A note on the words: iekei is the Yokohama school of ramen — a pork-bone and soy broth with chicken oil floating on it, thick noodles, spinach and sheets of nori. Tokusen means the deluxe bowl with every topping on it. Chashu is the sliced braised pork, nori is dried seaweed, and tare is the seasoning base that gives the broth its salt and its edge.
Yokohama Ramen Asagaya, Ueno on Tabelog (English) — opening hours, payment details and the Japanese address are kept up to date there, not here.
Drinkers, thank you for waiting. It is Hangover Meshi time.
Tonight I drank around Ueno until late, so: ramen to finish. I shall put on weight again. Wandering unsteadily, I found Yokohama Ramen Asagaya. I have heard of it! It seems this is the second shop of Asagaya, the immovably popular place in Asagaya, opened here on Nakamachi-dori in Ueno. A shop carrying on the line of Suzukiya, a legend of the iekei style.
It was quite empty that night, but looking it up, the shop has been closed temporarily since 5 June because of a fault in the building’s services. It seems I got in at the very last moment.
Now, it is a ticket-machine shop. What shall I have? And what I chose was this.
The tokusen ramen in regular size, and — wanting yet more spring onion — a half portion of green onion as a topping.
Sit down and there are a great many seasonings on the counter.
It is after drinking — but this is precisely what one has after drinking.
A piece of chashu to nibble on is a welcome thing. And then the ramen arrives.
Oh, that looks good.
Three large sheets of nori standing up in a white bowl with a red logo. I am glad I went for the tokusen with everything on it. A good heap of spring onion, the spinach that iekei ramen must have, a seasoned egg, and chashu of a good colour that looks tender. It is certain to make me fat, but once in a while. Surely that is allowed. The broth is a pale amber, with a glittering film of chicken oil across the surface.
To one side, the half portion of green onion I asked for waits its turn in a small steel dish. In it goes.
The broth first. Slurped through that chicken oil, the richness of pork bone comes on heavily, and yet the finish is lighter than expected. The soy tare draws a crisp outline around it — a balance struck between strength and drinkability. The crisp bite and green sharpness of the onion, grown in the Seto Inland Sea region, run through the broth. Good. I am glad I added extra.
The noodles are medium-thick and straight, from Sakai Seimen, which carries the mainstream of the iekei line. They have a firm, chewy spring, and bring up plenty of broth each time you lift them. Moist chashu, a seasoned egg with a thick yolk, and nori soaked in the broth then wrapped around the noodles — that last is not to be missed.
Well. I ate… I ate all of it.
A late-night bowl of pure transgression. Iekei suits the small hours far too well, and eating it anyway is the sin. A slightly heavy pork-bone and soy broth goes extremely well after drink. The location, easy to reach after drinking in Ueno, is ideal too, so I hope the building gets fixed and they open again soon.
May you meet something good to eat today too.
Yokohama Ramen Asagaya, Ueno (ramen / Ueno-okachimachi Station, Ueno-hirokoji Station, Keisei-Ueno Station)
Tabelog evening rating ★★★☆☆ 3.8
I ate here and paid for it myself. Nothing on this site is a comped meal.
One more for the road?
