7 best modern ramen in Tokyo, with truffle, lobster, porcini and more

Every element in a serving of Iruca Tokyo ramen is meticulously thought out. For starters, the soup base is the same across the menu: a blend of four different broths – chicken, pork, Japanese spiny lobsters with white wine, plus clams and mussels – each cooked separately. From here, the ramen diverges depending on which of the two signature noodles you order.

For our favourite, the special porcini shoyu ramen (¥1,800), the soup is elevated with a tare (concentrated seasoning that forms the dominant flavour) made from a blend of seven different soy sauces. This is served with thick, flat noodles that are made exclusively for the restaurant, plus a dollop of luxurious mushroom and truffle duxelles on the side. When combined, they create layers of umami flavours in a soup that’s rich but not heavy. The toppings are just as sumptuous, consisting of chicken meatballs as well as slices of chicken, char siu, pork, smoked duck and kujo green onions. It’s a sophisticated bowl of ramen, and nothing feels superfluous.

The noodles at one-Michelin-starred Ginza Hachigo take inspiration from the owner-chef Yasushi Matsumura’s extensive French culinary experience. The result: a clear, golden ramen soup that could pass as a consomme, light yet complex in flavour. It’s made by boiling down Nagoya Cochin chicken, duck, scallops, dried tomatoes and shiitake mushrooms, konbu (seaweed), an heirloom green onion from Kyoto and surprisingly, cured ham. Where your standard bowl of ramen calls for tare, a sauce concentrate that acts like a seasoning, Matsumura eschews that for a sprinkling of French sea salt to round out the flavours. And it’s just phenomenal.

The bowl of noodles (from ¥1,100) is then topped with bamboo shoots, slivers of green onion and slices of chashu pork, and finished with a fresh crack of black pepper. Those fatty pork pieces are cooked so perfectly that the fat just coats your palette with a sweet, creamy, savoury goodness. Be warned though, you’ll have to arrive early to get in line – but it’ll be one of the best bowls of ramen you’ll have in Tokyo.

Chef Masa who runs Ebimaru does not have any training in ramen. It’s his experience in French cuisine that led to the creation of this luxurious bowl of lobster noodles. The soup, which is the star here, is actually a rich and creamy lobster bisque that wouldn’t look out of place in a French restaurant. It’s made with Canadian lobster, brandy, wine and a plethora of herbs, vegetables and spices on a base of chicken broth.

The most popular item on the menu, the whole lobster ramen (¥3,300) is a feast. It comes with a whole oven-baked lobster, two slices of pork, half a smoked egg, chopped onions and strangely, a smear of sour cream on a piece of baguette. The sour cream does help tone down the bold and punchy taste of crustacean, but we much prefer to add in the chilli oil to boost those sweet, roasty, shrimpy flavours instead.

Hailing from the Hakata region of Japan, tonkotsu ramen is famed for its rich, cloudy broth made by boiling down pork bones for a significant amount of time. Fukuoka-born Buta Soba Tsukiya, however, is serving a peculiar twist on this classic ramen and it has a Tokyo branch. 

Dubbed buta soba (pork noodles; ¥1,320), the usually creamy tonkotsu pork broth is replaced with a light and refreshing soup that doesn’t compromise on flavour. To achieve this, the ramen specialist slowly simmers the pork bones rather than boiling them, and continuously skims the broth. The painstakingly long process results in an unusually clear broth that’s clean-tasting but still packed with the natural sweetness of pork.

The thin noodles are made with Fukuoka-grown flour and topped with thin slices of chashu pork. Green onions, myoga (Japanese ginger) and a kabosu (Japanese citrus similar to a lime) wedge are served alongside each bowl, but you should try the broth as-is before adding in these toppings.

Sobahouse Konjiki Hototogisu is only the third ramen restaurant in the world to get a Michelin star, and we highly recommend its excellent shio soba (¥1,100). The elegantly balanced base stock blends two types of salt (Mongolian rock salt and Okinawan sea salt) and it’s the perfect foil for the hamaguri clam and red sea bream soup’s distinctive seafood sweetness.

The noodles are then finished with Italian white truffle oil, porcini mushroom sauce, pancetta bacon bits and inca berry sauce. This adds a pesto-like robustness and depth in the overall flavour. It is moreish, and you’ll be compelled to finish the soup till the last drop.

This quaint little ramen joint in Shimokitazawa has amassed a loyal fanbase for its tongue-tingling ramen noodles (from ¥1,000) steeped in a spicy broth that’s more akin to Hokkaido soup curry. The fiery and amazingly moreish soup is made with pork bones, chicken, seafood and vegetables, and then infused with a handful of herbs and Indian spices including cumin and turmeric.

Don’t worry, there’s a lot of crunch and freshness in the final dish to offset the heat. The bowl is topped with ingredients you don’t see in regular ramen, such as deep-fried burdock, cashews, red onion slices, diced capsicum and chrysanthemum petals. Of course, you’ll get the customary soft-boiled egg and roast pork, and if you’re after a real chilli burn, you can request your ramen to be two to six times spicier at an additional cost.

This basement ramen shop in Kanda is best known for its tori paitan soba (¥890) – a rich creamy chicken number that's essentially pasta carbonara in ramen form. It's even finished off with toppings you normally see on a plate of pasta: bacon-wrapped asparagus grilled to a perfect crisp, a softly poached egg, broccoli, fried onion and bacon bits. Close your eyes and you could swear you're eating carbonara covered in sauce.

For the ultimate indulgence, be sure to get a side of garlic butter to add to your broth.