Senrigan / 千里眼 - Yoyogi-Uehara
Senrigan (千里眼) is a Jiro inspired ramen shop located in between Yoyogi-Uehara station, Shimo-Kitazawa station and Komaba-Todaimae. You will easily find the shop with its iconic bright yellow sign along the main road in the area. The sign also tells you what Senrigan is all about: Ramen and garlic.
The sign says: Ramen, Senrigan, Garlic
While they served their standard massive Jiro style tonkotsu-shoyu hot ramen bowl all year round, they are probably most famous for their “Hiyashi Chuka” summer ramen, which is served cold.
Sign for the Hiyashi Chuka ramen bowl, only available in summer during lunch hours. The sign shows the “yasai mashi” version with extra veggies.
Unfortunately I could not get it this time since they only serve this one during lunch. But I’ll cover that gentei limited special ramen bowl for sure in the future.
Vending machine with full menu at Senrigan. Take note of the noodle sizes and customizing options.
Senrigan has a system that you will recognize as similar to most Jiro style ramen shops with garlic, extra tare and chunky pork back fat being offered as free additions. However Senrigan also offers fresh garlic and spicy tenkasu (fry drippings) as additional free toppings. Beyond those topping additions, you can also modify the amount of veggies that you want piled on top, as well as the amount of noodles and meat that you want. However the meat and noodle additions are decided via tickets from the vending machine. The regular noodle amount of 300 grams, roughly double of what regular ramen shops serve. Going down in noodle size is possible by yelling “sukuname” for less noodles or even “hanbun” for half size of noodles, which is equivalent to a regular bowl of ramen at other ramen shops.
A regular bowl of ramen at Senrigan with fresh garlic, “karaage” spicy tenkasu, regular amount of veggies and extra pork back fat on top.
What makes Senrigan special is the massive amount of sprouts and cabbage which you receive even with an unmodified standard order, although it is mostly blanched sprouts with little cabbage in between.
Another highlight was the chashu which was basically falling apart, super tender. If you are into meaty bowls, you are also not making a mistake if you reduce the amount of noodles somewhat and add some more meat. If you add meat to the standard bowl, you better come hungry and with a big stomach.
High emulsification tonkotsu soup at Senrigan.
The soup at Senrigan was a quite emulsified tonkotsu when I went, which was alright, but I would have wished for a bit more punch and sharpness. I am also personally a fan of a bit less emulsified Jiro soups.
Thick Jiro style noodles at Senrigan fit well to the heavy tonkotsu soup.
The noodles were good standard Jiro style fare, thick and crinkly, great for picking up a good amount of the soup.
Overall, Senrigan is a pretty decent Jiro style ramen shop, which can be a “must do” for Jirokei ramen lovers for the summer gentei, but doesn’t necessarily need to be in the to-do list for regular ramen heads, until they dive deep into the Jiro rabbit hole.
In any case, I’ll be back to Senrigan to try their cold bowl one day!
More information about Senrigan (千里眼):
Official Twitter of Senrigan - check to find out when the cold bowl is available!
