A trip to Tokyo cannot go without a tasty slurp on some really good ramen. While there is no shortage of stellar ramen spots in the capital city, sometimes you wanna spend a little extra (and perhaps wait time) for an exclusive seat at a Michelin-starred restaurant.
Welcome to Nakiryu Tokyo（創作麵工房鳴龍）! Here you can find high-quality cooking smashed up with top-notch service. To dig into that secret of a perfect award-winning review, get ready to spend somewhere around two hours lining up before you manage to steal one of the twelve available seats inside.
Without further ado, let’s dive right in!
Getting To Nakiryu By Metro
- Address: 1F SKY Naka-Otsuka, 2-34-4 Minami-Otsuka, Toshima-ku, Tokyo
- Business Hours: 11:00~15:00 (Closed on Tuesdays)
- This is a small business, so it may be closed suddenly due to the owner’s sudden back pain or the staff’s poor health. It is recommended to check the twitter of the owner before departure to see if it is suddenly closed.
The Michelin-starred restaurant is a short six-minute walk southeast of Otsuka Station on the JR Yamanote Line. If you are wondering where else you can go on the day before or after coming here, I highly recommend a stop at Ikebukuro, a famous shopping paradise in Tokyo.
Match with peripheral scenic spots for a tour：【Ikebukuro Shopping Spot】Ikebukuro One-Day Tour Itinerary
Lining Up At Nakiryu: Is It Worth The Wait?
Heck yeah! But let me walk you in on a little secret: you may encounter forty-something people waiting in front of you the moment you get there. So be patient!
When I got there around 9 am that day, I was third in place. Roughly an hour later, I saw 40 more people coming behind me. The reason for this intense wait time is the limited seat inside the restaurant. As of now, there are only 12 seats inside, including six at the bar counter, four on one table, and the other table is saved for two last seats.
The seats were ready to take in new diners around 11 am the day I was there. That means chances are you need roughly two hours in line – just like I did. I know the wait time may wear you out – but trust me, good things take time.
Queueing Rules of Marurou Ramen: Every store in Japan has its own rules. Marurou Ramen requires everyone to be present during the queueing process, otherwise they have to go to the end of the queue and re-queue.
How To Order At Nakiryu?
You then start buying a coupon and pick up your order at a machine on the way in. You can select either Japanese or English.
For ramen, you pick the broth flavor first and then top it as an add-on.
Friendly reminder: only cash is accepted to complete your payment here. Credit cards and other forms of payment are not available.
If you’re unsure which dishes to pick, have a look at the menu board near the entrance. The epic menu may have you confused at first but they translate it into English pretty well. There’s also an allergy information section right next to it so you can tell what’s inside.
Each dish on the menu is numbered from 1 to 42, broken down into Spicy Noodles and Soy Sauce Flavors to Soup, Rice, and many more.
Under the A La Carte section is a list of light bites you can order to enjoy on their own, with chicken dumplings and shrimp wonton being the best sellers.
Best Dishes To Order At Nakiryu
If you don’t know what to order, there is a menu at the entrance of the store. The dishes include: spicy ramen (tantanmen, sour and spicy noodles), soy sauce ramen, salt ramen, dipping noodles (tantan, soy sauce flavor), rice dishes, dumplings can be ordered separately. The following are popular dishes:
- Chinese circle netizens’ favorite：Tan Tan Noodles
- Michelin reviewers’ love：Soy sauce ramen
- European and American bloggers’ recommendation：Prawn tempura, Saliva Chicken
This time, following the recommendation of Chinese websites and Singapore bloggers, we ordered a round of dishes that people from all countries love, such as Dan Dan noodles, soy sauce ramen, shrimp tempura, saliva chicken, and char siu. Except for the saliva chicken, which was not particularly impressive, I think each dish has its own highlights.
Dining Environment
After purchasing the meal ticket, the service staff will arrange seating. In order to protect the privacy of diners, I took a few photos before everyone was seated. Although my photos look like a family restaurant, the atmosphere of the dining environment is of Michelin star level, the decoration is very delicate and fashionable, not like a common ramen shop, but more like a bar where Hong Kong people drink.
