Ikkakuya Yaesu

First thing you need to do – learn to read Japanese. Either that or you do what we did: my husband and I stared at the ticket vending machine, then animately argued in plain olé’ American-I-have-no-idea-what-I’m-doing english. The owner (I think he’s the owner), after witnessing a couple of cranky helpless chubby American gay guys argue for about minute, walked up and politely helped make sense of it all. He was also cute so that made my husband kinda giggly.
Anyway, the broth. Damn! The tonkatsu broth was milky white, creamy, and full of body. It’s not as thick as tsukumen dipping broth, but definitely slurp-​worthy. If you don’t like rich ramen broth, stay out. But if you like RICH and creamy pork broth, dive in head first.
The ramen was thick, which kinda made sense since the broth needed something substantial to cling on. The whole thing tasted like an all expense paid vacation. It was that good. (This place is WAY BETTER than Ippudo in Kyoto, I think).
By the way, we just stumbled upon this place. We were on the hunt for some public art in Sumida, but I was tired, hungry, and cranky. So my husband pointed at a small building at the foot of Tokyo Skytree with a huge picture of a ramen bowl up front. It was a gigantic picture of a bowl of ramen with chashu, spinach, and soft boiled egg. You can’t miss it.

The best ramen I had in Tokyo was at Ikkakuya. You might be tempted to try some of the more prolifically-​reviewed chains, but stay with me: this spot serves up real deal ramen.
You walk up a small flight of stairs to a totally unassuming shop with a red façade. Once you walk in, head straight to the vending machine where you drop your money in FIRST or you won’t get anywhere. From there, you can choose your size of noodles (I went with medium and they were gloriously thick) and optional accoutrements like green onions or an egg. You can also order beverages — including beer — from the vending machine. The machine then spits out a ticket (or several) which you give to one of the servers, who will then lead you to a seat. Now all you need to is sit back and relax!
The bowl of ramen was too huge to finish for about 1000 yen (I added an egg and green onions). The first thing I noticed was how insanely rich the broth is… seriously, you might feel your cholesterol rising as you’re eating but it’s crazy delicious. And the thickness of the noodles deserve a second mention — when I ate at Ichiran a couple days later, I couldn’t help but lament the anorexic noodle size. There’s complimentary garlic paste and hot sauce for the taking at your seat should you need a flavor boost.
Another menu item you should definitely try are the gyoza. I ordered the smallest order consisting of three pieces, and even though I couldn’t finish, I found them to be exceptionally juicy and perfectly pan-​seared.
I left happily sated and I’m now dreaming about another bowl of this ramen, even though it’s only been three days!

The broth here is RICH and the noodles are THICK. That’s basically my summary of this place. Aside from 2 eggs (one baby-​sized heehee) and some greens, there are no other thrills or frills. Let’s say you’ve spend the day shopping around Shibuya. This will definitely satisfy you! We came in the late afternoon on a weekday in September and it was practically empty.
I didn’t give it 5 b/​c the broth was too rich for my blood (?). Like, I felt my cholesterol rise a smudge after the meal. But, I mean, it was still good.
We got the gyoza too and it was pretty good.

Fresh off the plane at Haneda and taking the train to Shibuya, I was craving for ramen immediately. Having seen a few reviews of this place previously, I decided to stop in after dropping off my belongings at the hotel.
Don’t speak fluent Japanese? No problem here as everyone was quite friendly and helped out. Ordering the gyoza and a Yebisu beer to start, I had no idea what I had gotten myself into. I always imagined that Japanese food would be different in the native land, and man was I right.
And then there was the ramen. Hot, great flavor but not too salty, tons of fatty umami goodness — it was everything I could have hoped for a first meal during a cold rainy winter day. If I wasn’t full due to the size of the bowl, I gladly would have gone for the extra noodles.
Wonderful first meal; my mouth waters just thinking about the experience.

Très bon compromis dans le coin !
Les ramens sont autour de 1000 yens. Ils sont vraiment bons (gras attention mais comme partout j’ai l’impression).
Ils mettent à disposition sur les tables plein de choses pour agrémenter les plats et c’est vraiment appréciable: purée d’ail, purée de tomates séchées, oignons, moulin à sésame, cornichons, etc
Attention c’est une cantine donc pas adapté pour y passer des heures.

Don’t speak Japanese but want delicious, uncomplicated ramen and gyoza? Come here! We arrived off the plane from Los Angeles, body clocks confused, but totally starving. We found 2 previous reviews of this place, mapped the directions (use your gps. srsly, the mapping just said things like «use crosswalk» at Shibuya scramble? thanks.) and wandered over on a Friday evening around 7pm.
There’s no English sign, but the sliding door is dark wood with windows, and there’s 3 red flags hanging across the top. It’s to the left to the «Standing Sushi bar» before you reach the corner.
The girl working the floor had the door open to welcome us before we were even fully committed to walking in, she gauged us as English speakers, showed us a table and gave us an English menu. Instead of forcing us to figure out how the machine works (technically you order using a vending machine style menu where you choose your items by pressing a button, then paying the machine, then getting a ticket) she let us order from her directly by awkwardly pointing at the pictures and using our infantile Japanese skills to thank her for her help.
She showed us our total on a calculator, we paid her, she paid the machine, and minutes later AMAZING gyoza and ramen arrived, steaming.
GOOD LORD. So good. I’m not an expert in Japanese food but I know what I like and the Spicy Ramen is to die. The gyoza was soft and juicy, but with a little crispy crunch on one side.
We walked past many many many tiny restaurants and bars on the way from our accommodation to this restaurant and I’m positive that they are all oishi (delicious!) but this place certainly made us feel confident in our choices and was a good introduction to our Tokyo adventure.

My husband and I came across this place on our way to a Unilocal Elite Event in the area and decided to go there for lunch after the event. We are so glad we did!
This ramen shop is part of the Yokohama Iekei chain of ramen shops — my personal favorite being Yokoyokoya near Kanazawa-​Hakkei in the Yokohama area. As soon as we realized that it was a Yokohama Iekei, we had to try it. We were not disappointed!
I wasn’t that hungry so I passed on the ramen and instead went for an order of gyoza as well as a negicha-​don (a bowl of rice topped with thin-​sliced scallions and chunks of chashu pork). The meat from the gyoza was juicy and flavorful — too juicy as some spilled on my shirt as I ate :/​*LOL* — they don’t call them 肉汁餃子 (nikujiru gyoza) for nothing! FYI for the non-​Japanese speaking folk, «niku» means meat and «jiru» means juice or broth. I forgot was my husband ordered (had the word «MAX» on it) and he loved it! I tried some of the broth as well as some of the chashu pork on it… yummy! My husband likes his ramen with hard noodles and a thick/​heavy soup stock (while I’m the complete opposite) — even though the broth was too salty for my taste, the sweet taste of pork was apparent. The chashu pork was soft and flavorful and just falls apart as soon as you bite into it.
If I’m ever in the Shibuya area and craving ramen, you will find me here at Ikkakuya!

I have been to the main branch in Yokohama and the other branch in Oppama. This one does the family style recipe proud with a tonkotsu (pork broth) that is meaty but this one differs by being a little sweet. Sounds weird but it is amazing.
Toss on the best Gyoza in a ramen joint I have had in a while and I feel bad for the ones around it. Don’t waste your time with the salary man shops near the station — treat your stomach right and get noodles that are thick and cooked to order, a broth that warms the stomach and teases the tongue, and chashyu that is so soft it falls apart the second you bite into it.
If you hate yourself — go to the other local ramen joints for the normal salary man fair at the same price!