らぁめん山と樹 (Yamatoki in Koenji, Tokyo)

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らぁめん山と樹

Yamatoki, meaning mountain and tree, is a popular lunch-only ramen spot in Koenji. I’d cycled by it a few times and finally decided to see what the fuss was all about.

This was my first week with the Cannondale Bad Boy 1. A year later, and hundreds if not thousands of kilometers on the tires, I’m still so happy when I jam around town on this machine. The Gates Carbon Drive is so smooth and quiet. The Shimano Alfine internal gear hub is maintenance-free. The Lefty fork is stiff and light. The perfect bicycle for zipping around Tokyo.

And I’m even happier when I end up with ramen like this. Though Yamatoki was on my list of shops to try, they were catapulted to the top by the Tabelog Hyakumeiten (百名店), a list of the “best” 100 ramen shops in Tokyo. I was on a mission to make it to all of these shops, and Yamatoki was one of the last five on my personal list.

Great bowl for the classic ramen lover. Homemade noodles are made with 100% Haruyokoi (春よ恋) flour from Hokkaido on a Shinagawa brand antique noodle machine. Soup is flavored with organic soy sauce from Saitama’s Yugeda (弓削田醤油). Chashu is mega-tender belly cooked slow.

Shoyu, shio, and tsukemen, as well as a limited bowl were all available. I’d say go for the shoyu but the shio at places like this tend to be top class. Koenji people, let me know how the rest of the menu fares.

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