Menya Nukaji / 麺屋ぬかじ - Shibuya
As a true gem of the ramen world in Shibuya, Menya Nukaji easily ranks among the top ramen stores of Shibuya with their double soup tsukemen and ramen bowls. Shibuya's ramen scene is dominated by franchises and chains, streamlined to cater to the masses of young people and tourists that flock into the area. High rents and the desire for easily recognizable and clean ramen restaurants has long pushed most of the small owner run and mom and pop shops out of Shibuya.
Menya Nukaji is run by the chef and owner mainly all by himself
Menya Nukaji is located a short 10 minute walk from Shibuya station, past the busy area of Center Gai, just a side-street away from lots of well known shopping temples.
Tsukemen at Menya Nukaji with some Minoh Beer brand craft beer
Menya Nukaji serves a so called double soup ramen, often written as "W soup" in Japan. The soup is a blend of tonkotsu broth and gyokai broth, the latter meaning fish broth. It is very rich and thick, very comparable to a good gravy. It is also very rich in collagen, which gives it a creamy and velvety mouthfeel. The noodles are of medium thickness and almost feel like thick spaghetti. They pair really well with the gravy-like tsukemen soup.
Wantan dumplings at Menya Nukaji
In addition to any bowl you get here, the wantan dumplings are an easy recommendation. While not being filled to the brim, they provide a bit of a change of consistency and mouthfeel. Especially the wantan wrapper works perfectly together with the thick soup.
The other toppings are nice chunky piece of rolled pork belly chashu, nice and crunchy menma bamboo shoots, as well as some blanched spinach.
Overall, this is probably the best ramen in Shibuya, but certainly the best tsukemen in Shibuya.
Cody aka Ramenguidejapan doing what he does
For this visit of Menya Nukaji I was accompanied by Cody from Ramenguidejapan.com - check out his video about the place on his channel: Menya Nukaji, Shibuya Station
Summer limited special at Menya Nukaji
Summer special “Katsuodashi Hiyashi Nikusoba” at Menya Nukaji. Cold soup, cold noodles. Despite the name "soba", the noodles are made with wheat like ramen and not with buckwheat like soba. The noodles are shocked in cold water and have a nice snappy chew.
They are topped with thin slices of pork belly meat that have been simmered in some kind of soy sauce and probably dashi based seasoning. Slight flavor, but nothing overwhelming.
The cold dipping soup is made like a mentsuyu you would get with traditional buckwheat soba, but with a katsuoboshi and sababushi base, plus some rayu and white sesame oil.
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