くり山 (Kuriyama in Kanagawa)

0 Reviews

くり山

Kuriyama is one of a handful of tonkotsu gyokai shops in the greater Tokyo area that has achieved near-legend status. A score of over 98 at the Ramen Databank places them seventh in the country in their category. A Tabelog score of 3.76 gets them well onto the Top 100 百名店 list for ramen for five years running. Magazines like Ramen Walker and Tokyo Ramen of the Year (TRY) give them a lot of love.

Line up early and get ready to feast. We arrived on a weekday and there were around six people in line. It was raining and I expect the line is longer in better weather.

Tsukemen here is made with pork, chicken, and dried fish simmered for around ten hours. It has the deep, smoky, fishy flavors you’d expect with a gyokai based broth.

Get it with the noodles cold (つけ麵), hot (あつもり), or spicy (辛つけ). Though they aren’t green, the homemade noodles contain a bit of konbu seaweed powder for some extra umami. The flour blend is one made specifically for Kuriyama. While the soup is excellent, I think it it the noodles that take this bowl to the next level.

Master Kuriyama (栗山) honed his tsukemen craft at Higashi Ikebukuro Taishoken and Rokurinsha, two legendary shops. I can barely remember the epic experience of slurping at Rokurinsha back in 2009, but I know it was a game-changer both for the ramen world and for a simple American ramen blogger. Maybe Kuriyama will inspire some future generations.

Still reading? Did you know that I released a ramen cookbook? It’s available wherever fine cookbooks are sold, aka Amazon. Can’t wait to see what recipes you come up with!

Click here!

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