湖麺屋 Reel Cafe in Yamanashi Prefecture

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湖麺屋 Reel Cafe

Back when my motorcycle was in working order, I headed up to Lake Yamanakako, one of the five Fuji lakes. An unexpected location for a ramen shop, let alone a shop that was, in 2019, ranked one of the top 100 in the country. The Tabelog 百名店 list rarely includes ramen from “lesser” prefectures like Yamanashi, so we were all a bit surprised with this one. As expected, a top-notch ramen shop.

A driving tour of the Fuji five lakes is well worth doing, especially if you can get your hands on a motorcycle. The views are excellent, the air fresh, and there are plenty of quirky tourist sites to check out. Underground bat caves in the lava tunnels of Aokigahara Jukai Forest?

Over on Yamanakako, Reel Cafe is open for lunch. Yes, it’s another lunch-only ramen shop. It’s also attached to the Teddy Bear World Museum (山中湖テディベアワールドミュージアム), if that sounds like something you’d be into. This lake, like most tourist-friendly spots in Japan within striking distance of Tokyo has a few random attractions like this. After your ramen feel free to ride around the lake on a giant swan boat.

The ramen uses local chicken and local pork. Koshujidori (甲州地どり) chicken and Fujizakura (富士桜ポーク) pork are balanced out with other specialty chicken bones and Japanese wagyu beef. The whole thing is seasoned with a blend of ten different soy sauces and a touch of red wine. Yamanashi is known for their wines. I find most Japanese wine to be overly sweet, but that would work in a ramen tare sauce.

The menu is all over the place. They also do all kinds of limited edition bowls and have a few different local craft beers on the menu. Everything has local ingredients.

Master Yoshimi Onishi (大西芳実) also produced Uzu to Kaminari (うずとかみなり), a popular shop near Enoshima.

Definitely check this shop out if you have your own transportation and have plans out around Mt. Fuji. Public transportation would be a nightmare, requiring around four hours from central Tokyo.

Official site here.

Facebook page here.

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