A note on the words: Toyama black is a regional ramen from Toyama built on very dark soy sauce and a lot of black pepper; chuka soba is the plain, older name for soy-sauce ramen, and tsuke soba is the dipping style, noodles and broth served separately. Chashu is the braised pork slice on top, and menma is fermented bamboo shoot. Rope is a shopping building in Ikebukuro. Prices are as of this writing (August 2026).
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R+ Kakurega Sugiru Ramen Ya on Tabelog (English) — opening hours, payment details and the Japanese address are kept up to date there, not here.
I want to eat something good today too. This is Hangover Meshi. This time Ikebukuro. I felt like a light meal, and searching around I turned up a ramen shop that looked good. From the photos the broth is black, like Toyama black ramen. Perhaps it is that sort of thing? So off I went to try it. The place is on the fourth floor of Rope. That elevator takes me back. Up on the fourth floor, a yakiniku restaurant is right in front of me. “Hm? Wrong place?” I walked around but found nothing that looked like it, and then, puzzled, I looked into the yakiniku place.
Ah — there it is.
I see. Well, once you notice it there is nothing hidden about it at all, but there is a counter inside the yakiniku restaurant, and that counter is the ramen shop. It appears to be run single-handed, so
- First look in from outside and check whether there is a seat free.
- If there is, go in and ring the bell once.
- Then from inside comes a voice: “One moment please!”
which is the system by which they find out a new customer has arrived.
Tokyo Black 1,300 yen
Chuka soba 1,050 yen
Chuka soba with back fat 1,070 yen
Tsuke soba 1,160 yen
So this Tokyo Black is named after Toyama black, I take it.
If it is a peppery black broth then a raw egg is called for as well. I asked for the egg at 100 yen extra.
Payment is cash or cashless.
Perhaps because so much is cashless lately, I never seem to have small change on me.
So, PayPay. The kind where you add each other as friends and send the money directly.
Beyond the counter there are a lot of Detective Conan posters.
Looking online, there was something about the owner being a former detective, though I wonder whether that is true.
And after a while the black ramen appears.
That looks good.
A fine smell of pepper drifts up.
Straight to the broth. The black soy sauce base is tight and it looks heavy, but drinking it, it has a clean edge and goes down easily. The toasty, near-scorched note of the soy sauce, and behind it a thick layer of savor. As for the broth, the pepper comes through more lightly than I expected — this is not just “black and peppery.” Very good.
The noodles are medium-thick and straight, with a slight wave to them, so they carry the broth well. They have a firm bite too, and the weight of them as you slurp balances nicely against this clean, peppery broth. The chashu is very thick, with a proper chew to the meat and sweetness in the fat. Menma and scallion, simple as they are, give it its accents.
And then in goes the raw egg. Break the yolk lightly and eat with it coating the noodles. Delicious. This way of eating works well too. With the white and the yolk clinging to the surface, that sharp-edged flavor turns astonishingly round. At 100 yen you may as well add it.
Lately a full bowl of ramen fills me up completely, but this one slips down. I had thought it might be a ramen shop with a strong streak of eccentricity, but not at all. It was a very good ramen shop. It was lunchtime and not especially crowded, so if you are hunting for good ramen around Ikebukuro, why not drop in? Given the size of the place, going in a small group is what I would suggest.
R+ Kakurega Sugiru Ramen Ya (Ramen / Higashi-Ikebukuro Station, Ikebukuro Station, Higashi-Ikebukuro-Yonchome Station)
Tabelog lunch rating ★★★☆☆ 3.5
I ate here and paid for it myself. Nothing on this site is a comped meal.
One more for the road?
