らぁ麺や嶋 (Ramenya Shima in Nishi-Shinjuku, Tokyo)

0 Reviews

らぁ麺や嶋

Rookie-of-the-year ramen shop Ramen Shima is good. Refined shoyu, shio, and tsukemen made with premium ingredients, technique, and love. The shop is located in my neighborhood, another bonus. It’s always a good thing when a top-tier shop opens near your home. It would be great if this can become my go-to spot for ramen satisfaction.

Shima is just within eyeshot of the Tokyo Metropolitan building.

The line was around 30 minutes on a weekday when Shima first opened. This isn’t bad. Personally, I’m good with less than an hour. Word of warning, though, the line has increased significantly since June of 2020. It’s more like two hours these days.

This is the good and bad of the ramen world in Toyko. Good ramen means bad lines.

The ramen weighs heavy in on the good side of the scale. Especially good, great even, is their katsuo konbusui tsukemen (鰹昆布水つけ麺). The noodles are served in a broth made from skipjack tuna and konbu seaweed. Pure umami. Dip in the craft shoyu soup. Heaven. Actually, the shop recommends you try the noodles as they come, then try them with the soup, then dump the leftover konbusui into the soup. Then drink it. They also only allow photos of the food.

The regular shoyu ramen is excellent.

Get the tokusei bowls, as the added toppings are all worth the extra 200 yen. The internet tells me it is now 300 yen extra. Still worth it.

With the high level of this bowl, it is no surprise when you hear the master did his training at some of the top shops in Japan. Shinasobaya, Sugimoto, Kashiwagi, and Free Birds to name a few.

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