A note on the words: tsukemen is ramen served cold and dry alongside a small bowl of concentrated broth you dip each mouthful into, which is what this shop is named for. Miso ramen is the Hokkaido style, the soup thickened and enriched with fermented soybean paste. Chashu is the braised or roasted pork laid on top, and Shinshu is the old name for Nagano, whose pale miso the shop uses. Maou, the name of the spicy stone-grilled tsukemen, means Demon King. Prices are as of this writing (August 2026).
Tsukemen Okazaki, Ikebukuro East Exit 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 this particular day I had business at Sunshine City. There was a nationwide regional produce fair on, and I had seen that Ninniku no Yoshidaya, the Aomori garlic seller I always buy from by mail order, had a stall there, so I went along on my own to do a little shopping. On the way home I drifted about wondering whether to have some ramen before going back.
I glanced at Tsukemen Okazaki, thought “yes, there was a place like this, though I have never been in,” and was about to walk past when the photograph of the limited-run special miso ramen hit me right between the eyes. Does that not look good.
Stone-grilled Japanese-style tsukemen, 1,200 yen
Stone-grilled tsukemen, 1,100 yen
Tsukemen, 950 yen
Spicy stone-grilled tsukemen “Maou”, from 1,150 yen
Special miso ramen, 980 yen
You order by QR code. The signal is poor down in the basement, so they have their own wi-fi.
Hmm, the spicy stone-grilled tsukemen lets you choose the heat level, and part of me wants to come back and take on the strongest. But I ordered the special miso ramen I had fallen for at first sight. And ordering, something struck me: the portions at this place are ridiculous. A regular is 480g of noodles. Far too much. A medium is 640g and a large is 800g. If I had not noticed and gone for the regular I would never have finished it. There was a small at 320g, so I asked for that. Honestly, an extra-small at around 200g would suit me.
It occurred to me that the interior looks a little like a hostess bar?
They put me at the counter so it did not really register, but now that I think of it these round stools have backs and are plushly padded. Look around and there are low tables and what look like sofas. Perhaps they moved into premises left behind by a bar or a hostess club.
While I was thinking about that, the miso ramen arrived!
Oh, that looks good. The smell of it is wonderful.
The soup first. Lift it with the spoon and it has a thick, viscous body. Into the mouth and — good! The miso appears to be a top-grade white miso from Shinshu, and its deep richness comes in waves against the heavy savor of the animal-based stock. The layer of lard across the surface keeping the heat in is a good touch. The punch of garlic and ginger through it is exactly the flavor I had been craving!
The noodles are the yellow, medium-thick, wavy kind that are arguably the right answer for miso ramen. That springy, bouncing texture is a pleasure. They carry as much of the thick soup as they possibly can, and with every slurp the sweetness of the wheat and the salt of the miso meet in your mouth. The large slab of chashu on top is the melting sort, the sweetness of the fat dissolving out of it. The contrast with the crunch of the bean sprouts and spring onion is pleasant too.
The noodles were a little too much after all. Eat 320g and you are full.
The soup was so good that even after finishing I could not stop drinking it.
I ordered Okazaki’s limited-run special miso ramen on the simple urge to eat an ordinary miso ramen, and it turned out far better than I had any right to expect. The structure is orthodox and plays no tricks, yet the quality of every single component is tremendous — a miso ramen scoring 120 out of 100 for satisfaction. If you eat a lot, the regular is 480g, so on that front you should be satisfied too. Perhaps I shall come back for the Maou. All told, a place I recommend.
Tsukemen Okazaki, Ikebukuro East Exit (Tsukemen / Ikebukuro Station, Higashi-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?
