ramen shop called "蒲田ラーメン K家" (2018-2021). Speaking of "Zoot," it used to be a ramen shop along the bus street at the West Exit of JR Kamata Station, founded in June 2005 when a staff member who'd worked at "中華蕎麦ぷかぷか" in Nakameguro went independent. Its specialty was rich tonkotsu-gyokai ramen, a popular genre in the early 2000s, and over about 18 years since opening it established itself as a popular shop in the Kamata area, but in July 2023 it closed, much to everyone's regret. This time, it reopened in August 2024 as an affiliate of "居酒屋RapuRapu(らぷらぷ)" in Nishi-Kamata. It's said to be a noren-wake (licensed offshoot) shop that received ramen-making guidance from Zoot's original owner, who runs a ramen shop in Aomori. This day I visited in the 12 o'clock hour on a weekday. Inside there are 9 seats at an L-shaped counter surrounding the kitchen and one table for 4. There's a ticket machine, but it seemed to still be under adjustment, so you order verbally and pay after eating. Besides cash, PayPay is also accepted. The menu is based on shoyu ramen (950 yen), shio ramen (1100 yen), tsukemen (1050 yen), and spicy tsukemen (1150 yen), with various toppings and a lineup of rice side dishes. There are also gyoza, snacks, and alcohol, so it works for a quick drink too. The staff was a young woman running it solo. It'd probably be tough when full, but this day there were only 2 other customers, so service was smooth. ● Shoyu ramen 950 yen The soup is a thick, rich tonkotsu-gyokai shoyu style with a strong bonito dashi, with an excellent balance between the mellow umami of the animal-based stock and the sharp flavor of the seafood dashi. Even without chemical seasonings, it creates solid breadth and depth of umami. The noodles are medium-thick with a chewy texture. The chashu is fatty pork belly seared with a burner right before serving, and its smoky aroma is exceptional. The crisp texture of the generous shiraga negi (finely shredded white leek) is also superb. Stylistically it's the taste of the rich tonkotsu-gyokai ramen that was in vogue in the late 2000s, and while there's nothing new about it now, the noodles, soup, and toppings are all above standard overall. I went several times back when it operated on the West Exit bus street, and the flavor carries on the same as before. However, the shiraga negi was cut a bit sloppily, and the unpleasant mouthfeel bothered me. There's about twice as much negi as before too, so maybe it varies depending on the cooking staff. ● Chashu-don 450 yen A chashu bowl of diced pork belly chashu tossed in a secret sauce and piled generously on rice. Like the ramen, it's also topped with a big heap of shiraga negi. I like negi, so more is fine, though.

Disappointing! The taste is a decent gyokai-tonkotsu, but I feel the ramen at the old shop had a stronger aroma of Japanese-style dashi. The green onions are tough. The soup is lukewarm. The noodles, chashu, and menma are tasty. The smell of the spray they use when clearing tables was strong and unpleasant. I'd had high hopes, so it's very disappointing.

A tsukemen and ramen shop about a 6-minute walk from Kamata West Exit It's a counter-style shop, so it feels easy to just drop in I tried ordering the shoyu ramen 950 yen The noodles have good chew and are very tasty, but the soup is too mild, or rather lacks impact, so I feel it doesn't really stick in your memory or leave an impression. To put it positively, it's a soup with no quirks at all that suits everyone. Maybe it's a style of ramen where you pay extra to add toppings, because the standard ramen had hardly any toppings and the chashu was super thin, which was a bit disappointing. For tsukemen with katsuobushi-based seafood broth, there's a shop in Kawasaki with a strong impact, so comparing them, I found this lacking in richness and impact It's run by a female staff member, so I think it's easy for a girl to go in alone

2026/01/24 Dinner around 20:30 We ended up eating at a ramen shop on the way home, and since it was cold, I had the karashi takana ramen and my family had shoyu ramen. The takana ramen had a "spicy" mark, but it's not that spicy. The noodles were thick and chewy The chashu, maybe pork belly, had quite a bit of fat and was tender. There was menma and nori too. The soup wasn't very hot, so I thought it'd be better a little hotter. I wanted spicy-ish ramen, so I was fairly satisfied. I tasted just the soup of the shoyu ramen, but it felt kind of slimy. I didn't eat this shop's tsukemen, but it's different from the thick gooeyness you get in rich tsukemen broth… I can't explain it well, but it's the sliminess of the broth when you eat somen as hot noodles without draining the cooking water. Neither good nor bad; I figured this shoyu ramen is just like this. It's nice that they provide a proper oshibori, but given the quality of the ramen, I'd rather they use wet paper wipes and make the price a bit cheaper… We were shown to counter seats, and the free spot happened to be in front of the staff's work area?, and there was a TV installed right near me at quite a loud volume, which was a bit unpleasant, but the staff member was standing there watching TV, so I thought maybe it has to be this loud to hear it in the kitchen, it can't be helped, while also thinking surely they could go without watching TV while on duty…, and put up with it. By the time we left not a single customer had come, but two tables were marked reserved; are they really coming? Having someone standing idle right in front of me makes it awkward to eat, so if they have no work, are just killing time, and have nothing to do but watch TV, I'd at least like them to stop standing idle right in front of customers. The one customer who was there before us had left too, and it was just us, so I thought, couldn't they watch from somewhere else…