つけ麺 岩 Iwa: sticky fingers

I love cheap ramen! I've written about "one-coin" ramen before (and again), which is ramen that can be had for the price of a single 500-yen coin or less. I'm the designated ramen cheapo, so my next mission was in Shimokitazawa, where the ramen isn't usually one-coin, but I had a special coupon.

Iwa is a tsukemen shop that opened just this summer, just off the main street in a cool basement location. It's spacious inside, with lots of booths for couples and friends.

The noodles are their main selling point, with customers able to choose their thickness level of noodle. There are also a couple limited-time noodle flavors that are made in-house everyday. Hearts and I went with these. I had a noodle kneaded with dried bonito...

Special of the day #1 (750yen)

...while Hearts chose the special of the day: keema curry cheese tsukemen.

Special of the day #2 (750yen)

The soup for both bowls was the same. Pretty standard tonkotsu-gyokai style, with no special features save for the giant shavings of bonito or splatter of curry that you can mix into the broth.

Weren't these noodles supposed to be the shop's draw? They weren't elastic at all, and they were even a little sticky when I chewed them. Definitely not the desired texture.

The curry tsukemen was more like a messy curry udon than a tsukemen.

For 500 yen, I really can't complain, though even the standard price is really good for "limited edition" noodles. Shimo shops always seem to come and go, so hopefully this one sticks around for a little longer.

Tokyo, Setagaya-ku, Kitazawa 2-12-13
Closest stn: Shimokitazawa

Open from 1130-11pm (closed from 3-530pm on weekdays)

Lum