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Mendokoro Kinari is a ramen shop in Higashi Nakano, Tokyo, in a cute little shop on the corner of the street that you absolutely cannot miss, because it’s bright lime green. That’s not the only thing that makes it stand out either.

Why Higashi Nakano is worth the trip

Higashi Nakano focuses on soy-sauce based ramen, but Mendokoro Kinari also has things like mazesoba, which is ramen without broth — the sauce sits at the bottom of the bowl and you mix it all up yourself.

It’s really close to the station, and only 2 stations from Shinjuku. Even if you don’t end up at this specific restaurant, there are a ton of really good restaurants in Higashi Nakano, so I’d highly recommend checking out the neighborhood in general.

The area has a lower-key, more local feel than Shinjuku itself, so it’s worth slowing down and wandering a bit before or after your meal.

Why Mendokoro Kinari stands out

Mendokoro Kinari puts real emphasis on their ingredients and their presentation. They’re ranked in the top 100 of the Tokyo ramen rankings for shoyu ramen, and hold a 3.78 on Tabelog, which is a strong score for a small neighborhood shop. I imagine the ranking is partly because theirs is one of the better looking bowls too, though of course the taste backs it up.

The chef used to be a French chef, and I think that’s where all of this comes from. Their chashu uses pork from Iwate prefecture, and each bowl of ramen runs ¥1,000.

What I ordered

Shio (salt) ramen

The salt-based soup was very good and rich. It didn’t taste overly salty, which was one more thing I appreciated — it was easy to drink and rich at the same time.

The chashu, made with Iwate prefecture pork, was very tender. A few additional toppings, like the bamboo shoots, almost seemed like they had no extra flavor added — just put in raw, again pointing to how much they trust the quality of what they’re using rather than masking it.

Mazesoba

The mazesoba was really good, topped with cilantro and miso meat, which was a first for me on ramen. I actually want to say it read as a Mexican-themed bowl — not totally sure, but it also had a thicker noodle than their normal ramen. Mixed all together, it makes for a great bowl. This was my favorite over the shio ramen.

What I want to try next time: koime shoyu ramen

Another item of theirs I definitely want to try if I go back is their koime shoyu ramen, a “strong” soy-sauce based soup. Supposedly it’s made with 20 different soy sauces and 15 types of salt.

Ordering and seating

It’s a ticket machine system, with both counter seats and table seats. They also run very frequent seasonal menus, including a fermented salt ramen that sounds really interesting.

Final thoughts

A cool little spot — there aren’t many places this meticulous about the ingredients they use, right down to sourcing pork from Iwate prefecture, so it’s worth checking out if you appreciate that kind of attention to detail. Also, another good ramen shop only a few minute walk away is called Kashiwagi!

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