Digging into iekei style tonkotsu-shoyu ramen in Japan

2 comments

1. Sugitaya (杉田家) is an iekei ramen shop in Kanagawa, just a bit to the South of Yokohama. Iekei is the face of Kanagawa’s ramen scene, a tonkotsu-shoyu ramen with copious amounts of chicken fat, spinach and lean pork chashu as toppings and an almost mandatory bowl of rice on the side.

   Sugitaya is a direct lineage shop of Yoshimuraya, the shop where iekei ramen was invented. Compared to Yoshimuraya, Sugitaya serves a more rich, punchy and salty variant that has way more impact in my opinion. Compared to other iekei shops, Sugitaya is definitely on the less funky side, one could even say that their ramen has no pork funk at all.

   The ultra heavy and salty soup is combined with relatively short and medium thick noodles with a yellow hue, which are supplied by the famous Sakai Seimen noodle factory. You find a heap of lightly blanched spinach flanked by slices of great lean pork chashu. A few sheets of nori are tucked away on the far side of the bowl, waiting to be soaked in the soup, either to be slurped up together with the noodles or to be used as a topping for the rice.

   A few words about the rice. The rice is not free at Sugitaya, unlike at many other iekei ramen shops. You get a good amount of very delicious rice for 150 Yen and I think it is absolutely worth it. If it is your third bowl of the day, maybe let them know that you want a small portion, which would be called “sho raisu”, just yell that at the staff when you hand over the ordering chips.

   For me personally, Sugitaya was one of the best Yoshimuraya lineage iekei ramen I had so far, maybe sharing the top spot with Suehiroya. In absolute iekei terms, I still think the Odoya lineage shops are a bit better, since I am a fan of having some funk in my iekei ramen bowls. But that’s a personal preference and I understand if other people are turned off by that.

   For a bit closer look at the ramen and a review by Ramen Lord, check over here: [https://youtu.be/sng3eGWOwNU](https://youtu.be/sng3eGWOwNU)

2. This is next on my list of ramens to try to make at home. Looks a LITTLE simplier than other styles.