ramen review: shiodome ramen
Address: Minato-Ku East Shinbashi 1-6-1 Japanese television Tower Underground 2F
Hours: 11:00am - 10:00pm (or until the soup runs out)
Opens daily (except Tuesdays and Holidays)
Direction: Near the Tokyo Metro Shinbashi Station in the NTV Tower
During my visit to Tokyo in Februar 2006, my goal was to try as many different ramen shops as possible. Ai Aoki-san took me to Shiodome Ramen, near the Shinbashi Tokyo Metro station. Shiodome Ramen was opened after the owner, Kounosuke Takewaka-san, won a national contest in August 2003 held by NTV (Japan Television Station) to find the best tasting ramen. After it opened, there would regularly be more than 200 people waiting for 90 minutes during lunch hours to eat at Shiodome Ramen. At the time we arrived (around 2pm), there wasn't much of a crowd in the restaurant (sorry for poor quality picture).
The feature ramen on the menu is their seafood soup-based ramen. As a rule of thumb, if you don't know what to order, always get their featured ramen. Of course that was my choice, and I also added an egg. Unlike the ramen shops in the U.S., you can order different topping to be included in your ramen. The most popular topping is of course egg, but you can get additional meat, vegetables, even an extra serving of ramen if you are that hungry.
Alas, the ramen is here. As you can see in the picture, the soup looks very heavy and flavorful, and indeed it was. It was shouyu-based soup using crab to get it's heavy flavor. The soup was a bit too salty for me, but the ramen itself was very good. With the egg, it was very satisfying.
Conclusion
It's pretty good, and the soup definitely has one of the most distinctive flavors I have ever tasted. The ramen was cooked to perfection. I would say if you are in Tokyo and want to try something different, Shiodome Ramen is definitely worth a visit!
Freshness rating: 
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