Chipao Maratan (Shibuya) — Restaurant in Tokyo

Their speciality is bean-starch vermicelli noodles and they are pretty good. If you are not familiar to bean-starch vermicelli noodles, think of "Pho" from the Vietnam cuisine. The soup is just like Pho and the texture of the noodles are different; they are lighter and healthier, as a matter of fact.

The bean-starch vermicelli noodles are supposed to be super low calories, so they should be your best friends when you are on a serious diet.

The most fun part of this place is that you get to choose your favorite toppings (choose 3 toppings for free, already included in the set prices) from the table of many options. They are all fresh and some of them probably look unfamiliar to you, but take it as a good opportunity to try something new.

In addition, you get to choose how spicy you want it to be. They have 1-5 levels, 5 being shockingly hot. I usually go for 0.5-1.0 (as I'm not good with spicy stuff) and it's spicy enough. Some of my friends go for 3-4 but it gets to the point where you just keep sweating and have your mouth burning. Well, whatever level...

A small and unassuming place recommended by our friend who liked nearby for a few years.

You select the ingredients you want & then your Spice level. 1 is recommended, so we went for 2 and our other friend, 4. This packs a fantastic heat and spice, excellent flavour and delicious Sichuan spice throughout. I found the noodles a bit too chewy for me but that's a personal preference. You do have the option to change noodles for a small cost, so I'd recommend that if glass noodles also aren't your thing.

If you're in the area & fancy a delicious, spicy, saucy bowl of goodness, this...

I was Shibuya 5 years ago and happened to stumble upon this gem as my Airbnb was close by. Always walked past and was intrigued and I tried it for the first time. This is my second time to Japan and had to go back to my previous holiday schedule to find this place again. So happy to see them still going strong and highly recommend them if you want to try something different.

You pick your own ingredients and they ask you for the spice level that you want for your broth. It comes with glass noodles unless you ask for...