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Suzuran (すずらん)

March 30, 2011 by Jennifer Che 9 Comments

Tsukemen (dipping noodles)

This post is part 3 of my series: Tribute to Japan. Other posts in this series include: Part 1: Kappabashi-dori and Part 2: Tapas Molecular Bar

There’s something I can’t resist about tiny, hard-to-find, authentic yet undiscovered gems that serve absolutely incredible food.

Now, I’m not sure if Suzuran, a tiny noodle bar off the beaten track in Shibuya, exactly falls in to that category.  For one thing, I would hardly call it  “undiscovered,” as lines sometimes literally go out the door due to its popularity. However, there’s definitely something special about this authentic and surprisingly hard-to-find noodle bar tucked away in a back alley of Shibuya.

Bryan and I discovered Suzuran back in 2009 while hunting for fresh, handmade noodles. We found this delightful gem tucked away behind the hustle and bustle of Shibuya. As we sat among Japanese businessmen in suits slurping up noodles for lunch, we truly felt like we were living and breathing a slice of everyday Japanese culture.


Suzuran is not your typical ramen shop for a couple reasons. First, they serve what’s called tsukemen or “dipping noodles.” Instead of having your noodles in the soup, your noodles and meat are served separately from the broth.
Suzuran Ramen
You then dip it, sort of like the way you would eat soba.

Second, they serve fresh handmade noodles (YAY!). In fact, they offer FIVE different kinds of sizes and shapes. They pride themselves on the freshness, variety, and quality of their noodles. It costs an extra 100 yen (a little over a dollar) for the fresh noodles, but it’s well worth it.
Bryan’s a huge fan of super wide and flat noodles, so of course that’s what he got.

Noodles
The restaurant is tiny. It’s mostly KITCHEN, with barstools on three sides of the tight space.


It’s very very Japanese. Both times we went, we were the only non-Japanese people there. The menu is written completely in Japanese, and the people there hardly speak a word of English. In fact, we had a hard time ordering. I have limited broken Japanese, so I was able to ask the lady to help explain the menu a bit. However, in the end, I felt that I didn’t really have a good sense of the menu, and I had to order one of the few items that I knew how to say in Japanese.
Suzuran + Bryan
The better thing to do if you’re in that sort of bind is to do what Bryan and I did the first time we came.  I just told her to give me their most “famous” dish. They served us their famous Kagoshima style pork belly (buta kakuni), which is delicious and absolutely worth it. You get your choice of dipping sauces (soy sauce based, miso based, etc).
Suzuran ramen
This time, Bryan ordered the chasu, which is reminiscent of Chinese roasted pork. Both are delicious, and the texture of the unusually fat noodles is one of the best parts.
ramen with scallion and eggs
I got a simpler noodle dish of eggs and scallions with a miso based broth.
Suzuran
Here’s what the humble little restaurant looks like from the outside. Nothing’s written in English, so it’s a bit hard to find if you don’t read Japanese. The first time we searched for it was on a dark rainy night – NOT easy! This time we came out during the day for lunch. The daylight coupled with our vague memories from our past visit helped a lot.

If you’re a noodle fan and you love authentic experiences, I would highly recommend Suzuran. Definitely try their signature Kagoshima style pork belly with the wide and flat handmade noodles. You can use these directions to try to find it, which is what we did.

And yes, in Japan it’s totally OK (in fact, encouraged!) to slurp.

©2009-2014 Tiny Urban Kitchen
All Rights Reserved

Filed Under: Japan, Restaurant, Tokyo, World Travel Tagged With: Japanese, noodles, ramen

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Comments

  1. Brian @ A Thought For Food says

    March 30, 2011 at 5:52 pm

    Another lovely tribute to Japan, the culture and the cuisine. Keep them coming!

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  2. burp_excuzme says

    March 31, 2011 at 11:07 pm

    The best part about Japanese noodles!! It’s polite to slurp!! And they cook the BEST eggs!

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  3. Channon says

    April 1, 2011 at 5:19 pm

    Your dish look so amazing. Were the eggs soaking in something to flavor and color them? I remember reading about that process years ago, but I am drawing a blank on the details.

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  4. jentinyurbankitchen says

    April 1, 2011 at 5:21 pm

    Hi Channon,
    I didn’t make the dish. 🙂 I actually had it in a restaurant in Japan so I have no idea how they made it.

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  5. jentinyurbankitchen says

    April 1, 2011 at 5:21 pm

    aren’t those eggs a beauty?

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  6. jentinyurbankitchen says

    April 1, 2011 at 5:21 pm

    Thanks so much! I’ve been really enjoying writing this series as well. I appreciate the kind and encouraging words. 🙂

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  7. tinytearoom says

    April 1, 2011 at 9:58 pm

    i love Japan so so much. Its been almost 3 years since my last trip and it won’t be my last. Thank you for recommending this place. It looks amazing.

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  8. nishiksoriaus says

    April 8, 2011 at 11:45 am

    Yummy…can’t imagine that how much it will tasty. And they cook the BEST eggs!
    Cheap kitchens

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  9. Jon Van Dalen says

    September 18, 2011 at 6:51 am

    We hunted his place down on our recent trip and loved it! Will be posting something about it soon. Looks like you had a great time here; I wish we had gotten the egg!

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Welcome to Tiny Urban Kitchen!

JenChe

Hi, my name's Jen and welcome to my cooking, eating, and travel site! I am a Boston to Hong Kong transplant, born and raised in Ohio with parents from Taiwan. Feel free to head on over to the About page if you want to learn more about me, or just explore away, maybe starting with the Recipe Index or one of the travel pages! I hope you enjoy this site!
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