The best Tokyo ramen of 2025

Seishin at Ochiai Station was opened in late 2024 by an enterprising noodle chef trained in French cooking and with apprenticeships at several big-name Tokyo ramen joints under his belt. His offerings are twofold: orthodox chuka soba (from ¥1,150), available in shoyu and shio versions, and the cult favourite kombu tsukemen (¥1,350).

But we’d be remiss not to narrow the options down to one outstanding bowl: the shoyu chuka soba, made with an artisanal soup mixing more than 20 different ingredients including dried seafood, various vegetables and Choshu Kurokashiwa heirloom chicken from Yamaguchi prefecture. Finished with a punchy shoyu-blend sauce, it boasts an impeccably refined, clean flavour profile and makes an irresistible match with the firm, hand-kneaded noodles.

The two slabs of char siu topping the bowl – one charcoal-grilled pork, the other meticulously cooked chicken – exude smoky aromas and release bursts of umami when bitten into. An ajitama egg and scallion slices complete the simple masterpiece. Still hungry? Grab a mini-bowl of char siu over rice for just ¥500. 

Hop on the Shinjuku line towards Edogawa and alight at Funabori Station for the pleasure of tasting Park Azure’s Nagaoka-style ginger shoyu ramen (from ¥950), a power-packed concoction that combines a meat- and seafood-based ‘double soup’ with ample quantities of grated ginger.

The flat, medium-thick, hand-kneaded noodles pair nicely with the rich soup, which shows its best sides in the Tokusei version. This all-toppings bad boy comes with two slices of aromatic, slow-roasted char siu, one cut each of seared pork belly and chicken thigh, peppery meat wontons and a well-seasoned, soft-boiled ajitama egg.

Get a char siu rice bowl (¥350) on the side and pour any leftover soup into it for a decadent finisher.

Having opened along Shin-Meijro Street in March 2025, this miso ramen specialist quickly became one of Tokyo’s most talked-about shops among the miso-biased crowd, and we sure see why. Having trained at Ogikubo’s popular Misokko Hook, the chef at Chorin does one mean basic bowl (¥980) – an intoxicating combination of thick, viscous soup, stir-fried veg and punchy accents courtesy of garlic and ginger.

The medium-thick noodles soak up the soup with gusto, spreading out its umami-rich flavour. An impressive four thick slices of melt-in-your-mouth char siu pork, a textbook ajitama egg, crisp bean sprouts and flavourful menma complete what has to be one of the city’s most well-rounded bowls of miso ramen right now. 

Other options include a spicy version (from ¥1,000), a soupless ‘Taiwan mazesoba’ (¥950) and a garlic-laden ‘stamina’ bowl (¥1,050) that you can customise with a plethora of toppings.

Ichijoryu Ganko Ramen may be a familiar name among Shinjuku-area noodle fiends: its cow-skull symbol once decorated the walls of Ichijoryu Sohonke in Yotsuya. That storied shop was replaced by a successor not too long ago, and now the Ichijoryu name lives on way out east in Kanamachi too.

Opened in June 2025, the shop’s speciality is the ‘100’ ramen (¥1,100), a 100-percent soup, no-sauce spectacular featuring a seafood-based broth made out of a daily changing mixture of shellfish, shrimp, crab and turban shells. If that sounds too fishy for you, they also do more orthodox shoyu and shio ramen in both johin (‘refined’) and kotteri (‘thick’) versions, plus tsukemen and soupless mazesoba.

There are only six counter seats in this Honancho hideout, and they’re practically always full. Since opening in February 2025, Hitosuji has wowed discerning slurpers with its additive-free double soup, made from a mixture of chicken, dried sardines and katsuobushi skipjack flakes. Its impressively balanced, rich yet mellow flavour is addictive and will make you want to finish the entire bowl, calories and cholesterol be damned. The thin, straight noodles make the ideal companion to what’s a true tour de force of ramen artistry.

Come hungry, since you’ll want to savour every bite of the Tokujo Chuka Soba set – an all-toppings extravaganza that can even be upgraded to include dim sum on the side. It comes with two kinds of char siu – one a house-smoked loin, the other a sweetish low-temp belly cut – plus extra-thick menma, thinly sliced scallions, a soft-boiled ajitama egg and shrimp and pork wontons for a package that’s sure to satisfy.

An offshoot of Takadanobaba stalwart Watanabe, Sapporo Rokubo opened in April 2025 with the purpose of providing a permanent home to the many limited-edition dishes that have appeared on its parent eatery’s menu over the years.