Single diners are arranged at the bar area, where you can watch the chef cook the noodles with a flat spatula, and the ingredients and plating are handled by the assistant.
But this time, Piao was arranged to sit at a two-person table, next to an American tourist.
There is iced water on the table, but the container is quite artistic, which only appears in high-end restaurants, a thin but very textured glass cup.
The condiment area on the table has pepper powder, Sichuan pepper powder, etc.
Best Dishes To Order At Nakiryu
On my first visit there, I got a serving of Tantanmen (thin noodles served in a sesame and red pepper soup), one of those Soy-Sauce Ramen, one Chicken Dumpling, a serving of wonton, and three thin slices of Low-Temperature Cooked Pork for toppings.
Saliva Chicken
The first dish served was the Saliva Chicken (Yodare Chicken), which was also the weakest dish in my impression, because the Chinese Saliva Chicken has a strong flavor, and the Japanese I love the tender chicken quality, many Japanese stores have, the Saliva Chicken of Minglong, is the combination of the advantages of two countries, and the sauce part is more delicate.
I am someone who often tastes the cuisine of both countries, so I don’t feel so deeply about this dish. On the contrary, if Europeans and Americans usually eat in local Chinese restaurants, this dish will be really delicious for them.
Shrimp Wonton
This was one of the first dishes I got on the table. And let me tell you – not until your teeth go halfway into the shrimp, you can’t tell how good it actually is!
They have about two to three large wontons bathed in a pool of oily green onion sauce. The look gives you an impression of a hot spicy dish at first but it turns out not crazy spicy at all – though you can find a certain level of spice in it from the garlic.
The shrimp is juicy and fresh while the wonton wrap is chewy and super delicious. I loved how it was not greasy at all and I couldn’t stop dipping the shrimp into the sauce over again.
Low-Temperature Cooked Pork
Next up, let’s take a look at the sliced pork as a topping. It may taste a little boring on its own but as a topping, it pairs just perfectly with ramen with a slightly burnt aroma on the edges. Strands of fat crisscrossing the meat gives it a juicy and tender feel on the palate.
Tantanmen
The traditional tantanmen is undoubtedly the signature of the house, steeped in rich chicken broth, beef bones, and vegetables with hints of black vinegar and apple cider. At the end of the day, you end up with a creamy and greasy noodle soup to enhance the chewiness of fresh homemade noodles even more.
When you’re ready to wash down with the last slurp of soup, your palate will be stunned with a smooth layer of heat and aroma in the aftertaste.
Soy-Sauce Ramen
Now if you have someone to share, don’t forget to order another serving of Soy-Sauce Tantanmen beside the signature. This is a special take on Japanese soy sauce that promises to give you a fresh spin on the mouth. The broth is blended carefully with chicken bones to complete the salty note of soy sauce and give it a slight sweetness.
Instant Noodles
Before leaving, I saw the ramen noodles in cooperation with the ringing dragon and 7-11 on the food ticket machine, so I ran to 7-11 to look for it.
Not all 7-11s have it, but luckily we found it in the hotel lobby and brought it home to try. It has a nostalgic feeling, and the minced meat has a good texture, but the noodles and soup are definitely not as good as eating on site. But the advantage is that you don’t have to queue up and wait.
It is said that supermarkets also sell the ramen meal kits co-developed by Wu-Long and Nissin, and those who are interested can go and look for them specially.
Key Takeaways:
Leaving the creative noodle workshop, it was already 11:50 when the bell rang. Looking at the queue opposite, it seemed even more exaggerated. Counting it, it was already more than 60 people!
Nakiryu Tokyo is definitely a highlight on your Michelin bucket list. Despite the intense wait time, the food quality will surely pay off. It is a pleasure watching sous-chefs at work if you get to find a seat next to the open kitchen counter.
More Tokyo Michelin Queue-up Stores: [Recommended Michelin Restaurants in Tokyo] Queue-up Food List
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