A great ramen place to try is in Ebisu. I think it’s called 99 ramen (or quew jew quew). To get there, exit Ebisu station through the West exit and then walk to the main road and turn right back under the train tracks. Continue down that road a couple of blocks until you get to a street that has a pedestrian bridge. Cross the bridge and continue down the road just a few stores. You can’t miss it as it is always busy. （map)
They have cheese ramen. Although it’s interesting I don’t recommend you order it as a main meal. It’s like eating a big bowl of cheese. The rest of their ramen is great.
My girlfriend and I went here on what must have been the hottest day of the summer. We waited oustide in the heat for about 30 minutes and then sat down in the _mildly_ air conditioned restaurant. We both ordered the cheese ramen, and it was good, but it did indeed turn into a big, creamy bowl of cheese. The people next to us ordered the hiyashi-chuka, which looked great. I suppose I’ll wait until it gets hot again and go back for the hiyashi-chuka.
-Pat (pjdwyer@k5.dion.ne.jp)
I think the pronunciation is something like つかも? Apparently an old Japanese reading of the name. I still can’t understand why so many people wait an hour+ for something that gets slurped down in less than 10 minutes. But I am sure it is 美味しい。
Heard of 一風堂? Sometimes you can find the instant noodle version in Sever-Eleven. The 一風堂 that I went to is close to Waseda University. The noodle is thin and the egg is half-boiled. And it is very very delicious. I thought that it is much better than the rest of the so called famous Ramen places.
Yea, it’s actually called tsukumo. Nobody seems to know why the kanji for 99 which would normally be pronouced que jew que is pronouced tsukumo when used as a name.