Nidaime Tsujita

We ended up going there a bit randomly. We stayed at a hotel in a street just behind and we noticed on our fist night that there was quite a queue of locals which is always a good sign. We decided to give it a try and we were lucky that a Japanese waiting outside helped us to order. Basically you have two lines with three prices which correspond to the size of the dish. We followed the recommendation of the local and went for the 890yen dish on the first line. The waiting time was only 5 minutes (there was 6 people ahead of us). The dish was supposed to be chicken but it was actually beef. The meat was good, broth was very good (rich and salty) and the ramen were awesome! One of the chef speaks a bit of English and made sure we knew how to eat Tsukemen which we did looking at the customers next to us. If we were to stay here longer, we would definitely go back!

As curious travellers, we had to try. We've walked past Tsujita's Nihonbashi branch in the alley behind our hotel (Ryumeikan) dozens of times. No matter what time of day or night, there were salarymen queuing out the door - so we had to walk-in and frighten the locals. While queuing up, we noticed two thin young men gourging themselves at the end of the bar - one onto their 3rd helping of tsukemen... a good sign. Perhaps feeling pity for the lost strangers, the wait staff were helpful - helped us order through the ticket machine, and sat us down so we can be served. I love the one/two dish specialist in Japan, so there were no difficult choices - one ramen and one tsukemen please! Broth was hearty and rich - pork and seafood from what I can taste - and the spices added interest. Great winter comfort food. The egg was perfect with a runny yolk. The noodles were well-cooked and had a nice texture. But I think they were made off premise (I googled to confirm this - they get noodles from Mikawa-ya factory). For me, this was minor disappointment - it was still tasty. An amazement to me - but an 'everyday food' for locals?