Tokyo Munch! Best Ramen in Naka Meguro

Tokyo Munch! is a new series where I’ll be telling you about my favorite spots to eat in Tokyo! I love eatin’, snackin’, and munchin’, so come and explore Tokyo’s food scene with me!

Best Ramen in Naka Meguro

Naka Meguro is one of my absolute favorite neighbourhoods in Tokyo.

Come in the spring time and the bisecting Meguro River pops off with cherry blossoms.

Brave the winter cold and enjoy the illuminations from the annual Naka Meguro Jewel Dome event.

But my favorite thing about Naka Meguro is the restaurants. The density of tasty munchies and eats are diverse and immense. Binge on pretzel croissants in the morning, grab a plate of punchy Indian curry at lunch, and when the sun goes down, hop from izakaya to izakaya, under the train line, snacking on oden and local oysters along the way.

I had the opportunity to work a stone’s throw from Naka Meguro station last year and had the luxury of a one hour lunch break. Well of course, being the foodie that I am, I used that time to EAT.

In the name is “research,” I’m going to present my findings on Naka Meguro eats.

Let’s start with the global obsession – ramen!

Afuri: Ramen to Save your Hedonistic Soul

Afuri needs no introduction. Their famous yuzu infused ramen broth catapulted them into the ramen hall of fame. They’ve got the Uniqlo t-shirt deal and they’ve even got an outpost in Portland, Oregon. It is undeniably delicious and unexpected. In a good way.

It’s unexpectedly refreshing. While working in Naka Meguro, I was mainly conducting my gastronomic and hedonistic “research” during lunch, so my findings are based on a lot of lunch feelings such as: not wanting to eat a gut bomb and feel lethargic after my break, being limited to lunch menu items, and, irregular lunch hours.

Afuri was my go-to to satisfy ramen cravings. Ramen usually puts me to sleep but the ramen at Afuri always had me feeling like I can normally function as a human bean after the experience. The light broth is powerfully fragrant from the yuzu and the chi-yu (chicken oil) rounds out the citrus aroma. If you want to be even “healthier” (or delude yourself into thinking it) you can get konnyaku noodles instead of regular ramen noodles to lighten the load.

I give it 4/5 slurps!

Afuri Naka Meguro Branch

〒153-0051 Tōkyō-to, Meguro-ku, Kamimeguro, 1 Chome−23, 中 目黒 アリーナ 1F

Kitchen Troquet: Ramen Romance 

Whereas Afuri has a refreshing and light ramen that I could eat every day, the tomato ramen from Kitchen Troquet is the ramen that I actually want to eat every day. This ramen is the true champion as it beautifully marries a creamy tomato broth, slabs of luscious buffalo mozzarella, chewy ramen noodles, and herbaceous pesto oil in ramen matrimony.

I usually detest any sort of fusion cuisine because of the hollow nature of fusion food that takes the “best of both worlds” and jams them onto a plate without any thought as to whether it will actually taste good. But this tomato ramen isn’t a hollow fusion. It tastes like the chef unlocked the secrets to making an amazing tomato broth, sourced high quality buffalo mozzarella, and had a banging pesto oil recipe that they needed a noodle-y, soup-y vehicle to present all together. It tastes like romance – a bit crazy but damn, when things start colliding and falling into place, it’s perfect.

I wish I could’ve eaten this every day, but it is a huge gut bomb and it was always a struggle to work after eating this for lunch.

I give it 5/5 slurps!

Kitchen Troquet （トロケの台所用)

〒153-0051 Tōkyō-to, Meguro-ku, Kamimeguro, 1 Chome−4−3 エクセル中目黒

Mitsuyado Seimen: Ramen with Handmade Noodles

Surprise! It’s not ramen, but it’s delicious cousin, tsukemen!

It was a hot summer day when I went to Mitsuyado and having chilled noodles dipped into broth was so super appealing.  I also spied that that they had a CARBONARA tsukemen and was instantly curious!

Although, having the feeble soul that I do, I did not end up trying the carbonara tsukemen for fear of not being able to stumble back to work.

Instead, I tried their mountain yam and quail egg tsukemen (my reasoning was that mountain yam sounded “healthier”). Mitsuyado is famous for making their noodles in house and the chewy texture of the noodles dipped into the powerful miso dipping broth was a satisfactory comprise for cowering away from the carbonara tsukemen. However, while the noodles had a fantastic chew, the miso dipping broth did not have a distinct flavor and I felt that I could taste that broth in other ramen restaurants.

Damn, I should really just go back and get that carbonara tsukemen eh!?

I give it 3.5/5 slurps!

Mitsuyado Seimen (三ツ矢堂製麺)

〒153-0051 Tōkyō-to, Meguro-ku, 目黒区Kamimeguro, 3 Chome−3−3-9 第二牡丹ビル