- [Will Tang] In this Going Awesome Places ramen series,
I travel to Tokyo, Japan to learn
just what makes a bowl of ramen exceptional,
and to discover the art and passion
that goes into each one.
Let's start with the best of the best.
Hey guys, this is Will from Going Awesome Places,
and I'm in Tokyo right now
to find the best ramen in the city,
or the country for that matter.
But, in my quest to find that perfect bowl of ramen,
I could have read reviews, I could have read blog posts,
watched YouTube videos, but ultimately,
I wanted to go with somebody that had
legit local experience in Japan,
but also just knew way more about ramen than I do.
So, that's how I found out about Ramen Beast.
They run city ramen tours in Tokyo,
and they also have a killer app by the same name
that shows you all the top spots in Japan.
So, I have a special guest with me today
who's gonna introduce himself
and talk a bit more about Ramen Beast.
- Hi, I'm Hiroshi from ramenbeast.com.
We made a Ramen Beast app
to find the nice ramen shops easily.
Actually, now we have 600 ramen shops in Japan,
so, you guys can find, easily,
really good ramen shops around you.
Also I'm doing ramen tours for tourists,
take them really legit ramen shops
because I have many connections with the ramen masters.
- [Will] Let's just say we had a lot of ramen.
So, we're now standing in front of ToyBox,
located in Minowa which is
in the northeast part of the city,
but you'll find out real soon
that it's well worth the trek.
Okay Hiroshi-san, what's special about Toybox,
and what can we find inside?
- Yeah, Toybox is really famous for the soup.
They're using only water, chicken,
and chicken oil on top.
- Okay, so you could say that the soup base is very pure.
- Very very pure.
- Really good then. - Yeah.
- And what's the type of ramen we're gonna be having
inside most likely? - We'll have the Shoyu.
- Okay so Shoyu style ramen.
- Yeah, my recommendation is the Shoyu.
Yeah, with egg.
- With egg on top.
Okay, wicked.
- Yeah yeah yeah.
- I can't wait to try, c'mon let's go.
Despite the rain and showing up really early,
we found that we were already second in line.
(jazzy techno beats)
Money goes in first.
So this one here, and then change?
And that's the change.
It's such a small shop, this is it right?
- [Hiroshi] Yeah this is it.
- [Will] Wow, they even have hair ties for the ladies
and I continued to ask more questions.
- [Hiroshi] That is the chicken oil.
- [Will] That's the chicken oil?
Where do they get that?
That's all from-
- [Hiroshi] From the supplier.
- [Will] Ah, so is that just to heat the bowl?
- [Hiroshi] Yes.
- [Will] And that's like you said, just chicken in water.
- [Hiroshi] Yes, I think it's truly tough.
- [Will] To do it this way?
- [Hiroshi] To keep the quality.
- [Will] Yeah.
- [Hiroshi] It's super delicate, clear soup.
- [Will] It has to be very specific.
- Specific temperature.
- Tare is the seasoning for your ramen.
- For the ramen.
If they use the Shio kind it will be a Shio ramen.
Same soup.
- And that's the-
- The special--
- Special sauce.
- Sauce.
- Magic sauce.
Okay, so tell me about the ingredients here;
you got the green onion, spices and bamboo shoots,
this is the egg, look at that slice of pork,
it's almost like a medium, fatty,
all the way through.
Wow you can get that chicken,
that chicken broth you can taste it, the oils taste amazing.
(Hiroshi laughs)
- Ah that soup, look at all the oils in there.
It all comes together.
Delicious.
Mmm, nice and crispy this menma's really good too.
It's got a nice bounce to it.
It's the broth.
- [Hiroshi] Yeah.
- It's the broth that does it right?
Ooh look at that.
Wow, it's still runny inside.
Cooked a bit on the outside, oh wow,
that's like the perfect, perfect boiled egg right there.
As Hiroshi said,
- Yeah it's really high quality.
- Top of its class.
Coming to Toybox felt like I was watching a carefully
conducted symphony, a symphony of ramen
and it was oh so good.
And next up, we headed to the center of the city.
So, we're near Tokyo Station right now in a spot named
Shichisai, and this is a restaurant that used to be
Michelin recommended up until 2018.
But, there's definitely a big reason why it was on the list.
So I'm here to find out why.
So what's so special about this ramen joint?
- Yeah this is Shichisai that specializes
making noodles after customer order.
- Okay so you're saying they actually make it by hand?
- Yes, you can see that.
- Like on the spot?
- Yeah, you can see that.
- Whoa, that's really cool.
And what type of ramen do they specialize in?
- Uh they usually like Shoyu style, like traditional,
Kitakata style we call.
- Kitakata style, so that's what we're
going to be trying today.
- And that's my hometown.
- That's your hometown, okay so this is gonna be good then.
- Yeah.
- Alright, let's do this.
(jazzy techno beat)
- So what does it mean to be Kitakata style?
- [Hiroshi] Light broth.
- [Will] It's a light broth?
- [Hiroshi] Yeah curly?
- [Will] But it's still a Shoyu?
- [Hiroshi] Yeah it's a Shoyu style.
- [Will] Okay.
- [Hiroshi] And then the noodles are wavy,
handmade and hand count.
- [Will] It's all hand shaken,
He's not even using a stick.
- [Hiroshi] I know.
- [Will] That's ridiculous, he's like literally
kneading it down with his palms.
