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  • Food Tours
  • Ramen School
    • Tokyo School!
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  • More
    • News and Events
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    • Best of the Best
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    • Ramen T-Shirts – Ramen Books
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麺屋武蔵 (Menya Musashi in Shinjuku)

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麺屋武蔵

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An adventure to the Yokohama ramen museum was the adventure of the day. I woke up early, packed my camera, and caught the 10:45 Yamanote train to Shinjuku station. Fellow ramen nut Nate was there. Two more would be joining us soon. Or not. Due to some circumstances that have no business being on a ramen blog, the rest of our group couldn’t make it. Plan B. So where to go?

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News stand to the rescue. In Japan, you will never find a news stand without at least one or two ramen magazines.

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What did I tell ya. We thumbed through the local shops, trying to figure out what looked good. Then we saw it, the original Menya Musashi.

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Only a couple minutes walk from the station.

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Musashi is a reference to the warrior Miyamoto Musashi, the famed master of double sword style. How would the legendary swordsman feel about a chain of ramen shops opening in his name?

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Probably ok, since their salary for new “warriors” is quite high. 1200 yen hourly, or for the full timers, 323,000 yen. That’s more than I make!

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Waiting in the line of about 20 people (18 of which fit inside the store), you can see what’s in store. Yes please!

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Not sure why, but out of the dozen seats, maybe 10 people were eating the tsukemen. Not me, the thought of that giant, juicy 角煮, kakuni pork, looks amazing.

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It should be noted that Musashi is really really famous. The shop exploded onto the ramen scene in 1996, winning acclaim from the budding world of ramen craziness. This is a pioneer in, well, good ramen. Since then, they have opened 8 shops, each one varying slightly. My favorite branch is the Kichijoji one, which has seasonal experimental noodles coming and going quite often.

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The decor is fun. Have a seat!

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You can choose the strength of the broth, and the size of the bowl. Today I went with weak soup and big size. And it was good. The pork is really decadent. Stewed in sweet Japanese wine and soy sauce for hours, it melts like butter.

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The strong soup version isn’t too much stronger.

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And the tsukemen was so-so. It’s winter now, so I want my soup and noodles hot. I’ll be back to some tsukemen in, say, June.

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The staff of about 10 are very animated, especially the head noodle guy. With a swift motion of a samurai executing a blow in a duel, he shakes the noodles out of the water and puts them into your bowl. Trust me, you’ll hear it from outside on the street, before you see it.

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This shop is a safe bet for visitors as well as ramen veterans alike.

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