Ramen Jiro Kanda Jinbocho — Restaurant in Tokyo

English instructions on timing your arrival, lining up, choosing your food, and ordering below.

A very famous and delicious ramen joint, said to be the birthplace of jiro-style ramen which is popular all over Japan, making it a sort of Mecca for ramen lovers. The food was as massive and delicious as rumors said, but its fame mostly comes from its origins rather than the food being that much better than other places.

When to Come, Lining up: On a Saturday, people begin lining up around 8:30AM. You could probably get into the store at 11:00AM when it opens if you arrive by 9:00AM. Any later, and you'll wait much longer. The line is fragmented and strange, so follow the lead of everyone else there. If you need to go to the restroom while in line, leave you stuff in your spot, stick your head into the restaurant, and politely ask to use the restroom to the right of the entrance (the unmarked white door).

How to Choose and Order Food: This place is has ridiculously huge portions. Its "small" ramen is equivalent to an average ramen joint's "massive" portion. While you're lined up, the ramen man will come out to ask what quantity of noodles you'll be ordering. "Half noodles (han-bun)" is probably a little more than an average restaurant's normal amount, and "small (shou)" is probably double a normal restaurant. "Normal (futsuu)" will probably get you about 2 kilos of food, so don't make that mistake. Just tell the ramen man one of these portion sizes when he comes around and buy the corresponding ticket from the ticket machine once inside (half is the same button as small). For each size, you can choose between normal ramen (left button) and extra pork (right button). The sliced ginger was a nice palate cleanser, so I personally recommend getting that, too. Once you have your tokens, place them on the counter in front of you and sit quietly until the ramen man addresses you. You'll be expected to stay fairly quiet while inside. He'll ask you what toppings you want once it's your turn, so don't try to say them until you're asked. There are 4 types of toppings you can customize: vegetables (yasai), oil (abura), soup strength (karame), and garlic (nin-niku). When the ramen man asks you your toppings (he'll actually only ask if you want garlic or not, but you tell him everything at this point) tell him if you want none (nashi), less (sukuname), normal (fustuu), or more (mashi) of each topping. The picture attached to this review is of more of everything (zen-mashi). It's taboo to leave any food behind, so make sure to only order as much as you can eat.

Eating the Food: After a couple of minutes, the ramen man will hand you your bowl of food with whatever sides you ordered (the sides may have been handed to you earlier). This store doesn't provide soup spoons (renge), so bring your own if you need one. It may be difficult to get down deep enough under the vegetables to get to the noodles, but you'll want to eat them together so do your best to poke the vegetables down until you can grab both noodles and vegetables at once. Every few mouthfuls, take a bite of the sliced ginger to clear your palate so the flavor doesn't get old. You can add red pepper flakes or black pepper from the jars on the table to change it up. Once you finish eating, throw away any tissues in the bins behind your seat, put your dishes up on the counter, thank the ramen man for the food (gochisou sama deshita), and leave quietly. If you become full and can't finish your food no matter what, put your dishes up with the remaining food on the counter, apologize to the ramen man (gomen nasai), thank him for the food, and leave quietly.

Additional Notes: Photography of the food is allowed, but taking videos inside of the store is strictly forbidden. There is a single paid parking space immediately next to the restaurant. The home location for this restaurant is in Mita, under...

For any foreigners/tourists especially, skip this place. Not worth your limited time. Writing this as a warning to any poor soul reading, as I rarely write reviews on Google Maps.

Went there on 8 March 2025, Saturday. Reached at 1.30pm, entered the store only at 4.30pm, and received the noodles at 5pm for a total of 3.5 hrs wait.

The queue wasn't worth the wait at all. It was orderly, but that's it. Even while the store had plenty of empty seats, we were made to wait outside in the cold (it was a brutally cold day at 7C but felt like -2C, with snow the past few days in Tokyo), before we could enter, grab a seat, just to wait another 30 mins before receiving the noodles.

On to the dish. It's 950 yen for a small portion, 1050 yen for a big portion, and sides including raw egg (50 yen), quail eggs (100 yen), etc. The small portion is insanely huge, I finished all the noodles (out of politeness's sake) and had to let it all out later on. One friend was in agony for the next few hours, another friend had stomach aches the next day.

The old man cooking the noodles was straining in pain while cooking in front of us, and looked really uncomfortable like he shouldn't be running a ramen store. While the noodles were cooking, he added in another batch of fresh noodles, overcooking the whole batch and leaving us with soggy noodles in watery soup with no flavor at all. Worst ramen experience and longest waiting time ever for me personally.

For anyone who wants decent Jiro ramen, go to Butayama just across the street/traffic light or any of the branches they have around Tokyo. Usually no-to-little wait, with really flavorful broth and delicious...

Ordered zenbu mashi (extra for all toppings).

The ramen here is pretty much a distillation of Jiro-style, a light, not-too-salty shoyu/pork soup accented by firm noodles, tender pork and crisp veggies. Everything is nicely balanced , making it surprisingly easy to eat. As someone that has been to a lot of Jiro shops in Tokyo, I can say that this is maybe one of the best classic bowls one can have.

It is a tiny shop and very famous (only open from 11am to 5pm), so be prepared to wait. It's clean and the staff is polite, just know the rules to save everyone's time. If you have no experience with the Jiro system, I recommend you to Google it, since it's a little different than the usual...