Tantanmen Hōzuki — Restaurant in Tokyo

🍜 激しく辛い担々麺 / hageshiku karai tantanmen 🇯🇵 担々麺 ほおずき / tantanmen hozuki / nakano, tokyo 🗓️ 07/02/2024

(@wei.oframen on ig for my ramen adventure 😚)

Like many people, I happened to find this shop through The Anime Man's video lol. From what I've read, many people with decent spice tolerance will have no problem with the regular bowls cranked up to extra spicy. I guess that's why they have a dedicated menu item labeled as intensely spicy with like 10 🌶️ next to it. I feel like this bowl is more or less equivalent to a Samyang Buldak 2x if you need something for comparison. I think this could be more painful if they amp up the tingling taste through the Szechuan peppercorns. However, I think the amount they use is already spot on because otherwise, you wouldn't be able to taste the base broth. It's quite a classic way this Japanese-style tantan broth was prepared; a chicken stock with a combination of spices and sesame paste. A free side of rice is nice to finish off the leftover broth. For something that was advertised as super spicy, I'm glad that it was also delicious and not...

My new comfort tantanmen! I got the Paiko Ramen which was the first time I had a fried pork cutlet in my ramen. The staff asked me if I wanted dried shrimp as a topping as well and I definitely recommend getting it too! Made the soup even more full-bodied. You can also choose the spice level from 1 to 4 - I chose 2, but I would go for 3 next time maybe. They even offered me free rice to go with it, but I honestly didn't really need it for that level of spice. Last thing - I went on a Saturday and although Google Maps suggests there is no lunch break, there at least was one the day I visited. So, I had to wait until 5pm to get in (luckily there's a lot to do...

One of the prestige tantan-men (spicy ramen) in Tokyo, where my wife and I have our Toshikoshi-soba (tradition in Japan to eat soba at year end. Ramen is soba, right?) and have the very first ramen of the year after New Year's. The flavor is rich with lots of umami from shrimp, and the fragrance and tanginess of Chinese pepper and hot sesame oil will get you hooked the moment you experience it. I strongly recommend Ta-ro (fat meat) char-siu tantanmen for the hungry boys and chicken char-siu for those who seek for healthier bowl. Adding a small bowl of rice is free! And I recommend dipping your rice into the shining...