Tokyo - Kizo Ramen

It seems that during the course of our visits to Tokyo that we've developed some "traditions" of sorts. Dinner at Suzunari is one of them. And as we had breakfast, we decided to keep anther going.

The breakfast, we were given vouchers from the hotel, was basic and fine. We decided to head on down to Tokyo Station a few hours early; stash our bags in the always convenient lockers, and spend some time shopping, eating, and just enjoy our last few hours in Tokyo. We did manage to do some shopping; buying some gifts for folks back in San Diego.

When it came time to eat, well, that was easy. It was Ramen Street for us......a little habit that I think will become a tradition. On our first visit, it was the ultra-hyper Rokurinsha, on our last visit Oreshiki Jun. What was it be this time around?

Hmmmm…..we picked two and decided to check them out. After peeking into the two places; Kizo won out.

Mainly because the clientele, at least on this day all seemed Japanese; while the places (i.e. Rokurinsha with the huge line) had so many tourists. A big plus was that the specialty at Kizo is Sendai Gyutan Negishio Ramen...….beef tongue - scallion - shio ramen.

And as is the drill; we ordered a couple of other items on the menu and basically shared the ramen....like the gyoza.

Not the best "skins" which were brittle and plastic-ky. The filling was much too salty and a bit on the dry side.

Not the most auspicious start to a meal.

We also ordered the Beef Tongue Crouquette.

Man, the panko breading on this was fantastic; light and so crisp. This was the only light thing about the croquette as the filling was so rich; great beefiness, but perhaps too much of a good thing. A bit over-the-top for us. Wonderful textures though.

Which had us wondering how the ramen was going to be. We shouldn't have worried.....

As you can tell; we ordered extra ajitama, which was serviceable, the yolk decent and definitely not over-cooked. And those slices of beef tongue were heavenly....so tender, so beefy......as only beef tongue can be. The broth was good; not overly salty, it had almost a light garlic-beef-pork flavor to it. The tongue feel was really good, much thicker than it looked as it coated the nice, springy-chewy noodles well. The negi added a bit of pungency and crunch to things, but really wasn't needed in my mind.

And while we didn't have a whole lot of ramen on this trip, this was easily our favorite.

Kizo (Tokyo Station - Ramen Street)
1-9-1 Marunouchi Chiyoda Tokyo

As we left Tokyo Station I thought "well, it's three down; five to go....I wonder what we'll do when we reach eight?" Hmmmm…..let's not dwell on that.

Let's just enjoy the "interesting" and somewhat humorous signs that are posted.....

As with all of our trips to Japan; this one was chock full of memories....and Sakura!

Thanks for stopping by!

Comments

[kat]

at least the eggs & meat were not served cold:)

[Junichi]

A lot of times shops are rotated out to keep things fresh and interesting. The next time there could be different ramen to try!

[Kirk]

This was a pretty good bowl Kat!

I do know they went from four to eight - with some slight changes; we'd we'd never run out Junichi.

[soo @ hungryones.com]

Lovely sakura!

[Kirk]

It was Soo! Very beautiful.

[Kirbie]

The beef tongue sounds so good. Adding this to my list for my next trip!

[janfrederick]

Thank you for the post Kirk. It brought back good memories. I was fascinated by Tokyo Station in general. It is huge, organic, and frenetic. It got my adrenaline going every time we passed through. Surreal.

[Kirk]

Hi Jan - Yep Tokyo Station "City".....it's fun to get lost and wander around.....