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Every street in Tokyo is packed with buildings full of restaurants, not just at ground level, but stacked several storeys high and in all directions. It can be hard to know where to start when choosing somewhere to eat.

That was my situation on Saturday. Having travelled for 15 hours, I knew I needed something special. Fuel for the days ahead. But with so many options to choose from, how do you make a good choice?

On this occasion, the answer wasn’t TripAdvisor or reviews on Google Maps, but Reddit.

The place to go in Shinjuku was apparently Ramen Tatsunoya.

After a short detour to the nearest konbini, I made my way, arriving at 9pm. It took me a few minutes to figure out the queue system. You think the British know a thing or two about queue etiquette, but the Japanese put us to shame! Scanning the line, it was a mix of locals and tourists, and according to the reviews, in bad weather they come out with umbrellas – evidence of which was seen just insider the sliding door at the front of the restaurant.

It was a queue of two halves; first get in line to use the machine inside to get a ticket, then with your ticket, wait outside again for a table to become free.

The restaurant closes at 10pm and with 20 minutes to go I was still waiting outside, in 9 degree weather, wondering if trusting Reddit had been a mistake. I was getting cold feet, both figuratively and literally. Moments later though, I was called in to the hustle and bustle of the cosy restaurant and seated at the counter.

Despite selecting the English option on the ordering machine, it felt like a chaotic Argos catalogue, a page with lots of pictures of things which didn’t seem to correspond to the selection buttons!

I ordered the ‘house special’ with an extra egg, and a beer. I wasn’t exactly sure what the special consisted of, and so I was (pleasantly) surprised when I was presented with tsukemen (dipping ramen, where noodles are served cooked but cold and you dunk them to both warm and flavour them). It’s a style of ramen that I’ve had several times before, but which seems far less popular in London.

Being able to watch the theatre of the chef preparing the food is wonderful. The care and artistry in how they prepare plates is remarkable, the head chef wrapping noodles around his fist like ribbons before plating them in a swirl.

 

On the counter, small pots of complimentary beansprouts, pickled ginger and spicy beansprouts. I assumed they were toppings for the ramen, but others around me were eating them as appetisers, so I promptly joined in!

When my food arrived it was a bowl of velvety rich broth, swirled with black garlic oil and with small globules of pork fat rising from chunks of pork crackling submerged in the soup. And a separate plate of noodles, (more) bamboo shoots, slices of pork belly, crisp sheets of nori and four half-slices of soft-set egg. The waiter let me know to leave some of the broth, and they would add ‘rice porridge’ at the end, which isn’t something I’ve seen before.

I sat next to the actual king of ramen eating. He was slurping those noodles like an actual professional, and I felt like my chopstick, spoon coordination was third-rate in comparison.

Punch me in the face, this was excellent ramen!

The noodles still had some ‘bite’ to them, the broth was rich and slightly sweet, but without having that lip-sticking-together heaviness that I usually enjoy. When I’d polished off all of the noodles I requested the rice porridge, which staff added by the ladle from a plastic box on the counter, and gave it a quick blast in the microwave to warm it back up. The rice added thickness and I left feeling nourished but not stuffed.

Like many of the food places in Tokyo, you perhaps wouldn’t give this place a second glance if you had walked past. As a tourist, and from the outside, it looks like perhaps 100 other ramen restaurants in the local area, but I’d be surprised if they are serving food this good.

The moral of the story – trust in Reddit, trust in ramen.