A note on the words: tsukemen is ramen served the other way round, with the noodles and the broth in separate bowls so you dip each mouthful. Niboshi are small dried sardines, a common base for ramen broth in Tokyo. Menma is fermented bamboo shoot, and hosaki menma uses the tender tips. Chashu is the braised meat laid on top, ajitama a soft-boiled egg steeped in soy, and shichimi a seven-spice pepper blend. Genghis Khan, mentioned in one of the headings, is the Hokkaido way of grilling lamb over a domed iron plate. Prices are as of this writing (August 2026).
Jikaseimen MENSHO TOKYO on Tabelog (English) — opening hours, payment details and the Japanese address are kept up to date there, not here.
Everyone who takes their meat as lamb, thank you for waiting. It is Hangover Meshi time.
Well then — time once again to eat something on the way home, and this time it was the ramen shop MENSHO TOKYO in Korakuen. Why this shop? Because apparently its selling point is a broth taken from lamb lol Lamb? Really? Pork bone and chicken you hear about all the time, but lamb lol My curiosity was thoroughly piqued, so off to Korakuen I went.
As the name says, it is part of the same group as MENSHO in Gokokuji, though this branch carries a completely different concept from the main shop. As mentioned, lamb is on the sign — extremely rare in the ramen world — and the tsukemen comes in two lines, lamb-and-pork-bone and lamb-and-niboshi dried sardine. The broth runs about thirty percent lamb, all of it built on pork leg bones: lamb at the core of the flavor, pork holding the whole thing up, so they say. I could not begin to imagine what it tastes like, which is exactly what made it fun lol
Step inside and the chandelier is made of dried sardines lol lol lol What is this
You can choose between the lamb shoyu (pork bone) broth and the lamb niboshi one, and for a first visit it had to be the lamb and pork bone. You can also choose ramen or tsukemen, and I went with tsukemen. I wanted to drink the thicker broth.
So, order at the ticket machine and wait a while.
Naturally I cannot do any waiting without a beer to go with it.
I had in fact ordered hosaki menma, the tender tips of bamboo shoot cured as menma (200 yen), and cilantro (250 yen) as toppings, and either the staff read my mind or simply took pity — they brought the hosaki menma out first! I ordered the cilantro thinking it would suit lamb, but the menma was purely a drinking snack lol lol
The hosaki menma did not have much seasoning on it, but dressed with shichimi pepper, chili oil and vinegar it turned into a splendid snack! The beer went down and down.
Being tsukemen it took a little time to arrive. The beer really was essential!
So this is the lamb, pork bone and soy broth…! I can smell the lamb!
First, a mouthful of the broth! The sharpness of the soy stands up first, and half a step behind it the scent of sheep comes slowly after. Not a gamy smell — a fragrance. This is good.
Now that I had the shape of the broth, on to the noodles.
Perhaps because I ordered everything on lol — the array of meat covering the bowl is something to see. Pork chashu fanned out in a semicircle, cherry-pink rare lamb chashu, cubes of lamb rolling about. Ajitama seasoned egg, lemon and cilantro on top of that, and the noodles are barely visible! It does get you going lol
First a mouthful of the house-made thick noodles with nothing on them. Glossy, springy, chewy, and the sweet scent of wheat rises through your nose as you chew. Delicious! At this shop the price is the same from 200g up to 300g, but having gone for everything on top I was not sure I could finish, so I stayed at 200g lol
Right — into the dipping broth and a mouthful.
Yes, that works! Delicious!
The way the sheep grows more sharply defined with every mouthful is quite something lol
The topping meats are good too: the pork is the moist kind with sweet fat, while the rare lamb is a pale, gentle savor whose lamb fragrance opens out softly the more you chew. Squeeze the lemon over it and the scent of sheep suddenly clears, showing you another face entirely. Dip it in the broth to warm it and it is good again.
Once I had worked through it all, in went the rest of the toppings I had ordered earlier! lol
Instantly the broth turned into the smell of a Southeast Asian street stall, and from there on it was a different bowl entirely lol
The way the fresh scent of cilantro and the scent of lamb fit together is hard to beat!
Ah, that was good! Perhaps I ate a bit too much… lol
So — my first lamb and pork bone broth. To be honest I had wondered how it would go, but it was thoroughly delicious! Anyone who loves sheep should simply run here. And if you are not confident about lamb, the spices and the soy build a good bridge, so I think it works as an introduction. What I want to try next is the lamb niboshi lol Even written down I still hardly believe it lol Another reason to come back.
May you meet something good to eat today too.
MENSHO TOKYO (tsukemen / Korakuen Station, Kasuga Station, Suidobashi Station)
Tabelog dinner rating ★★★★☆ 4.0
I ate here and paid for it myself. Nothing on this site is a comped meal.
One more for the road?
