MATSUMARU

Ogikubo Ramen with Delectable Pork Addition

Only a three-minute walk from Ogikubo Station down the pleasant Nakadori shopping street, you can find Chuka Matsumaru under a red awning with white kanji characters on it. The shop is always crowded with ramen lovers, as their good-old fashioned Ogikubo ramen is very popular among the locals. The features of this shop are the soy sauce based soup broth and chashu (roasted pork filet). Ogikubo style ramen is soy sauce based ramen broth supplemented by chicken bones or niboshi dried sardines. Here it is supplemented with chicken taste and a few kinds of vegetables for a simple taste. The soup goes really well with the fine wavy noodles. Their chashu is also worth trying, prepared from the pork supplied by their family-run Matsumaru Meat Shop, under the same roof next door. Since they are meat specialists you know the chashu pork is going to be great. It is very tender and has an exquisite taste. Regular ramen is 680 yen, and their special Matsumaru Ramen, which comes with four slices of large chashu and a seasoned boiled egg, is 990 yen. If you want extra noodles they are available for 100 yen more. Additional available toppings include salty-simmered bamboo shoots (menma) and garlic. Like many ramen specialty shops, gyoza dumplings and chahan, Chinese-style fried rice, are also available. Click the PDF Menu button for more details.

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[published December 2018]