A note on the words: tsukemen is ramen served with the noodles and the broth in separate bowls, for dipping — Taishoken in Higashi-Ikebukuro is widely credited with inventing it; mori-soba is this shop’s name for that dipping style; SA is a service area, a Japanese motorway rest stop, which usually holds a full food court. Prices are as of this writing (August 2026).
Ibaraki Taishoken on Tabelog (English) — opening hours, payment details and the Japanese address are kept up to date there, not here.
I want something good to eat today too! This is Hangover Meshi.
On the way back from Oarai we decided to stop at the Moriya service area. So this was still Ibaraki prefecture, was it.
Looking into the food court for something light while we rested, I spotted “Ibaraki Taishoken”!
So there is such a thing as an Ibaraki Taishoken.
Ramen — 1,200 yen
Vegetable ramen — 1,250 yen
Vegetable mori-soba — 1,250 yen
For each of them you can choose between two broths, Taishoken ramen and noko (rich) ramen. The Taishoken one reproduces the pork, chicken and seafood broth of Higashi-Ikebukuro Taishoken; the rich one takes that Taishoken broth as a base and thickens it so that it clings properly to the noodles.
The Taishoken one for now, I think.
Then again, this being Taishoken, the portion of noodles might be rather large — so I went for the children’s ramen, which looked about right.
Eat too much and you get sleepy!
As always in a food court, you take a buzzer and wait. When it goes off, off you go to collect it.
Well — this is perfectly fine!
It simply looks like a miniature version of the Taishoken ramen. There is sweetcorn on top because it is for children, which is rather nice.
The signature broth is pork bone and chicken carcass simmered at length, with a generous amount of fish powder from dried sardines and mackerel flakes stirred in: sweet-sour and rich. I had wondered whether the children’s version would be gentler, but it tastes like the usual Taishoken to me! It may be slightly diluted, but it had been a long time since I last had it, so I could not really tell.
One sip of the broth and the savour of the fish spreads slowly. The scent of the stock and the roundness of the soy pass cleanly up through the nose. It certainly feels like Taishoken! The noodles are on the thin side and the broth clings to them well. And the corn is unexpectedly good. Delicious.
This is the ordinary vegetable mori-soba! What a quantity…
I had a mouthful of the dipping broth, and could not really tell it apart from the children’s ramen. Perhaps the bean sprouts dilute it. There are so many sprouts that the bowl is already packed with vegetables before any noodles go in. This without the noodles might have been exactly right. On top of that comes a generous pile of Taishoken’s firm, high-hydration medium-thick noodles. I might not have finished it, but for a big eater this would be very satisfying indeed.
I never expected to eat Taishoken at a service area, and after all this time it was good. Among all the thick, gluey dipping broths out there, I rather like this comparatively light one! Stopping at a service area now and then is fun precisely because of unexpected finds like this.
Ibaraki Taishoken (ramen / Moriya Station, Minami-Moriya Station, Kashiwa-Tanaka Station)
Tabelog lunch rating ★★★☆☆ 3.2
I ate here and paid for it myself. Nothing on this site is a comped meal.
One more for the road?
