Tsukemen Kinryu / つけめん金龍 - Kanda

Tsukemen Kinryu is one of the newest additions to the famous Ramen Koike group. All of their shops have a similar theme of high quality ingredients, refined techniques and even share some menu items. Tsukemen Kinryu is a tsukemen specialty shop, as the name indicates, although regular ramen are also on the menu. The other main feature is their use of kombusui, which is an extract of boiled kombu.

*Front of the ramen shop Tsukemen Kinryu, close to Kanda station.*

Tsukemen Kinryu is located in Kanda, not too far from Tokyo station. The closest stations are Awajicho station or Ogawamachi station, although walking over from Kanda station of the Yamanote line is completely reasonable. The whole area is an absolute hot spot for good ramen, for example with Ginger Ramen MANNISH around the corner and Kikanbo just next to Kanda station.

*Menu of Tsukemen Kinryu which includes tsukemen and ramen.*

The menu at Tsukemen Kinryu includes not only tsukemen, but also classic soup style ramen. Although, let me be fully honest here, almost nobody orders the ramen at Kinryu, which names itself a tsukemen specialty shop. If you want to go for ramen, maybe make a visit to one of the other shops in the Koike group like Ramen Koike or Koike no Iekei.

The two tsukemen dishes are the Katsuo Kombusui Tsukemen (鰹昆布水つけめん) and the Tsuke Tantan (つけ坦坦), with the former one being the main bowl that most people go for at Kinryu.

The ramen dishes are the Shirodashi Ramen and the Sancho Ramen. The Shirodashi bowl is a clear soup made with fish and shellfish and the Sancho Ramen bowl seems to be the same, but with additional sancho numbing pepper added, which is closely related to Szechuan pepper.

Kombusui Tsukemen at Tsukemen Kinryu

The highlight at Tsukemen Kinryu: The Kombusui Tsukemen. — *The highlight at Tsukemen Kinryu: The Kombusui Tsukemen (*鰹昆布水つけめん)

The noodles come submerged in the kombusui, which is full of umami and doesn’t have a strong own flavor, but boosts every other flavor it comes in contact with. Oh, and it’s also quite slimey, so be aware of you’re not into a bit slimey things. For this bowl, I was accompanied by Cody from Ramenguidejapan.com.

Taking a look at the bowl, the sous vide chashu immediately gives away the relationship with Ramen Koike. The chashu is sitting on beautifully nested refined dipping noodles, which are cold and served on top of lukewarm kombusui.

*Light and citrussy dipping soup, full of umami.*

The dipping soup is light and refreshing, with notes of citrus, definitely giving a strong summer vibe. When the noodles with the kombusui slime are dipped into the dipping soup, you get to experience an explosion of umami that is really surprising and satisfying. However it is a kind of cold to lukewarm eating experience, since the soup cannot heat up the noodles enough before you slurp it up, probably due to the kombusui.

Tsuke Tantanmen at Kinryu

The Tsuke Tantan menu item at Tsukemen Kinryu.

I’ve been wanting to try their tantan tsukemen since I went there the first time, but of course I could not skip their kombusui tsukemen during my first visit, which is their main item and what most people go there for.

*Super thick and chunky tantan dipping soup with strong sesame flavor.*

The tantan soup was super thick and rich, very sesame heavy. I was missing a bit of a spicy and numbing kick, but you get a pepper mill with numbing peppers to add stuff yourself, which I recommend. It really brings it to where I would have wanted it in the first place.

*The soup clings very well to the noodles and creates a flavorful slurping experience.*

The thick and rich soup clings really well to the elegant noodles, which are the same as the ones for the regular kombusui tsukemen. Interestingly, even though it is not specified on the menu, the noodles of the tsuke tantanmen are also sitting in kombusui. So you are not missing out on the experience, if you just want to try the noodles sitting in kombusui.

*The signature chashu and dark orange eggs of the Koike group.*

The rest of the dish is as excellent as one would expect from a Koike group shop. Probably some of the most beautiful ramen eggs out there with great sous vide chashu, which is also a signature topping for the ramen shops of the Koike group.

*Rice to finish the rest of your soup, kind of ochazuke style.*

To finish the soup, instead of a dashi, you get a bowl of rice to polish your soup bowl.
A word of warning: this a substantial portion of food, bring an empty stomach or you might struggle.