Nemuru

Just keeping track of all the ramen shops opened in Tokyo over any given year is a hugely time-consuming task. But despite this constant flood of openings, very few new joints manage to catch seasoned slurpers by surprise. Hongo's Nemuru is one of these standouts; a representative of the 'double soup' (meat and seafood) school of ramen that's become something of a Tokyo standard over the past decade, it bucks the trend with a reliance on dried squid broth for the seafood part. The umami-packed, slightly bitter combo of calamari and tori-paitan is on full show in the Noko Ika Niboshi Chuka Soba, which comes with springy medium-thick noodles and a nice balance of light toppings – rare char siu, mitsuba, daikon sprouts and onion. If you fall in love with the flavour, don't hesitate to order another batch of noodles (kaedama) and experiment with the sansho-flavoured olive oil and squid sauce available at the counter.