Taking over the space left vacant after renowned chuka soba champion Shibata moved to Komae, Nanzo is a down-to-earth joint that crafts lightly flavoured, wonderfully simple ramen from top-of-the-line ingredients.
At a flat ¥1,000 without extra toppings, the shop’s signature Umashio Soba offers remarkable value. Pork, chicken and seafood flavours combine with a tare made from Mongolian salt for a slightly cloudy, richly aromatic ‘triple soup’. The thin noodles make a fine complement to this true tour de force of ramen artistry, as do an ample serving of melt-in-your-mouth char siu, thinly sliced scallion, mitsuba and menma.
Nanzo also does a shoyu ramen (from ¥1,000) and shio and shoyu tsukemen (from ¥1,050), but it’s the shio ramen that’s had us doing repeat trips far out into the western suburbs.