Dining Near Tokyo Station: The Ramen Battle Zone at KITTE GRANCHE

From the underground shopping area of Tokyo Station to the food courts located in the shopping malls around the station, this area has an abundance of ramen shops so vast that it can be overwhelming!

This scene of overflowing choices seems to suggest that Tokyo Station is like a "ramen battlefield," where all the different shops are competing to win the hearts of customers.

Below, we will introduce the Ramen Battle Zone, or Ramen Gekisenku Tokyo Marunouchi, located within KITTE GRANCHE. If you're a ramen enthusiast, you definitely shouldn't miss this opportunity to slurp over fight-worthy bowls of noodles.

Reccommended Shops in the Ramen Battle Zone at KITTE

1. Chuka Soba Fukumi: Chicken Ramen
2. Matsudo Tomita Memban: Tsukemen Dipping Noodles
3. Do・Miso: Miso Ramen
4. Sichuan Tantanmen Aun: Spicy Tantanmen
How to Access the Ramen Battle Zone

Ramen Shops Competing in the Ramen Battle Zone at KITTE

Within the Ramen Battle Zone are five ramen shops that will cater to your preferences, whether you prefer thin or thick noodles to light or rich broth, bound to satisfy your taste buds.

Below we introduce four shops in the Ramen Battle Zone, that MATCHA's editors tried themselves.

1. Chuka Soba Fukumi: A Chicken Shoyu Ramen with Refined Craftsmanship

Chuka Soba Fukumi only uses Nissin's premium chicken, Shingen-dori, to simmer the chicken soup. Once the chicken broth is ready, they add the fragrant Chiba-produced "Shimosa Soy Sauce" to enhance the deliciousness of the broth and ingredients.

When preparing the broth, the restaurant also insists on using reverse-osmosis-purified water without any impurities to elevate the freshness of the chicken to a different culinary level.

The char siu doesn't let the broth steal all the spotlight. The restaurant insists on using domestically sourced pork. It takes three days to barbecue the perfect char siu that complements the chicken shoyu (soy sauce) broth.

The meticulous craftsmanship is evident in the tender and melt-in-your-mouth texture of the meat. This limited edition ramen, cooked with red beets, satisfies your cravings while also caring for your well-being!

Chuka Soba Fukumi's specialty: Red Chicken Soup Ramen

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2. Matsudo Tomita Memban: Winner of the Japan Grand Tsukemen Festival for 3 Years!

Originating from Matsudo City in Chiba Prefecture, Matsudo Tomita Memban uses a vibrant seafood tonkotsu broth as its dipping sauce for tsukemen (dipping noodles).

The broth is paired with extremely thick noodles made from a blend of three types of wheat flour: Kokoro no Aji, Horyu, and Tobinuki.

The noodles have an extremely chewy texture, utilizing their wide surface area to grip the dipping sauce tightly.

This allows you to enjoy the flavorful sauce without being overwhelmed as you slurp and chew on the noodles, savoring the depth of the sauce in every bite.

Matsudo Tomita Memban's specialty: Tsukemen (Dipping Noodles)

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3. Do・Miso: Savor Excellent Miso Ramen

Do・Miso is a ramen specialty shop that focuses on miso flavors. They use a red miso blend made from five different types of miso, including Edo sweet miso and Shinshu miso. The noodles used have a prestigious background as well.

The shop commissioned the well-known noodle specialist, Asakusa Kaikarou, to develop medium-thick curly noodles (known as "tsurumaki-men") made from a blend of Japanese wheat flour and yam flour (the ingredient for boba pearls).

When you pick up the perfectly thick and smooth tsurumaki-men with your chopsticks, you'll scoop up a sophisticated dual broth made primarily from pork bones and chicken bones, supplemented with kombu, shiitake mushrooms, and mackerel.

This combination ensures that your mouth will be filled with the fragrant aromas of wheat and miso. You'll also enjoy the hearty flavor of the animal and plant-based broth.

Do・Miso's Specialty: Rich Miso Ramen

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4. Sichuan (Szechuan) Tantanmen Aun: Numbing Spicy Soupless Tantanmen

The trend of eating tantanmen has been popular in Japan for years. However, the pioneer of the ramen world that sparked a craze for "soupless tantanmen" is Sichuan Tantanmen Aun.

This bowl features irresistible stir-fried spicy minced pork, freshly ground Sichuan peppercorns, a spicy oil blended from nine different seasonings, white sesame seeds, and more. Of course, the signature prized dish here is the soupless tantanmen.

Before indulging, it's necessary to mix all the ingredients meticulously. During the mixing process, you can already sense the pungent aroma emanating from various ingredients. Upon tasting, the aromatic and numbing spiciness will enchant your taste buds beautifully.

To cater to individual preferences for spiciness and numbness levels, the restaurant thoughtfully provides options ranging from Level 0 to Level 6 for "spiciness" and "numbness," allowing diners to enjoy tantanmen customized to their liking.

SichuanTantanmen Aun's Specialty: Soupless Tantanmen

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How to Access the Ramen Battle Zone

The Ramen Battle Zone is located on the underground 1st floor of KITTE GRANCHE, which is next to Tokyo Station. You can reach it by visiting the KITTE Marunouchi department store (Map).

For more information, visit the KITTE Marunouchi website: https://marunouchi.jp-kitte.jp/gb/gourmet/

The quickest way to access the Ramen Battle Zone is to walk out from the Marunouchi Chika Minami Exit on the underground floors of JR Tokyo Station.

Once you exit the Marunouchi Underground South Exit, you will see the signage for M1. When you spot the sign, make a left turn.

Continue walking ahead for approximately 50 meters, and you will come across various signs for KITTE and automatic doors. Enter from this point to reach the Ramen Battle Zone located in KITTE GRANCHE.

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Enjoy Ramen at KITTE

The grand opening of the Ramen Battle Zone in KITTE sparked a ramen craze around Tokyo Station. As new trends follow in the footsteps of the old, let's see which ramen shop can stand out and lead the trend in this ramen-warring states era!