One bowl. All day. Nothing else.
We make tantanmen: a sesame cream broth, our own chili oil, hand-pulled noodles and pork mince. It is the only thing on the menu, and it has been since 2019.
We make tantanmen: a sesame cream broth, our own chili oil, hand-pulled noodles and pork mince. It is the only thing on the menu, and it has been since 2019.
Sesame paste is ground each morning and whisked into a pork and chicken broth until it turns to cream. The chili oil is made on Mondays from three dried peppers and sansho, and rested for a week before it touches a bowl. Noodles are pulled to order, medium thick, with a bite.
What is in it
Six things. Nothing you did not ask for. Pick your spice level at the counter, from 1 (a warm hum) to 4 (we will hand you a towel).
Toppings
Everything below fits on one sheet of paper. It has not changed much, and the prices only move when the rice does.
Everything is tax included. We do not do takeaway bowls, delivery, or a second dish. If you want something that is not on this sheet, the shop two doors down is very good.
The machine is the whole ordering system. There is no waiter, no tablet, no app. One big red button for the bowl, a row of small ones for toppings, and a slot that gives you tickets and your change.
Coins and 1,000 yen notes only. The machine does not take cards, transit cards or phones, and it does not break a 10,000 yen note. There is a bank next to the station if you need change.
That is the bowl. Press it once per person. The small buttons underneath are toppings and add-ons; press as many as you like, in any order.
One ticket per item drops into the tray on the right. Keep them together. If you bought a beer, the ticket for it is green.
When you reach the counter, give the tickets to whoever is nearest and say your spice level, 1 to 4. Kaedama and extra chili oil are asked for out loud, not bought at the machine.
We count the line every half hour and average the last eight weeks. These are typical waits from joining the line to sitting down. Rain shortens them. Payday and the first warm Saturday of spring do the opposite.
14:30 to 17:00 on a weekday you will usually walk straight in. That is when the staff eat too.
Saturday at noon, and any weekday at 12:15. Forty minutes is normal. Bring a book or a friend who talks.
The machine locks at 21:30 (19:30 on Sundays). If you are in line before then, you eat. We do not cut the line.
We are on a quiet street off Chazawa-dori, in a two-storey building with a red curtain and no sign. If you can smell sesame, you are close. If you can see a line, you have arrived.
Opening hours
Take the Tokyu Den-en-toshi line or the Setagaya line to Sangenjaya. Leave by the south exit, walk along Chazawa-dori for three minutes, turn right after the tea shop with the green awning. We are the second door on the left.