Bottom Line: Where is the Best Spicy Ramen in Tokyo?

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Japan is not known for liking spicy things. Sure, there are Thai and Indian restaurants all around but unless you’re amping it up at Coco’s, you’re not going to find many things with a kick to it. Enter spicy ramen or tan-tan men (担々麺). If you’re looking to ramp up your noodle game, I present to you some of the best spicy ramen options in Tokyo.

3 Contenders for Best Spicy Ramen in Tokyo

Everyone’s tastes are different so here are three excellent choices for spicy ramen in Tokyo. Plus the bases and spices are different and if you’ve read my ramen guide, you know that multiple “best” and “favorite” ramen’s is completely on the table!

鬼金棒　カラシビ味噌らー麺　Kikanbo’s Karashibi Miso Ramen

Kikanbo’s originally opened the shop in Kanda in November 2009 and quickly took off in popularity. Since they they’ve added a tsukemen version next door (well, it’s actually now in the original shops location), another ramen shop in Ikebukuro and have two overseas outlets in Taiwan.

Tsukemen (つけ麵) is “dipping” ramen, in other words, a dish in which the noodles are separated from the rest.

It’s not ramen without noodles

Because one noodle type isn’t enough, this shop mixes THREE. 中太麺、中細麺、細麺. Medium thick, medium thin, and thin. Different types of noodles work with different types of broths, so we’re covering all the bases here.

Flavoring

The miso is a original formulation with cheese, spices, fish sauce and peanuts for taste fermented in a wooden barrel.

Making it on of the Best Spicy Ramen in Tokyo

The Kara (カラ) and Shibi (シビ) in the name refers to the two different of spice flavor profiles they utilize. Kara is a combination of 6 different peppers that gives it heat. Shibi comes from Japanese Grape Peppers (ぶどう山椒) from Wakayama Prefecture and Sichuan Peppers that they make into an oil by cooking them at very low temperature. This gives you a moth numbness feel. Both you can add to your soup in varying “stages”, 1 thru 5!

A “Double” Soup

Don’t come here if you’re vegetarian. The soup is pig bones (tonkotsu), pig backs, chicken, and lots of vegetables. They simmer it every day for at least 10 hours and you end with a bowl of milky, rich goodness. It’s considered a “double” soup as they take a savory fish stock and add it at the end with your spice, miso and noodles.

Price and Toppings

The prices ranges from 880 yen to 1500 yen. The base is always the same but the price increases based off what you add to it. A few of your choices:

• Soft Boiled Eggs
• Bean Sprouts
• Cilantro (My favorite and a rarity as it tends not to mix well with the Japanese pallet)
• Wasabi (in case the original spice mixes weren’t enough for you)
• More chashu!

Getting here

Hop of the JR Yamanote Line and ride to Kanda Station. It’s a quick 5 minute walk from the station.

護摩龍 地獄の担担麺 Gomaryu Hell’s Tantanmen

If the name doesn’t give it away, I don’t know what does. “地獄の担担麺” or “Jigoku no tantanmen”. Hell’s tantanmen. Tantanmen is Japan’s version of the Sichuan specialty, dan-dan noodles. It’s hot to begin with. Gomaryu kicks it up a notch, as Emeril Lagasse would say.

What makes it Tantanmen?

Automatic toppings, ala tantanmen, will be ground meat and some vegetables, in this case, spinach. The broth is some of the richest you will ever have. Something to make the flavour profile more substantial is the peanut or sesame miso paste that is added.

The Stages

There are five “stages” to this one as well. Elementary stage (初級ステージ ), second stage (セカンドステージ ), middle stage (ミドルステージ), hard stage (ハードステージ ) and MAX stage.

Those are just translations though to the “fun” names they have.

• 護摩龍, the “non-spicy” (it’s still spicy, as all tantanmen have some spice to them) is just the shop name, Gomaryu
• 飢餓, Kiga, or Hunger
• 阿修羅, Asura, which I’m pretty sure harkens to the Hindu mythology of demigod’s that fight gods.
• 血の池, Chi-no-ike, Blood Pond
• 無限, Mugen, Infinity. I.e. as much spice as they could put.

