Hienadz Vardanyan 
Shinagawa station is one of the main transport hubs that serve the city of Tokyo. The station is vital for tourists and locals to get across the city.
A familiar stop for those wanting to use Shinagawa’s train lines to get from Shinkansen for the bullet train or to Haneda Airport to catch your crucial flight.
The station is frequented by an average of 300,000 commuters every day and many of them may be peckish for some ramen.
If you find yourself in or near Shinagawa station, it should not be difficult to find a suitable place to sate your taste for delicious ramen.
The district of Shinagawa district has a vast array of brewpubs, restaurants, and noodle shops.
You could find yourself sampling an assortment of delicious global cuisines yet the ramen in Shinagawa simply has to take priority.
So popular is the dish in the Shinagawa district that they even named a street for it.
That’s right, Ramen Street, which is filled with ramen restaurants, each vying for position with their own flavor mixes, specific menus, and signature dishes.
Hakata Ramen Yoshimura
Hakata Ramen Yoshimura uses exceptionally fresh ingredients and all of them combine to create some of the tastiest broth you may find for ramen.
The restaurant excels at its homemade creations, including its own soy sauce and a take on spicy sesame chili oil.
Such attention to detail and effort go a long way to creating a range of dishes that cannot be replicated anywhere else.
The noodles are also freshly made that very day in their very own noodle factory with traditional techniques.
Those sauces, oils, and soft, chewy noodles combine to create some of the most delectable Tonkotsu ramens in the city.
This specific dish is created with a tender and braised pork belly for a rich bowl that you cannot easily forget.
Then there is the restaurant’s signature dish which is Hakata ramen.
The dish features a broth with a stunningly rich and original flavor that sets the base for a suitably renowned dish.
The restaurant stands out for a range of delicious and distinctive dishes that persuade customers to come from far and wide.
The tenderness of their meat and the delicacy that their eggs are cooked help prove how their attention to detail helps them stand out from a somewhat crowded market.
Whether you frequent Shinagawa Station or not, the restaurant is well worth a visit.
Store Information
- Tel: +813-5783-4070
- Business hours: From Monday to Friday, the restaurant is open from 11:00 to 23:00. At the weekends, the restaurant is open from 11:00 to 22:00
- Regular holiday: Public holidays
- Access: A three-minute walk from JR Shinagawa Station
- Address: Nagayama Building 2F, 2-2-6 Konan, Minato-ku, Tokyo
Chukasoba Waka Tokyo
If you want to begin your craving for ramen then Chukasoba Waka Tokyo is a great place to start.
Here you will find some basic dishes such as Soy Sauce ramen and Shio ramen to begin with.
From there, you can branch out to more limited edition noodle dishes that you can only find in this restaurant.
For instance, their Sanmi Ittai changes from day to day, such is how ‘limited edition’ the nature of the noodle soup is.
If you are lucky to find it being served you can revel in the fact it is made every day from three ingredients that are picked that very day, then blended with a white soy sauce.
The Sanmi Ittai is truly a limited edition dish as the flavor constantly changes on a daily basis.
One day it may be clams, the other dried sardines, another day it could be chicken or a combination of all three.
The following day you could find one from pork, red seabream, and shallow bonito.
Thankfully, the restaurant completes an outside sign board every day informing patrons what to expect from the flavor that day.
Those ingredients will be fresh and naturally sourced to create a delicious and healthy taste each time.
Customer reviews have singled out the Special Soy Sauce soba for praise, as well as their supple and fluffy noodles.
The reviews are also consistent in highlighting the Sanmi Ittai as, not just the dish of the day, but the dish to seek out while in the district.
Store Information
- Tel: +81 3-6433-1224
- Business hours: During weekdays, the restaurant is open from 11:00 to 14:30 and then 18:00 to 21:00. On Saturdays and holidays, the restaurant is open from 11:00 to 14:30
- Regular holiday: Sundays
- Access: A one-minute walk from Kitashinagawa Station or a 10-minute walk from Shinagawa Station on the JR Main Line and Keikyu Main Line
- Address: MTM STUDIO 2F, 3-2-1 Kitashinagawa, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo
Ramen Jiro
If it is ramen you are after then Ramen Jiro is the place as that is the only dish that they sell.
Feel free to add your own toppings yet this is a great place for anyone curious about ramen to begin their journey.
Their dishes may seem simple yet you can still create your own twist with char siu, boiled eggs, and green onions.
Though the restaurant stands out for how rudimentary its menu is, they still have a specialty dish that gives the restaurant its name, Ramen Jiro.
This is a typical vegetarian dish with ramen noodles in a suitably tasty soup.
You will likely find plenty of vegetables amongst the toppings including char siu, cabbage, beansprouts, and garlic.
The restaurant’s outstanding feature is actually the quantity of their noodles with portion sizes that would exceed that of many rival ramen places.
Not to be mistaken, the quality is still there as the noodles are exceedingly thick and homemade which fills up the bowl, and should sate your appetite.
Their ordering system also makes the restaurant stand out. Rather than queuing, you simply take a ticket and then wait while you choose how to customize your ramen.
Once customers do try the ramen, they tend to rave about the tender pork and adeptly boiled eggs.
The Umami soup is usually singled out for praise as it remains relatively light and grease-free. After a single bowl of filling ramen, you may make plans to visit again.
Store Information
- Tel: +813-3474-4026
- Business hours: On weekdays, the restaurant is open from 11:00 to 14:30 and then from 17:00 to 21:00. On Saturdays, the restaurant is briefly open from 11:00 to 14:00
- Regular holiday: Sundays and public holidays
- Access: A 10-minute walk from the Konan (East) Exit of Shinagawa Station
- Address: 1-18-5 Kitashinagawa, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo
Ippudo
Then there is Ippudo and do not let the reputation dissuade you. This is a very famous ramen place, precisely as they serve great ramen.
Top of the to-try list should be their Tonkotsu ramen which can be served plain or with soy sauce amongst other variations.
If you are trying to discern the difference then note that their dishes are served in three different colored bowls.
White for their plain serving, black for their soy sauce serving, and red for their miso one.
Keeping it simple, their plain tonkotsu remains high in popularity and you can quickly grab and take away one while still being impressed by how much flavor is contained.
Ippudo’s ramen includes a range of soup bases, which go beyond soy sauce and miso to their rich pork bone soup.
The pork bone soup remains consistently highly regarded in customer reviews yet the serving time is also remarked upon.
Ippudo’s customer service is superb, which is ideal should you find yourself in a rush around Shinagawa Station.
With a decidedly quick turnover of customers, many choose to grab their ramen at Ippudo and it does not disappoint, even at rush hour.
The restaurant also has an exceedingly friendly atmosphere and remains clean despite its popularity.
As the restaurant is situated so close to the station’s gate and the ticket office, it is the ideal place to grab a portion of ramen on the go.
Store Information
- Tel: +81-3-6447-7935
- Business hours: From 10:00 to 22:00
- Regular holiday: Sunday and public holiday
- Access: On the premises of Shinagawa Station
- Address: 1 Chome−14−14, 2F, Higashigotanda, Shinagawa City, Tokyo
