RAMEN TSUKEMEN hajime Harajuku — Restaurant in Tokyo

This was a very nice spot! I came here for lunch, craving salt due to spending time in the park in the summer heat, and was happy with my ramen. It didn't have a too salty aftertaste, though I think I was too full to pay attention to the aftertaste anyway! I saw that the upgrade to a large bowl was free, I decides to buy that, since there were two more size upgrades... how foolish that was. I dread to think how large the XXL must be!! I was very, very full. It was good, though, and kept me full! Didn't need dinner that evening! The staff member who greeted us was lovely. When we walked in, he greeted us in English and told us to order at the machine. He was relieved when he realised we could understand some Japanese, but he was very sweet to make the effort to accomodate us and communicate in English anyway! The atmosphere was fiarly cosy, kept clean, and not too loud, though it being in the basement is a little unfortunate, since natural light is always nice. It is on the more expensive side, as far as ramen goes, but it was good as a one-off treat! And not bad for the area either, everything in Harajuku will be more expensive... Finally, there was not much variety, but I think this is a good thing. Places that specialise in one dish tend to do that dish very well, and this place is...

Took quite a while to get a seat in the restaurant. The tsukemen was nice, chashu was very tasty but was not too happy with the customer service. 3 separate individual Japanese customers were all served their food immediately but my partner and I were given our food much later, not sure if this was on purpose.

Also noticed that as a foreigner they do not ask you what portion you want your noodles to be (large, medium, small etc) and they do not ask if you want the complimentary bowl of rice. I overheard the staff offering this to the Japanese customers and asking them what noodle portion they want, but they assumed that I do not speak Japanese and thus didn’t even give us the option. This also happened to a few other foreign tourists.

Think it is a bit strange that they don’t let foreigners know that you can get free rice or upsize your noodles, didn’t really sit right with me. Felt like the customer service was vastly poorer for non...

The shop itself can be a little hard to fine. The best route would be to walk all the way down Takeshita Street, cross the road and head left and when you see the cat mural of the brand Ripndip, the restaurant is on the right hand side. You'll see a very steep and deep stairway that leads to the restaurant.

The shop is very small and the ordering machine is at the back. As there are limited seating, you can either wait or order takeaway.

This is one of the shops in Tokyo that I see offer Tsukemen and the dipping soup was so flavourful and thick! Noodles were chewy and thick and the chashu pork was two thick pieces. As the soup can taste quite salty near the end, you can always ask for some hot water/tea to dillute it a...