The next shop in my Top 5 is near and dear to my heart. I absolutely love beef and nothing makes my eyes roll back in my head quicker then a perfectly roasted piece of bone marrow or an unctuous lusciously gelatinous piece of beef tendon. This shop was first time I've had a true beef based ramen that wasn't named Maruchan and the experience truly opened my eyes to the potential of ramen. 

Matador is located in sleepy neighborhood past a large train crossing in Kita-Senju, a neighborhood in the Northeastern part of Tokyo. It feels a little special each time I make the trek out here (most people don't realize how expansive Tokyo really is). If this shop was any closer, I'm pretty sure I'd be indulging myself with this ramen on a weekly basis - that's how delicious it is! This shop serves up one of the most unique and flat out satisfying bowls of ramen I've recently had the pleasure of enjoying in the last few years. 

Takesue Tokyo Premium (Oshiage, Tokyo)

I originally wrote about this shop in one of my very first blog posts. I was lucky enough to squeeze in another visit on our last visit to Tokyo to re-affirm my love for the Chicken and Scallop ramen. 

I got to try the Yashio-masu Trout ramen on this visit which was interesting and very good, but I'm lucky the wife ordered the Chicken and Scallop because that is definitely still my favorite here. Their velvety chicken soup would be amazing on it's own but they use this unique technique that I've never seen before where they finish each bowl with a super thick umami rich chicken and scallop gravy. It's just those few tablespoons which add a whole different dimension and the best way I can describe it is getting to experience 2 delicious bowls of ramen at the same time. The flavors all work together and also play off of each other and it's just so much fun to alternate between the lighter cleaner soup and the richer side with the huge punch of umami. The best part is they make every bowl in front of you which adds to the whole experience, taking the whole "open kitchen" experience to the next level. I even brought back a little video this time that shows you what it feels like to order a bowl of amazing ramen here!

​Check back soon for part 2 of this series! And apologies for the delay with getting this info up - the ramen pop-up has been taking up most of my time. It still amazes me how much time it takes to confit chicken skins and render and infuse chicken fat from scratch!

You ever have one of those nights where you're trying to figure out what to have for dinner? Your wife is like, "I want to eat something light and healthy," but she doesn't have any concrete ideas, while you want to eat meat and maybe some Korean tofu soup and a strawberry parfait...(yeah don't even ask). 

If you're anything like me, those are some of the most excruciating conversations to have. No one wants to commit to anything and every one starts to sour on any recommendation, all while your stomach is eating itself. Well you're in luck... IF you're in a Japan that is! GO TO DENNY'S! I know what you're thinking, if its anything like American Denny's, you're wondering what the heck I've been smoking. But really, truly, honestly, no lie, Denny's in Japan is awesome. 

I normally recommend friends visiting Japan to try eating at Denny's at least once if they can squeeze it into their schedule. There are a good number of them located all throughout the city, they have a diverse menu with seasonal specialities and nice shiny pictures, serve very decent food with consistent service, have ample seating, a non-smoking section, and the price is reasonable! 

In Japan, cooking ramen has historically been known as one of the rare vocations accepting of outcasts - part timers who aren't able to land a "real" job, ex-truck drivers tired of commuting at odd hours, bike gang bangers trying to re-enter society. This has obviously changed in recent years and in Japan's ever dynamic ramen landscape, one of the trends has seen classically trained chefs doing a u-turn on their French, Japanese, or Italian roots and opening their own specialized ramen shops. An NYC native by the name of Ivan Orkin, is someone you might recognize who also followed a similar path after graduating from the Culinary Institute of America and working in a few restaurants in New York, before moving back to Japan then slowly establishing his budding Ivan Ramen empire from a quiet little suburb northwest of Tokyo.

This trend has spawned a handful of unique shops that bring creative new approaches and levels of precision and refinement not previously seen in ramen. These chefs turned ramen masters are taking a democratized dish like ramen and filtering it through their refined technique to create something completely new, yet deliciously familiar. It's an amazing thing for a ramen fiend because they are bringing a whole new perspective using their vastly diverse skills and experiences from high-end restaurants and focusing that creativity and energy into an amazing bowl of noodles and soup!

Enter Motenashi Kuroki (饗 くろ喜), one of the best bowls I've had in recent memory and what I feel could be the best bowls of shio, or salt-based, ramen I've ever eaten.