The kid next to me ate the whole thing. I could only fit in half of this bowl. How do they do it?!

Another case of pointing and hoping for the best.

Tanaka-san, the noodles are spilling over!

Don't be fooled, this ramen was as big as my head. If not bigger.

Ezogiku Ramen - Sapporo style ramen

On a cold and rainy night, there was no other choice than to get fatty and delicious ramen. I decided to stray from my usual, Ippudo, and try somewhere new. *gasp!*

Ezogiku ramen is a Sapporo style ramen and has two shops – the honten (original shop) is around the corner on Meiji Dori and is often packed. Its secondary store is on Waseda Dori and was even busy when I turned up at 6.30pm. A good sign.

There is no English menu, so I did what I always do in these situations – point at the menu and hope for the best. I ended up getting miso ramen, which was fine by me.

My ramen took a while to arrive but when it did I was presented with a bowl full of chunky noodles, thick and ridiculously hot broth (my tongue still hurts) and a nice piece of pork.

A decent ramen but my heart still belongs to Ippudo.

Ezogiku Nishi Waseda’s details:

Nearest station: Nishi-Waseda or Takadanobaba
Address: 3-21-18, Nishi Waseda, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo
Telephone: 03-3202-9157
Opening hours: Daily 11:00am-4:00am