鶏こく中華すず喜 (Suzuki in Mitaka, Tokyo)

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元祖スタミナ満点ラーメンすず鬼

鶏こく中華すず喜

The full name of this shop is ganso (元祖 original) sutamina (スタミナ stamina) manten (満点 super) ramen Suzuki. Unfortunately, they don’t serve their super original stamina-style ramen for lunch. I went for their creamy tori paitan. In the end, this was about as stamina as you can get without being officially stamina.

Actually, I’m confused about this one. Instagram shows photos that are definitely Stamina-style. A spicy-looking soup with garlic, onions, nira, and a lot of meat. Stamina-style is meant to give you, well, stamina. It’s a style associated with Ibaraki Prefecture. Matsugoro comes to mind.

Digging deeper on the internet, the shop すず鬼 (Suzuki) is actually すず喜 (Suzuki) for lunch. While the former uses the kanji character for the devil, the lunch name uses the kanji character for happiness. To further complicate matters, though the stamina style is the one all over Instagram, the chicken one is the ramen that made it on Tabelog’s Top 100 list. I’m doing my best here people!

Choose from a koku shio or a koku shoyu. I’ll usually choose the shio in cases like this as the soy sauce might mask some of the subtle flavors of the broth. Who am I kidding, I chose the shio because that’s what the shop told me to order! Noodles are supplied by Mikawa Seimen and custom-made with a bit of rye flour in the mix. The soup is two parts Oyama chicken broth and three parts fish stock. A touch of apple cider vinegar is in there as well.

Quite a legend in the ramen world here. You can’t be a ramen geek in 2021 without having your own sticker, and Suzuki displays them proudly. Did I remember to give them one of mine?

Is Ramen Suzuki behind these fun Susan stickers I keep seeing everywhere? The top one is a parody of the official “I’m pregnant” badges that women wear in Japan. If you see a nice lady with one, please offer her your seat on the train. You see a nice fella with one, he’s probably a ramen nerd.

Tori Koku (鶏こく) and Stamina Manten (スタミナ満点). Luckily Mitaka is easily accessible to anyone in Tokyo via the famous Chuo Line, so you can come back some evening for the stamina ramen.

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