What immediately catches your attention at Dame Na Rinjin is its unusual interior that looks nothing like a ramen restaurant. There’s a cool, underground vibe here, all thanks to the vibrant graffiti on the walls created by a New York-based artist.
There’s only one thing to order at Dame Na Rinjin and that is the restaurant’s signature ginger shoyu (soy sauce) ramen served with thin, hand-kneaded whole wheat noodles from Kanno Seimen noodle factory. The broth, created by a bistro chef, fuses a honjozo (traditional brewing method) soy sauce soup base with a vegetable broth and finished with a touch of ginger confit oil to give it a refreshing lift.
You can get your ramen topped with either a roast beef-like chashu pork loin marinated in Dame Na Rinjin’s housemade sauce or regular thick chashu, aside from the usual condiments including kujo negi (leek), purple bean sprouts and green onions. If you really want to pile it up, free toppings such as grilled seaweed, chives with pepper, raw egg, dried bonito powder, kaeshi soy sauce and even freshly ground black pepper are available.
If you’re hankering for more after a bowl of ramen, order the ikura-don, which comes with a generous amount of fresh salmon roe from Misaki over a bed of rice.