I'm sure for other restaurants
there's a good reason why they don't do this.
For every batch, every bowl, he does this.
- [Hiroshi] Yeah.
- [Will] That's crazy.
- [Hiroshi] All day.
- [Will] Yeah, he must have insanely strong arms.
Then it goes to the machine.
He's applying, like, exact pressure
as he's pushing it through.
With the seats behind the glass
this was an incredible performance
to see these handmade noodles later then come to life.
- [Hiroshi] We make it wavy.
- [Will] Oh that's what makes it wavy.
- [Woman] Look at that bounce!
- [Will] There it goes, into the pot.
So is this, it's almost like two different cuts of pork?
- [Hiroshi] Yeah, this is pork belly.
This is a shoulder.
- [Will] Pork shoulder.
Okay here goes.
Wow, look at these noodles guys.
You can tell these are completely hand made.
Wow, and very curly like you said.
There's a curvy noodles.
You can taste the sardines in there.
Much more fishy flavor, oh the menma's really good,
crispy, light, got the toppings with the onions,
pork shoulder, this is pork belly right here.
Mmm, nice and fatty.
Pork shoulder, lean, but still really tender.
Really good soup base right here.
Look at that.
Perfectly soft on the outside,
al dente in the middle.
Noodles made with love.
I gotta say Shichisai was truly an experience,
watching the noodles made in front of us.
The ramen itself was also quite superb
with that deep and smoky flavor you get from the sardines.
The Shoyu was light and crisp
and the noodles of course off the charts.
Next we make our way to the busy hub of Shinjuku.
Guys I'm really excited about this one
because right down this alley
is a super famous ramen restaurant.
It's called Sobahouse Konjiki Hototogisu
and they are the latest of 3 ramen restaurants
that have a Michelin star in all Japan.
While some of you guys might know this restaurant
as Konjiki they are actually so famous now
that they have restaurants outside of Japan.
A bunch in Singapore, and more importantly
in my hometown of Toronto.
We arrived at 1:30 and the line was still incredibly long.
But, as you do in Tokyo, you get in line.
So, what makes this restaurant
a Michelin star ramen restaurant?
- Yeah this shop started to use Hamaguri clam, the first.
- First one ever?
- Yeah first one ever and using truffle soup,
Hamaguri clam, and clear pork soup,
and Japanese Wadashi and put them together.
- And is there a secret topping on top or something?
- Truffle oil.
- They're using Truffle oil and then also they start
to make home made noodles.
- Oh they do the noodles home made too?
Okay so all those things come together
to make this amazing bowl of ramen.
- Yeah, yeah.
- Alright, sweet.
I can't wait to try this,
I've heard so much about this ramen.
Time to chow down.
This is it, this is one Michelin star ramen.
One of three in all of Japan.
Got a real nice essence of clam here,
it's not overpowering, it's really light
and it has that ocean-like quality to it.
Um, really good, unexpected, like the oils are really there
as well with that hint of truffle,
I haven't even mixed the truffle in
as you can see right here.
Look at that.
Look at the menma here, the bamboo shoots,
with the truffle on top?
My goodness.
So you were saying these are home made noodles?
- Yes.
- So they make them somewhere--
- Yeah there.
- Over there?
Oh behind.
So these are home made noodles guys.
So should I like mix these all this in?
- Yeah sure sure.
So you'll know the difference.
- Mix all the, now the truffles are really in there now.
Mmm look at that.
And what did you call this, menma,
or is it a different name?
- Hosaki menma.
- Hosaki.
- Oh got a kick of that, truffle.
This is a really nice cut of pork.
- [Hiroshi] Yeah.
- Really good.
Is this a different,
what part of the pork is this?
- Um let me see, I think it's shoulder.
Yeah that's shoulder.
- So good, it's like soft but
a little crunchy at the same time.
Really strong kinda bamboo flavors.
Ooh yeah look at that.
I would say this one is a bit more runny
than the other ones that we've had,
but a nice, golden inside.
Mmm that's really good.
I like it because it's not an overpowering,
like really salty either, it's like the clams
really come through.
And the truffle oil works well with the clams almost
it's like not caring, it's interesting,
I've never had it before.
This feels like it's supposed to be really overpowering,
but just somehow that balance
like the mushrooms that it uses, the oils,
and then with the clams somehow kinda balancing it all.
It doesn't feel like it's too much truffle or too much clam.
- [Hiroshi] Yeah.
- Yup, that good.
Oh my God those were so killer, I'm not surprised
that the ramen restaurants we went to
got the attention of Michelin guide.
My favorite has to be Konjiki Hototogisu.
The Hamaguri clams really blew me away
in how it was balanced in the broth,
and just was so delicately beautiful
with that ocean-like quality.
I love that so much.
Yamamoto-san really knows his shit.
Um and then we had Toybox, Shichisai,
I really loved those as well, the hand made noodles,
Toybox with their amazing chashu,
all that really came together with every single one.
Really lucky that we got to try every single one of them.
I feel like I'm rooting for ramen forever
so if that happens to you, don't blame me.
But, you know what, I'm pretty lucky
that when I go back to Toronto
at least I'll still have Konjiki,
because it's in my own town, which is amazing.
Anyways, I hope you guys enjoyed watching this video
about all the top recommended Michelin star rated
or recommended ramen shops in Tokyo.
This is Will from Going Awesome Places,
and I'll see you guys next time.