A note on the words: Katsuura tantanmen is a regional ramen specialty from Katsuura in Chiba Prefecture, famous for its fiery soy-sauce broth infused with chili oil and topped with stewed onions and minced meat rather than sesame paste. Nira refers to garlic chives, huajiao is numbing Sichuan pepper, and tamago kake gohan is hot steamed rice gently stirred with a fresh raw egg.
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Bingiri on Tabelog (English) — opening hours, payment details and the Japanese address are kept up to date there, not here.
Hello, this is Hangover Meshi. I came to “Bingiri,” a Katsuura tantanmen shop along Kanpachi-dori in Ogikubo! Actually, I was thinking of going to a different place, but gave up because of the huge line and headed here instead. That said, there was a big line here too, ha. Since it is ramen, I thought the turnover might be fast, but it looked pretty spicy and everyone seemed unable to eat all that quickly, ha. Still, everyone was eating with such apparent relish! So with high hopes, after waiting about fifteen minutes, I made it inside!
Inside, there was a ticket machine. In a painful blunder, I had run out of 1,000-yen bills, but when I asked for change, they kindly obliged. I felt sorry for the trouble, but was truly grateful.
Bingiri ramen — 650 yen
Specialty tantanmen — 800 yen
Katsuura tantanmen — 850 yen
Soupless tantanmen — 800 yen
It has to be the Katsuura tantanmen, after all! But seeing how everyone looked to be struggling with the spice made me slightly worried. Well, I eat spicy food often enough, so surely I will be fine! With that, I picked the Katsuura tantanmen. To help tone down the heat a little, I also added the rice and raw egg set for a total of 1,000 yen. Just right.
After a short wait, the Katsuura tantanmen arrived. Watching it being prepared right in front of you really builds anticipation!
Whoa, it looks delicious!
And the rice is quite generous! There is easily more than a full rice bowl’s worth!
Gingerly taking a sip of the soup… wow! It is delicious! It is spicy, but not overwhelmingly fiery — just the right level of heat that still lets you slurp the noodles properly. The soup is incredibly tasty. On top of that, nira (garlic chives), huajiao (Sichuan pepper), onions, and ground meat are packed in generously. Honestly, this is really good. To my shame, I had only ever had Katsuura tantanmen in instant cup form before, but I wonder if this is what the real deal is like? Incredibly delicious. Katsuura tantanmen is not to be underestimated. And there are so many toppings. I think there might be just as much toppings as noodles.
Slurping down the noodles, I wondered for a moment what to do with the raw egg and rice, and decided to try this!
I mixed a bit of the egg into the rice like tamago kake gohan. Then, I scooped up the heaps of leftover onions, garlic chives, and ground meat to make a Katsuura tantanmen rice bowl. Taking a bite — amazingly good! I have no idea what the “correct” way to eat it is, but I highly recommend turning it into a rice bowl! Thanks to the egg, the spice is made milder, making it easy to slide down. The toppings have plenty of flavor on their own, so even without adding much soup, the toppings alone make it delicious.
I see, so that is why they have a small size of Katsuura tantanmen.
Probably, the real deal is having the Katsuura tantanmen together with the rice and raw egg set! It is probably quite large normally, so for those not confident in their appetite, ordering the small size with the rice and raw egg set to make a mini bowl seems to be the right move. Delicious.
I joined the line on a whim, but it was so good! I completely understand why there is a queue. If anything, the toppings and the soup are intensely delicious — to the point where I wish they would pack and sell just that frozen. The fact that it is a bit far is a drawback, but I definitely want to come back here! I found a great place!
Bingiri (Tantanmen / Ogikubo Station)
Tabelog lunch rating ★★★☆☆ 3.7
I ate here and paid for it myself. Nothing on this site is a comped meal.
One more for the road?
