TOKYO: Afuri ramen 阿夫利

Finally introducing to you my FAVOURITE ramen in Tokyo! So there's usually 2 Singapore to Haneda flight that we take, the first one lands at 3.55pm and the second lands at 9.50pm. I'm usually the kind who gets VERY hungry post flight. Actually even during the flight I get very hungry too. So as much as I love the comfortable seats of business class, I'm actually really starving because they only serve 1 meal.

See see, this was my 1 meal on ANA business class. Porridge leh! Sure hungry what. 

p.s: This was when I took a midnight flight. It was good porridge tho, very yummy. 

At least for economy class, they serve 2 meals + the option of nissin cup noodle if I'm still starving. 

I remember long long time ago when I was younger, my mom used to book first business/ first class seats on Malaysia Airlines ( last time it was really quite good, but now even you give me half price I also think I need to consider. Very scared the plane go missing until my body also cannot find leh :/ ) 

So yeah, I remember long long time ago they used to serve UNLIMITED food on business and first class. The air stewardess would come to you every now and then and ask if you want food. Wah, I used to stuff my face so much. 

Anyway, so yes, usually when we land at 9.50pm, by the time we get to our apartment it's already almost 11pm. Nick likes to go to sleep immediately, but how to sleep if I'm so hungry right?

So i usually suggest that we go to the Afuri  branch opposite our apartment. 

What I like about Afuri is, its Chicken based soup. As per my previous posts, I'm not really a fan of tonkotsu broth  * Think Ichiran*. Wah cannot la, if I eat Ichiran at 11pm thats the end of me already, I'll have Indigestion the whole night :/  I really enjoy the fish based ramen ( read here!)  that's probably my favourite ramen soup base, but I can't go all the way to asakusa at night right ( also, because it's close at night ), so the best option is...

AFURI! 

okay la, I just realised I'm making it sound like it's my desperate last option. It's not ok, I genuinely enjoy Afuri. 

Afuri's signature dish is their Yuzu Shio (salt) Ramen  980yen ( pictured below). This is also my favourite item in the menu. 

 This below is their Yuzu shoyu (soy) ramen 980yen

They add chicken oil to the broth, and you get a choice of whether you want Tanrei (normal) or Mashimaji ( more amount of chicken oil) 

I usually get Tanrei because .. Don't eat too oily la huh. Bad for arteries ok! :p 

My other favourite is Yuzu tsuyu tsukemen ( cold dipping noodles) You can request for the noodles to either come cold or warm. I like my noodles warm. 

Their menu is quite extensive, you can check it out here (click)

Highly recommend ! And it's so easy to locate one too eg, roppongi, azabujuban, shinjuku. 

Afuri ramen 阿夫利

multiple locations 

24 hours 7 days a week

TOKYO: Mutekiya Ramen 麺創房無敵家

You know, everytime when people ask me " Where's your favourite tonkotsu ramen in tokyo?" I find it so hard to answer. Because previously.. I really didn't have one. Most people love Ichiran, and just walk past any Ichiran store and you can see all these tourists queueing up for it. I've eaten Ichiran 3x and everytime after eating, I just feel REALLY SICK. 

It's like a trigger button for my reflux. 

So I usually avoid tonkotsu ramen. My friends all know that I rave so much about Afuri. It's a chicken based soup ramen chain store - if you ever see it, please go and try ! My favourite is the yuzu ramen or yuzu tsukemen. I'll do a post on it sometime soon I promise !

Anyway, Nick on the other hand, LOVES tonkotsu ramen. But he hasn't been able to have them because of me ( because I wear the pants when we go on holidays heheheheh ) So one day I thought, aiya, so poor thing ah this boy I'm depriving him of things he love. And I thought about how I would feel if someone deprived me of desserts....  So i said to him one morning,okay la, Lets go try this tonkotsu ramen place Enxin recommended. 

WAH. IT'S SO FAR. It's in ikebukuro. On my way there I was already thinking, wah, if it sucks, I'll be so mad. 

There was a short queue when we arrived at 12noon, my Japanese friend told me that it must have been my lucky day because the queue is usually SO LONG.

First time trying right... So I had to go for their #1 recommendation. Cannot anyhow itchy backside try something else, otherwise what if it sucks how? Then Nick will have another excuse to lug me back because I must have " not picked the right one"

Words can't describe how good this ramen is. The broth was rich but.. you know how sometimes after drinking rich broth you feel very sick, like you want to vomit, this was the total opposite. I just wanted to drink more and more of it. And I finished the whole bowl of soup. And I did not have any indigestion from it either.

It was really good but I don't think I would travel all the way to ikebukuro ( This is it's ONLY shop)  if I had nothing to do nearby and time pressed during a holiday.

But if you truly want to try because you have a spare afternoon in tokyo, please do, and after you may head over to Sunshine City and see how well you know your pokemons :p

Mutekiya Ramen 麺創房無敵家 ( click here) 
open everyday 10.30am -4am

TOKYO: Tsushima 中華そば つし馬

If you were to google " Best ramen Asakusa", Tsushima will definitely make the list.
And the reason why I would recommend Tsushima over all the other ramen places in Asakusa Tokyo is because the broth is special! It's not chicken base like afuri, it's not pork base like ichiran, it's not miso base, it's not soy base, it's FISH BASE!
They call it Niboshi ramen, made from small sardines.

There's only 3 items on the menu

1. Soup noodle

Small 680yen

medium 780yen

large 880yen

2. Thick soup noodle

800yen

3. Cold noodle with dipping sauce ( not pictured)

small 680yen

medium 780yen

large 880yen

Because I had just had the tendon from Masaru (click to check out post ) and I was travelling alone, there is NO way I could stomach all the items from the menu. So I just had to pick my fight and I chose to order a thick noodle soup and a small noodle soup

I really like Tsukemen ( cold noodle with dipping sauce) but the reason I chose the thick noodle soup over tsukemen is because they said they only make 50 sets of thick noodle soup a day! 

I guess you could say it's limited quantity/edition, SO MUST EAT LA!

And the reason why i chose noodle soup over tsukemen is because.. It's a ramen place to start with, hence, I must try their original item, right?

I definitely rank niboshi ( sardine base) as my favourite kind of soup base.
I really recommend everybody to try this fish base ramen, UNLESS you really dislike fish ( the fishy taste/smell was pretty strong)

Tsushima 中華そば つし馬 
Address: 1-1-8 Asakusa, Taito, Tokyo
Phone: 03-5828-3181
Hours: 11:30 am – 9:30 pm
http://www.tanaka-shoten.net/menu/tsushima.html  (Japanese Only)

P.S I'll leave you with a pretty picture of Asakusa