Dipping noodles are all the rage with visitors to Japan.

Ramen restaurants in Japan have long been drawing tourists from overseas, but these days, foreign visitors have gotten wind of a ramen-adjacent dish that was previously overlooked by people outside of the country. Known as tsukemen, this dish differs to traditional ramen as the noodles and broth are served up in separate bowls, and one specialty tsukemen store in Ginza has currently become a must-visit spot with foreign visitors.

Our reporter P.K. Sanjun stumbled upon this establishment while walking through the area one day, and when he spotted the queue outside filled with tourists, he figured it must be a ramen joint. However, upon closer inspection, he found the queue was for a restaurant called Tsujita, and it specialised in tsukemen.

▼ Tsujita.

Perhaps he’d been naive, but P.K. had no idea that tsukemen’s popularity had stretched abroad to such an extent, so he couldn’t resist joining the queue to find out what made Tsujita so popular. While he waited, he ran a search for the restaurant online, where he learned that Tsujita is a popular tsukemen restaurant headquartered in Kanda-Ochanomizu, and its tsukemen is far more popular than its ramen. For a while, they only operated one store, but in the past few years they’ve rapidly expanded and now have over 20 stores in central Tokyo and Osaka.

▼ Once inside, P.K. ordered the Rich Tsukemen (“Noukou Tsukemen“) that was popular with a lot of other customers.

Deftly lifting a mound of noodles out of the main bowl with his chopsticks, P.K. dipped them into the broth and took a good ol’ slurp.

Oooh yes. This was a good tsukemen, even by his high standards, and when he added a splash of the sudachi citrus and a sprinkling of the black shichimi seasoning, it elevated the flavours even further.

The noodles were thick and chewy and the broth was incredibly flavourful, making them perfect complementary partners. If you’re looking to try tsukemen in Tokyo, you can’t go wrong with a trip to Tsujita, although if you want a more out-there alternative, the Mega Roast Tsukemen at this joint in Ueno will make your jaw drop with its size.

Related: Tsujita Store List
Photos ©SoraNews24
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