I would like to introduce to you all one of my favorite ramen restaurants, NIBOSHI MANIA.If you visit Japan, you want to eat a lot of delicious food, but you don’t know where to go.In such a case, please make use of this site!Please bookmark it!
Atmosphere
Located in a shopping arcade about a three-minute walk from JR Kamata Station, this ramen shop always has an unending line of customers.
It is a small restaurant with only 15 seats, but it is popular on weekends when people line up in front of the adjacent Italian restaurant.A black sign reading “Niboshi Mania” will help you find the restaurant easily.
If there is a line, do not buy a meal ticket, but get in line at the end of the line.After a while, a waiter will come out to check the line.
If you are going in a group, please be aware that if you do not have the right number of people, you will be considered to have interrupted the process and will have to start lining up again from the back of the line.
If there is no line, go inside the restaurant, buy a meal ticket and give it to the waiter.Tipping is not required.
This store is cash only.
Menu
The menu includes a regular menu and a daily menu.
Regular menu items are “Niboshi Ramen” and “Kurozu-no-Waedama”.
The daily menu changes with the ingredients used according to the day’s purchases, offering creative ramen and dressed eggs.Every day is special because the same menu won’t be available for a while.
What is Niboshi ramen?: It is made by making soup stock from dried sardines and combining it with soy sauce, and is a typical ramen of Aomori Prefecture.
What is a AEDAMA?: It is a type of ramen in which the ingredients and seasonings are mixed with the noodles for another bowl of ramen.
The daily changing menu tends to feature three types of ramen: light ramen with a simple soy sauce or salt base and fish flavor, thick ramen with a large amount of dried fish and pork bone broth, and ramen with crab or shrimp broth.The restaurant’s characteristic is that you never know what kind of ramen you will be served until the day before, and I look forward to checking the menu at X every day.
An example of menu
This soy sauce ramen is the origin of “Human beings everybody noodles.” It has a gentle taste with a lot of bonito broth and the unique sweetness of soy sauce. If you want to enjoy the flavor of the ingredients and the broth as it is similar to Japanese cuisine, or if you are visiting for the first time, this is the ramen you should order.
Ramen Toppings
- Extra meat (3-4 pieces of roast pork)
- Seasoned quail egg
- onion
Procedure
- If there is a line outside the restaurant, wait at the end of the line.Do not buy a meal ticket until you are informed.
- If you are coming to the restaurant in a group, do not stand in line unless everyone is present.This is a store rule to avoid offending the people behind you.
- If there is no line, enter the restaurant, select the ramen of your choice from the ticket machine, and purchase a meal ticket.
- Ramen noodles range in price from 900 yen to 1,300 yen, and the price range for a bowl of salad rice is around 300 yen to 500 yen.
- You can order half servings of noodles.Tell the waiter “Half” and you will receive 50 yen cash back.
- One person can order more than one bowl of ramen by purchasing a meal ticket.
Eating Report
If you go on weekends, there is usually a line, usually 30 minutes to an hour long, to finally enter the restaurant and wait for your ramen to be served.
This time I ordered a thick ramen called “Niboshi Bancho”.Of course, it is not on the menu every time, but is a rare item that is rarely served.It uses a lot of niboshi (dried sardines). The soup stock is made by grinding the niboshi in a blender and combining it with a rich pork bone broth to create a super thick ramen that is irresistible to those who love niboshi.The soup is so thick that it gets mixed well with the noodles, giving you the sensation that you are eating soup as well.It has just the right amount of dried and salty flavor, and the rich pork bone broth brings out that flavor and gives it a special taste.
When you lift up the noodles, the sloppy broth is also so entangled.It is recommended for those who like dried ramen, but for those who do not like dried ramen or do not like fish-based ramen, the taste of dried fish is directly conveyed, making this ramen a clear choice for those who like or dislike it.
The toppings of seasoned egg, bamboo shoots and rare chashu pork are very tasty.
If you order the Wasedama before finishing your ramen, they will make the Wasedama at the best time.
These salad balls are “Salted Tuna Stomach with Cream Cheese”.Tuna stomach is finely chopped and marinated in sake and salt, and then mixed with cream cheese to make a dish similar to mixed soba noodles.
I am not a big eater, so I make a half size.
The creamy sauce and the salted tuna were a good match.These dressed balls are also quite rare, and I have only seen them once.It was nice to have a rare menu item.
Here is what we ate on other days.
This is a menu item called niboshi preso, which is also a sloppy soup, but a little milder than the ramen introduced earlier.
Rare chashu pork is an additional topping.
You will want to eat this ramen every day during your stay.And you will remember the taste in your home country!
“NIBOSHI MANIA”
Address : 108 Nishi Kamata Sky Heights 8-2-1 Nishikamata, Ota-ku, Tokyo
Access : 7-minute walk from JR Kamata Station on JR Line
Closed: Monday
Hours : [Tuesday-Wednesday and Sunday] 11:00-15:00 [Thursday-Saturday] 11:00-15:00, 18:00-21:00
Budget : 10~20 USD