This Ramen shop is called Hope-Ken Sendagaya HQ http://www.hopeken.co.jp/
Goomaps.app.goo.gl/HaJQ7dM2ZuVh61ju5It’s a 24 hour Ramen shop opposite the Japan National Stadium, which is a 20 minute walk from the house we live in. This shop made the TV news a bunch during the olympics, and every time my son and I go to a ball game at the stadium, this place is packed to the gills. I always wanted to try this place, and we happened to be passing by at lunch time today…
The shop has a big yellow awning and a large standing counter with the open kitchen directly behind it. We found out there are 2 floors above with fixed stools and counters. It’s meant to hold as many people as possible. The second floor also had a kitchen behind the counter.
The Menu had few options, all basically Ramen – no fried rice or gyoza (meat dumplings), which was a disappointment. We had to order one at a time and pay separately, and everyone who takes a seat has to order a full portion. The guy running the 1st floor was curt and unfriendly, but the old man on the 2nd floor could not have been nicer.
I got the sliced roast pork ramen, which is the same as the basic ramen but has 3 slices of pork instead of one. I also ordered a marinated boiled egg as a topping. It came to JPY 1450 – almost $10. That’s probably inexpensive by US standards, but on the high side of average for Tokyo.
The soup was a think pork bone broth, soy flavored and salty for my taste. The noodles were of the “fat noodle” type, but seemed shorter than I’m used to seeing. There were marinated bamboo shoots (menma) and a few mung bean sprouts (moyashi) in addition to the noodles, sliced pork and slightly soft-boiled marinated egg. The soup was too oily for me, but not surprising for this style of ramen.
I added sliced scallion, pureed garlic, and hot pepper paste to the bowl, which were on the counter as condiments. I did not add the ground white pepper, but Nobuko did.
Dressed up like that I liked it, but it was still too salty and oily for my preference. In my opinion it wasn’t a bad bowl of ramen, but it wasn’t great. I’m really glad I went there because it was on ly list, but I probably won’t go back there again.
