A note on the words: tanmen is a noodle soup piled with stir-fried vegetables. Nakamoto grades its bowls by heat, from about 3 up to 10 — the Hokkyoku no Honoo (“Arctic Flame”) in this article is the 10.
Mokotanmen Nakamoto, Kamiitabashi Honten on Tabelog (English) — opening hours, payment details and the Japanese address are kept up to date there, not here.
Hangover Meshi here. If you like spicy food you have surely been to Mokotanmen Nakamoto at least once — and this time I went to the original shop.
It is right by Kamiitabashi Station. I happened to turn up when it was not especially busy. Lucky. It had been a while since I last had Nakamoto, so I could not quite remember how hot it was. Let us find out.
A shop where the difference between busy and quiet is extreme.
Mokotanmen Nakamoto, Kamiitabashi Honten — menu
Highlights (in order of heat)
Miso-based tanmen — a noodle soup piled with meat and vegetables. Mild, as these things go.
Miso tanmen topped with spicy mapo tofu. The shop’s number one.
Bean sprouts and egg, which brings some depth to the heat.
A fiercely hot miso broth. Heat level 9.
Heat level 10, a step above the Hokkyoku. This is the one I took on in this article.
* As of my visit in August 2025, tax included. They will adjust the noodle portion to a quarter and so on at no change in price. Please check the latest with the shop.
Before coming I had asked someone which one to get, and the recommendation was the Hokkyoku no Honoo — the Arctic Flame.
Was that on the menu in the old days? I could not remember, and I had never had it, so I decided to take it on. Apparently it is a great deal hotter than the Hokkyoku ramen — the Hokkyoku is heat 9 and the Honoo is heat 10. Could I actually eat it? Nervously, then.
One excellent thing about Nakamoto: they will change the noodle portion fairly freely.
Rumour has it some branches will do a fifth, but for now I asked for a quarter.
Sometimes I do not want noodles at all, and being able to ask for none without any awkwardness is a real pleasure. (The price does not change.)
This was my first visit to the original shop, and everyone seemed to be showing an app on the way in.
I did not have it, so I bought a ticket from the machine and went in as normal — but looking it up at my seat, there is an official app. Have it and you get free oolong tea, and collect enough points and you get a souvenir jacket and so on. I have a feeling it used to be a paper point card; now it is an app. Of course it is. Which rather gives away how long it has been since I last came.
And here it is, the Hokkyoku no Honoo.
Piled with vegetables and looking very good. As for what makes it different from the Hokkyoku: more vegetables than even the Hokkyoku Yasai.
A Hokkyoku ramen loaded with bean sprouts. Perhaps the heat is stepped up a little too.
The distinguishing feature is powdered sansho, the citrusy Japanese pepper. The sansho aroma and the aroma of the broth work on each other and it is very appetising indeed. This is very good.
The noodles are a quarter portion, so there are not many, but it is entirely satisfying. In fact a fifth might well be enough.
The heat was milder than I expected. It is hot — but I had it in my head that it used to be hotter. Hot but eatable. Hot-and-good, as they say. Perhaps I have got stronger with spice than I used to be. The miso tamago men used to be about my limit, and yet I ate the Hokkyoku no Honoo happily, mouthful after mouthful. (It is still hot, mind.)
This is good. Apparently the Hokkyoku no Honoo is only at some branches.
Now that I know Kamiitabashi has it, I went back several times afterwards. (Hooked.)
A quarter portion again, I think. This time I had properly installed the points app and got my oolong tea.
No, it really is good, Nakamoto.
If it is quiet I end up going in. The Hokkyoku no Honoo — recommended.
And finally, no noodles at all. And if you are going without noodles, then obviously —
— a highball. This is unbeatable.
Incidentally, you cannot pay to add extra vegetables to the Hokkyoku no Honoo, because there are already plenty.
I asked the staff whether you could add some if you went without noodles, and the answer was no. Fair enough. No noodles it is.
My current habit is the Hokkyoku no Honoo with no noodles, and a highball. Eating Nakamoto as a drinking snack, essentially. No noodles means about 30 percent less guilt. At that rate I can look in any time and eat whenever it is quiet. I wonder how many points I will end up with over a year. Something to look forward to.
Mokotanmen Nakamoto, Kamiitabashi Honten (ramen / Kamiitabashi 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?