Making it the best spicy ramen in Tokyo

As you go up in levels, there are different spice additives. You start with from just chili powder, to chili oil, to dried chilis… you get the idea. I’m a huge fan of middle stage.

Toppings

You can get the typical toppings egg, butter (ok, that’s “normal” for tantan, no usual ramen!), add more spinach, quail eggs or you can get more meat and miso.

If you go at lunch at the Gotanda location, they’ll give you rice for free. Rice, you ask? Yes, that was new for me too! You can add it after you are done eating, after, or you can transfer some of the toppings to the rice bowl.

Insider tip

Ok, not really an insider tip but it is if you can’t read Japanese or don’t notice someone else getting it. Save a bit of your broth at the end. Why? Because you WANT the cheese risotto. It’s close enough in Japanese that you can just say it like that and you’ll be fine. They will take your bowl, dump some rice in it and a pile of parmesan and torch it with a blow torch. Delicious addition to the best spicy ramen in Tokyo.

Getting here

There are three locations, two in Tokyo and one in Fujisawa. Each of them close for a few hours between lunch and dinner so be on the look out for that.

Nakiryu 鳴龍

Around the corner from the first-ever Michelin Star Ramen restaurant, Tsuta, is Nakiryu.  Their specialty? 担担麺, tantanmen, the Japanese take on spicy, Szechuan dandanmen. The first announcement of their 2017 star was in December of 2016, the second ramen shop to receive it, and they’ve again received one star in 2019.

The Queue

It’s a Michelin starred restaurant, there is going to be a line! The queue starts at the door. There are two chairs that never go cold, the line wraps the building, hops over the street by the stop sign and continue a u-shape back towards the park.

One plus? It IS a queue system. Some of the more popular ramen shops have a ticket system in which you basically must come twice in one day. The queue, though tedious and long isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

Business hours are lunch from 11:30-15:00 and dinner from 18:00-21:00. Monday is open only at lunch and their regular holiday (seen in Japanese as定休日) is Tuesday. Expect to wait: I was there at 1030 on a Sunday and there were already 15 people in line in front of me.

The seating capacity is 10 and while ramen is fast, it still takes time. By opening time there were another 30 people behind me and it took me until after 12 to get in.  

The Spice

The spice comes in a couple of levels in case you don’t want it TOO spicy, and they also have different style: ramen, tsukemen and sanramen. Want some added spice? Sansho—a powdered Szechuan pepper, is available at the counter.

Spicy not your thing? There are also shoyu and shio options, but the star was for the spicy version.

Where as Gomaryu’s tantanmen broth is very thick, the broth at Nakiryu is much lighter, still a good sesame taste but more Tokyo Style to me.

The cost

At 850円, the 担担麺 is one of the cheapest Michelin star meals you can have in the world. I highly recommend you add the “specialty” ingredients which are an option if you go at lunchtime.

As far as the ramen, it’s one bowl per person so as many people as possible can have some but there are kaedama for the tantanmen and oomori for the ramen and tsukemen. What do those words mean? After you are done with your noodles, you ask for more noodles!

Getting there

The easiest is the Otsuka station on the JR Yamanote line. Alternatively, especially if you are coming from Yokohama, is the Shin-Otsuka Station on the Marunouchi Metro Line.

How to eat at a Ramen shop

Most ramen shops start with a trip to the ticket machine at the front, pick your noodle option, any toppings, and drinks and hand your tickets to the cook. Some, like Nakiryu, will hand you a menu while you are in line to help speed up the ordering process.

Can’t make it?

Nakiryu and Gomaryu both have their tantanmen in an instant version! Look for them at your local convenience store!

Yokohama Options

There is a fair chance that if you are visiting Tokyo, you might also be visiting Yokohama. If you are a ramen lover, does Yokohama have you covered! Not only is there the Cup Noodle Museum where you can make you own and find out the history of instant ramen, there is also the Epcot-like Shin-Yokohama Ramen Museum.

Looking for a spicy option? A quick trek from the Minato Mirai area where the Cup Noodle Museum is Noge. Filled with great nightlife, they also have a full–on Sichuan option that I like to call “Color Ramen”.

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