All open during the year-end and New Year’s holidays! 5 Ramen restaurants you can stop by on your way home from Hatsumode (New Year’s visit to a shrine)
Osechi (New Year's dishes) are a staple of the New Year's season, but after eating them for several days, you may get tired of them. If you want something warm and hearty ......, ramen is the answer. Fortunately, there are many restaurants near temples and shrines that are open during the year-end and New Year holidays. You can enjoy a bowl of "New Year's Eve Ramen" or a bowl of the owner's specialty to pray for good fortune on your way home from a New Year's visit to temples and shrines.
Asakusa Meiyai Ramen Yoro-ya [Asakusa
En-tama Ramen ◎1,000 yen
The restaurant has been located near Sensoji Temple for 30 years.
The nostalgic soup and noodles will sink in!
Open during the year-end and New Year’s holidays: Normal business
We have been pursuing “Ramen” as Japanese cuisine for 30 years. All of the ingredients used in the soup, noodles, and condiments are first-rate products that the owner has tested by visiting their production areas. The exquisite balance of all these ingredients together is sure to make your mouth water. The ajitama, or flavored egg with two yellow eggs, which is considered a good luck charm because of its rarity, will make you feel happy for the New Year!
Address: 1-36-7 Asakusa, Taito-ku, Tokyo
Tel: 03-3845-4618
Business hours: 11:00 – 21:00 (20:30 L.O.)
Closed: Open every day
Access：5 min. walk from Exit 1 of Asakusa Sta. on the Ginza Subway Line or other lines.
Chinese Soba Noodle Restaurant Tsukemen Hajime [Meiji Jingumae
Special Tsukemen ◎¥1100 Chinese Soba (Soy Sauce) ◎¥800
Within walking distance from Meiji Jingu Shrine
Thick seafood tsukemen or light soy sauce, both are perfect!
Open during the year-end and New Year’s holidays: Normal business (treated as a national holiday)
Located near Togo Shrine and within walking distance of Meiji Shrine. The most popular dish is tsukemen, thick noodles that are very comfortable to slurp with a thick tsukemoto (dipping sauce) made from a combination of animal broth and fish meal such as dried sardines and saba-bushi (mackerel bones). We also recommend the “Chuka-soba” made with chicken-only Seitou soup. The restaurant closes when they run out of soup, especially on three days of the week.
Address: B1F Nodera Building, 3-23-1 Jingumae, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo
Tel: 03-5772-5800
Business hours: 11:00 – 21:30 L.O. (Sundays and holidays – 19:00 L.O.), closed at 19:00 L.O. on the third Sunday of the month
Closed: Open every day
Access：4 min. walk from Meiji-jingumae Sta. on Subway Chiyoda Line or other lines (Exit 5)
Tsuru Ichiya (Yokohama)
Jigoku Ramen ◎¥880, Tonkotsu Special ◎¥1100
On the way back from Nogeyama Fudoson Temple
Enjoy the flavor of “Iekei”, the right wing of “Gutsy” 24 hours a day, 7 days a week!
Open 24 hours a day during the year-end and New Year’s holidays
The soup, made from only domestic pork bones, is thick and creamy. To match the soup, the noodles are straight and thin for an Ihekei-style noodle soup. If spiciness is your thing, try the “Jigoku Ramen”. The sharp stimulation from the chili peppers penetrates your tongue, and by the time you finish it, you will be sweating so much that your body will be warm and fluffy!
Address: 1-7-34 Tsuruya-cho, Kanagawa-ku, Yokohama City, Kanagawa Prefecture
Tel: 045-324-5568
Business hours: 24 hours
Holiday：Open all year round
Access：4 min. walk from JR Keihin Tohoku Line or Yokohama Sta.
Menya Fukuichi【Narita
Special Chicken Hakyu Ramen ◎1,200 yen Specialty Half Fried Rice ◎400 yen
On the three days of the New Year, the restaurant is crowded with visitors to Narita-san.
Just the right amount of creamy flavor to fill your mouth!
Open during the year-end and New Year’s holidays: Open for lunch from January 1 to 3
This bowl of ramen has made ramen connoisseurs swoon and has even been inducted into the Ramen Hall of Fame by a specialty magazine. The soup, which is made mainly from Jidori chicken, is smooth yet rich in flavor. The four different types of chashu pork cooked in different ways are also outstanding. Enjoy it with the fluffy fried rice prepared in a pot by the second-generation owner, who was trained in a Chinese restaurant.
Address: 846-15 Hanazaki-cho, Narita City, Chiba Prefecture
Tel: 0476-22-1978
Business hours: 11:30 – 14:00 (13:50L.O.), 18:00 – 21:00 (20:30L.O.)
Closed: Sunday and night, Monday, 11:00-15:30 from New Year’s Day to the 9th (closed on the 6th)
Access: 2 minutes walk from East Exit of Narita Station on JR Narita Line
Menya Ryu [Nishi Arai
Garyu (Garyu): 900 yen
A new star near Nishi Arai Daishi.
Sophisticated flavors will make you look up from the first day of the year!
Open for the New Year’s holiday: Open morning and afternoon from 31st to 3rd
A newcomer has appeared in the residential area of Nishi Arai. The most popular is the soy sauce-flavored “Garyu.” Kaeshi, made from four kinds of soy sauce, complements the soup, which combines whole chicken and seafood broth. The noodles are also homemade, and there is a choice of two types: thin, straight noodles with whole wheat flour or hand-rubbed, frizzled noodles. The salt-flavored “Soryu” is also recommended.
Address: Ei Mansion 103, 4-27-14 Nishi Arai, Adachi-ku, Tokyo
Tel: 070-2792-9255
Business hours: 11:00-15:00 (Sat., Sun. and holidays from 9:00), 9:00-15:00 and 18:00-22:00 on the 31st, 9:00-15:00 from the 1st to the 3rd (temporary closing on the 4th)
Closed: Unscheduled holidays
Access: 7 min. walk from East Exit of Yazaike Station on the Nippori-Toneri Liner.
From the January 6 and 13, 2023 issues of FRIDAY
Interview and text by： Ikuko Nanayama Photo by： Shinya Nishizaki
