Nama Japan

30/08/2026

25/083 Rosokuya Omotesando Hills - Malatanmen

This shop does not f**k around with the spice and numbing stuff. It took me quite a while to chow this down due to things going numb.
The Malatanmen were great, quite salty, sour, very aromatic. Probably the best version of Malatan I personally have had so far, but I haven’t had too many yet. They were out of the tantanmen that day, probably will go back for that one day.
The bowl also comes out piping hot and the medium thick noodles are quite forgiving and don’t get soggy even if you take a bit of extra time to eat.
The shop is located in the fancy Omotesando Hills shopping mall, which also explains why the prices aren’t really budget friendly. If you’re into spicy ramen and here as a tourist, it should be a consideration since you’re probably going to Harajuku at some point anyway.



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23/08/2026

25/082 Paimen - Mazesoba

Not really much to say. Other than I cannot remember a time where did not think “man, I wish I had gotten the regular ramen instead” when I ordered mazesoba at literally any place.
It’s fine for summer, but that’s about it.
Although I am a big fan of mentaiko, I did not like the addition here. I think the flavors are clashing a bit too much. Going pure mentaiko plus noodles would be better. (= mentaiko pasta)

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27/07/2026

25/081 Butaboshi - Mazesoba

As you might know, Butaboshi is one of my favorite Jiro inspired ramen shops out there that isn’t an actual Ramen Jiro.
In summer I like to evade from the hot soup bowls to soupless bowls like the one you’re seeing above.
I modified this one with gyofun, shoga, ninniku, abura, karame and karami (chili powder).
Life is delicious suffering. Soup or no soup, this bowl will make you sweat in summer.
Salty, fatty, bursting with umami and the incredible noodles, you won’t be able to stop slurping once you start.

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26/07/2026

New video up!

Aoshima Shokudo (青島食堂) is the legendary birthplace of Nagaoka Ginge...

20/07/2026

25/080 Sapporo Rokubo - Sapporo Black

Part of the Watanabe group and like 20 meters from his main shop near Takadanobaba station. Shop offers Sapporo shio, miso and black, but heavily hints at the Sapporo black being the main thing.

It’s a pretty intense bowl. The noodles are typical Sapporo style, slightly wavy, hard to tell the color since the black soup immediately colors them dark
The noodles come quite al dente, which works well with the pppppiping hot soup.

It seems like every bowl comes out of the wok here, no matter of miso or Shio or black. The woks are always going and it seems like it is always the same base of fatty minced pork and moyashi sprouts. Tare and soup get added over that.

I am not sure if it is from the wok or if the tare is like that, but the soup leans very heavily into the burnt bbq side, I almost found it too much at times and wondered if they had overdone it. The burnt dark shoyu tare flavor kind of covers everything, so it’s hard to say if the chashu and menma are well seasoned lol but they were fine nonetheless.

I liked the blocky and chunky cut negi, which somewhat bring refreshing moments here and there.
I would have liked garlic on the table, but at least grated garlic, vinegar and togarashi were offered.

One big issue, the woks are basically constantly on and the AC does not seem to be able to handle it. I was sweating like a pig in that shop.
If you step outside of a ramen shop in Japanese summer and the Japanese summer heat feels like a relief, you know that place is HOT.

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16/07/2026

25/079 Jazzy Beats - Genovese Mazesoba

Pretty decent, turns into buttery-yolky overload at some point, not enough basil flavor to punch through. Noodles are great though and the chashu has so much smoky flavor that it makes me wonder how they do it.
I really wish this shop had some ajihen. Some black pepper, a bit of vinegar or garlic would have done wonders for this bowl. Or even some Tabasco would have been cool. Just something to change things up.
Overall good stuff, as one would expect from this shop.


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12/07/2026

New video up!

Teuchi Ren had been on my list for a long time. As a huge fan of hi...

08/07/2026

25/078 Ramen and Tsukemen Number 9 - Tokusei Niboshi

Relatively new shop in Jiyugaoka, I have not seen them be part of the greater conversation and I feel they should be.
I got their ramen which was a chicken, pork and nibo soup. Rich and lightly sweet, but also quite savory and lightly bitter.
Really a lovely nibo soup and a nice change of pace after all the super strong nibo I mainly had recently before this bowl.
The noodles were a highlight, lovely high hydration, hand massaged.
Also the menma were super nice, crunchy and blocky and well seasoned.
Chashu was probably the weakest point, but not bad by any measure.
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04/07/2026

25/077 Toraibu Musashi Kosugi - Karamiso Gentei

I really like iekei, ok??
Another visit at Toraibu, this time at the honten in Musashi-Kosugi. I can’t really say if one location is better than the others. Maybe Jiyugaoka has been the best one so far, I guess?
And I have been to Toraibu so many times that I basically cannot say no to genteis (specials) these days. This time I got the karamiso special. It worked in a similar way like doubanjan, so not super exciting, but also not bad at all. I would probably not go for this again and then have more control over the bowl with doubanjan instead, as saltiness can become an issue.

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30/06/2026

25/075 Toraibu Gakugei Daigaku - Toraibu Ramen

You have probably seen me post about Toraibu every now and then. I could say it is one of my favorite iekei, not necessarily because it’s the absolute best out there, but rather because it’s super easy to access with their locations in Musashi-Kosugi, Jiyugaoka and Gakugei-Daigaku. I travel along the Toyoko line quite often, which means their shops are often in my reach. And if I’m craving iekei I can grab one there on a very good level. Small rice on the side mandatory.

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