Tokyo Ramen Report: Yokohamadou

Ramen Battle Field 

Ikebukuro, one of the major stations on Tokyo's loop line, is renowned as the toughest ramen market in Tokyo & even in Japan.

Last time I visited the area, I happened to find a new ramen shop which had just opened the day before.

New Brand by Ikkaku-Ya

Yokohama Dou is a new brand by Ikkaku-Ya, who has already established its status in the market. The both has Yokohama Iekei style, which features Tonkotsu shoyu soup, spinach & Nori seaweed toppings.

Soup & Toppings

My order was Kuro Iekei Ramen (￥830) & this is how the entire bowl looks like. 

This black oil, called Mar-Yu, probably extracted from burnt garlic, definitely adds a nice kick to the bowl. Though the soup itself doesn't have a strong taste, but you'll feel some layers of flavors.

As you can guess from the pic, char-siu pork was meaty enough & it gets softer while you keep it in the soup.

Uncommon Noodle

The noodle itself was a bit flatter than conventional noodles you'll find at other shops, but had a nice mouth feel to slurp. 

What interested me was its length. The length of them was almost half of the common ramen noodles.

I wonder if it's thoughtfulness for female customers, but it was a bit annoying for me because it made me feel like "I wanna slurp more at once!"

Except that point, the bowl was worth paying & quite yum!

Thanks for reading.

Yokohama Dou:

Website (Japanese) 

Map

Posted by 3e-Tokyo Project