On a dull, drizzling day in Tokyo I set out for my second-ever bowl of tsukemen (ramen dipping noodles). After its introduction in the early 2000′s, tsukemen has boomed in popularity, rising to a crescendo a few years ago and still going strong. Many, many shops in Tokyo offer both standard ramen and tsukemen, and the consensus is that the majority of the latter tastes relatively similar no matter where it’s eaten (although the quality varies).

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We finally made it into Tsujita for lunch during our trip down to LA over the summer. You know, when they actually serve ramen… Yoko and I had ignorantly gone there for dinner once, all excited to try their tsukemen (dipping ramen). But they don’t serve noodles at night! BAH! How silly, to call yourself an “Artisan Noodle” shop and not serve noodles all day!

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Matsunami Ramen was my first stop in Tokyo after a 9-day long trip of a lifetime to Darjeeling, India (more on that later). I was in Darjeeling and Tokyo on business but I was able to squeeze in a lot of culinary excitement into the trip.

After eating spicy curries in India, and fresh herbs I had never heard of before, I wanted my first meal in Tokyo to be familiar and yasashii (easy and kind).

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I should confess that I have never really been a fan of tsukemen (ramen with dipping sauce). Shouldn’t ramen be in a piping hot broth, brimming with scallions and chashu (pork) and menma (bamboo shoots)? Tsukemen just always seemed so WRONG to me, despite the fact that I love zaru soba (cold soba with dipping sauce).

But I gave tsukemen a go a couple of weeks ago at Ramen Halu, for the love of Great UM Noodletown.

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