Best of the Best Ramen in Japan
So you want the best ramen in Japan. Maybe a Google search brought you here. At the end of the day, making a best-of list is the most annoying part of being a ramen critic. Let’s let the top foodies in Japan decide for us!
百名店
The Hyakumeiten (百名店) list from Tabelog is one heck of a list. We have 100 shops in Tokyo, Osaka, Hokkaido, Kanagawa, Aichi, East, and West for a total of 700 top shops around Japan. I’ve compiled all of the shops into lists with links. Eating at 700 shops is a mission, so why not start with the top 10 in each area? My lists are in order of the general Tabelog rating, which, though not a perfect metric, is decent in its own special way.
Nagoya 2025
The Hyakumeiten covers 29 different genres of casual gourmet like soba, unagi, burgers, ice cream, and curry. It is updated yearly with ramen getting a facelift around November.
Print Media
Publishing is alive and well in Japan with many ramen magazines hitting the shelves annually. Check out Ramen Walker if you want an annual magazine with ranking lists.
For something less daunting, check out the map I helped with for Eater.com. There are 16 shops around Tokyo that I consider to be tops. I tried to balance this list as best I could. Enjoy!
If you want something in book form, you can’t go wrong with Best of the Best Ramen, a guidebook put out by Ramen Walker magazine. It covers shops in Ramen Walker’s Hall of Fame from around Japan and is written in four languages. English, Chinese, Korean, and Japanese. Grab a copy here.
I’m always curious about what people consider the “best” when it comes to ramen in Japan. At the end of the day, if a bowl makes you happy, then it’s a winner.
Of course, Tabelog is a Japanese thing, which is often overlooked in the West’s eyes. Can we combine the world’s love of ramen (and rankings) into once concise decision? The lists from Michelin differ greatly from Japanese lists which differ from lists on Chinese platforms. I decided to make my life easier and let ChatGPT pick the best.
This list would feel good at home in any English-language guidebook. The truth is, these shops are all packed with more tourists than locals, and some of them are completely absent from any of the well-respected Japanese best-of lists. Since I made this list, the AI hivemind has become a much better resource. Time for a new video? Michelin is also in the game, but it has more critics than fans, so I won’t talk about it here.
