Chukasoba Benten / 中華そばべんてん - Narimasu

Chukasoba Benten (中華そばべんてん) serves classic style shoyu ramen and tsukemen that are legendary among ramen heads in Tokyo.

Originally located near Waseda university, Chukasoba Benten earned a reputation among students for great and affordable ramen. The old shop has since closed and the master went on a hiatus until 2016, when he reopened at the current location near Chikatetsu-Narimasu station.

*Adding raw egg yolk to the tsukemen is very popular at Benten.*

The main items of the shop are their classic chukasoba style shoyu ramen and their tsukemen, which are close in style to the Higashi-Ikebukuro Taishoken style of tsukemen.

*Benten’s tsukemen soup, typical sweet and sour notes with great depth.*

The broth, which is used for both, ramen and tsukemen, is made with a mix of chicken, pork and various dried fish elements. Taking some sips of the soup, it has the distinct sweetness and vinegary sourness of the Taishoken style tsukemen, although I feel like this soup here had more body and a full aroma.

*Noodles with raw egg yolk at Chukasoba Benten.*

*A good slurp of the fantastic tsukemen noodles at Benten.*

The noodles were medium thick and I fully expected the typical soft noodles, but was pleasantly surprised when they had a good al dente bite to them. I am personally not the biggest fan of the typical soft Taishoken style noodles.

*A heap of chashu and menma is added via an extra ticket from the vending machine.*

Don’t miss out on the additional toppings at Benten. Their chashu and menma topping you see in the video in the soup is hard to pass up on, especially since both chashu and menma are delicious and worth every yen. You will see some people having those as “otsumami”, flanked with a beer, while they are waiting for the noodles to be prepared, even during lunch on a weekday. That’s how good they are. The whole visit at Benten is an experience and I fully recommend visiting, especially as long as the original master is still running the shop.