LocalEatsJapan

Ok, this is going to be a long one. 

This is the shop where I ate my first ever “iekei ramen” which is now undoubtedly my favourite food of all time. It has a very special place in my heart. 

Before I get into Sugitaya specifically however, I want to first talk about the origins of “iekei ramen” because it is important to know for those of you that are as serious as I am about it. 

It was created by a man named Minoru Yoshimura in 1974 in Yokohama City, Kanagawa Prefecture (just outside of Tokyo). This shop takes over his last name and adds “ya” to it which is a very common thing that ramen shops do except they usually add the kanji 屋 which is a suffice for shop. However, iekei ramen shops in particular add 家 which also reads “ya” but is more commonly associated with the word “house”.  My explanation for this is because iekei (家系）means house-style and so I think that they add this to emphasize this as well as pay homage to Yoshimuraya as well. 

Yoshimuraya, gaining rapid popularity for combining a soy sauce and tonkotsu (pork bone broth) together naturally gained the attention of up and coming ramen chefs and those who wanted to learn from the creator himself. 

This led to Minoru taking a number of disciples under his wing from the 90s until early 2000s which a news channel was able to make a documentary out of and the clips from it are still on youtube from this day. Let me warn you though, Minoru was pretty tough on his disciples to say the least (you will understand if you watch it lol). 

Speaking of disciples, those that actually worked at Yoshimura and went on to open up their own shops were 11, of these 1 which has since closed, and 2 of which are not considered “chokkei shops”. Chokkei means those that have not only done training at Yoshimuraya but have also gone on to be very successful. If you look it up online it will be easy to find all of them, but to guarantee you are in the right spot, they should have two pieces of paper both stamped with “Yoshimuraya” that certifies they are legitimate (though for those that like this ramen it is pretty common knowledge who the shops are so I don’t think anyone would try it anyways lol). 

I myself have been to 7 out of the 10 and so I am hoping to be able to finish all of them in the near future!

But what started this obsession with everything about this ramen was Sugitaya. 

Also located in Yokohama, Sugitaya was actually the first chokkei shop opened, and though I would like to say I planned this to also be the first one I went to, it was really just by chance lol. 

Having spent the day in Yokohama, on the way back to central Tokyo I looked up popular ramen shops in the area, as one would. 

What came up first with an overwhelming amount of good reviews was Sugitaya so naturally, that’s where I went. 

It was on the weekend that I went and also at ramen shops’ usual peak dinner time rush (around 6pm) so it was quite busy. I would say I lined up for about an hour (as you get closer to entering you can sit down though which is good). 

As you get closer to the end of the line the staff will tell people to first go order from the ticket machine and come back to the line.
Once you are done the staff will come back and ask you if you have any preferences. This is the only tough thing for non-Japanese speakers about this ramen I would say, so if they ask you I would just memorize “zenbu futsuu” which will give you just the standard bowl, no variations in the amount of oil or strength of the broth. This is likely the only thing they will ask you so even if you don’t understand them you can say this without worry! 

I think I got the large bowl, but something I learned recently is that the normal sized bowl is always what you should get because that is the base for their recipe and will give you the most authentic flavor. My glutton self didn’t realize this for about a year though… 

They have chashuu-men (extra chashu) as well as a few different options of toppings, but I think that the egg is a must. 

Oh, and I ALWAYS get rice. The soup and rice is a match made in heaven. 

All iekei ramen comes with 3 things regardless of the shop: seaweed, spinach, and chashu. 

How you eat them is up to you, but there are a few different ways. 

One is just taking everything in one bite – the beginner. 

The pro, however, is to take the aforementioned white rice and to dip the seaweed in the soup and then kind of fold it over the white rice like a blanket. This bite alone will get you addicted to this type of ramen – I apologize in advance. 

I mentioned that the soup is made from pork bones and soy-sauce, but one other thing they put in it that gives it that extra punch is chi-yu or rendered down chicken fat. All three of these things combined make for a decadent, strong flavored soup that has had a grip on me since my first sip of it. 

Some people may find the soup too strong for them, but I absolutely love it, and everything that is put inside of it too. 

All the top iekei ramen shops also get their noodles from the same supplier called: saiaki seimen which has been opened since Meiji-period Japan.

They are slightly thick but have a really great elasticity and are also cut quite a bit shorter than other stereotypical ramen noodles which makes it easier to eat and avoid splashing soup on your clothes. 

Speaking of which, a lot of these places don’t have disposable aprons you can use, so do be careful! 

Ok, I think that is enough of my bombardment of info on this ramen, but It is something I am highly passionate about if you couldn’t tell already. 

If you have the chance, then please go try it in Japan. It doesn’t necessarily have to be a chokkei shop either – there are lots now that I would even say are better than some of them all across Japan!

Thanks for reading – if you’d like to support and follow along: 

More about me

Different types of ordering systems in Japan explained

Purchasing an onigiri to keep me fuelled throughout my journey 🍙