It’s a fun concept, and one that’s especially well worth experiencing for fans of Sapporo-style ramen. And we’re not just talking the typical miso here: Rokubo has quickly made a name for itself with its take on Sapporo Black (from ¥1,200), an eye-catching concoction with an intensely savoury shoyu-based soup that draws additional power from black pepper and garlic.

For a less obviously salty bowl that’s still safely on the strong side, choose the Sapporo Shio ramen, which combines garlic, meaty umami, pork fat and the sweetness of boiled veggies into a memorable mixture as balanced as anything you’ll find up in Hokkaido.

The second floor of a nondescript building in fancy Akasaka is the somewhat unlikely home of this upstart ramen joint that’s been making waves in the central Tokyo scene since opening its doors in February 2025. It keeps the menu admirably simple: shoyu or shio (from ¥1,300 each), plus a daily special and a handful of rice dishes on the side.

Simple, however, is not a word you’d use to describe Hisui’s additive-free soups. The one they cook up for the shoyu ramen combines four kinds of heirloom chicken, while the clear shio soup relies on a dozen types of seafood from scallops to shrimp for its complex, carefully balanced flavour.

The toppings are equally painstakingly crafted, encompassing pork and chicken char siu, grilled zucchini and a magical ajitama egg that by itself almost makes it worth seeking this spot out.

MMA fighter Yutaka Saito is the unlikely force behind this Akihabara noodle palace, set up by the former Rizin featherweight champion and self-styled ‘ramen freak’ in January 2025 following a successful crowdfunding campaign.

Unlike your typical athlete restaurant, Menzin is neither overpriced nor low on substance – the ramen here is for real, and available for a these days eminently reasonable ¥1,000 per bowl. During lunchtime, their main offering is the Wagyu Paitan Tanmen, in which the rich and creamy soup gets capable backup from some wonderfully chewy noodles and an ample serving of fresh veg.

At dinner, attention turns to the Wagyu Gyushi Mazesoba, a serving of the same artisanal noodles alongside soft roast beef and veggies including onion, pickles and scallions, with a potage-like, ultra-creamy soup on the side. Whether you choose to dip the noodles in the soup or pour the latter all over your plate, the result is sure to satisfy. If he can maintain this level of quality going forward, Saito is set for stardom in the ramen ring, too.

Hidden away in the residential backstreets of Zoshigaya is one of 2025’s most high-impact ramen joints. Gojuban does an array of fancy bowls made with a sea bream-based soup, but its main draw among spice fiends is undoubtedly the Umakara Shibiremen (¥1,150).

Served in a large bowl filled to the brim with a starchy Sichuan-style mala soup made with copious quantities of peppercorns and chilli, this bad boy also includes a heavy helping of garlic to really clear your sinuses and test the strength of your innards.

It’s not overly spicy though, and the meat hidden beneath the dark surface is both melt-in-your-mouth soft and moreish. Big eaters: be sure to order a bowl of rice on the side to dunk into any leftover soup.

Sleepy Hamadayama on the Keio Inokashira line became a ramen destination almost overnight with the spring 2025 opening of Asahi, an offshoot of the revered Yamaguchi in Takadanobaba.

The shop’s clear chintan soup is a thing of beauty, crafted from heirloom chicken, three kinds of clams, two types of smoked fish flakes and kombu kelp, then paired with a tare sauce made with aged shoyu.

Then you get satisfyingly springy, curly noodles, plus in the Tokusei serving (¥1,500) an array of toppings that encompasses marinated pork loin char siu, chicken thigh steamed in sake, sansho-infused chicken wontons and an umami-rich ajitama egg.

The cherry on top is a mushroom and onion paste seasoned with butter and balsamic vinegar, which you can mix into the soup halfway in to turn the flavours upside down. Will this be Tokyo’s next Michelin-starred ramen joint? Wouldn’t surprise us one bit.

Opened along the homely Azalea Street shotengai by Komagome Station in April 2025, Ramen 3000 opens from 9am on six days a week, drawing in a steady stream of ramen aficionados throughout the mornings. The shop takes things back to basics with additive-free dishes made entirely in house and all but exclusively from domestic ingredients.

The menu is satisfyingly simple: shoyu ramen (from ¥1,000), shio ramen (from ¥1,100) and tsukemen (shio or shoyu, ¥1,200), plus a basic selection of toppings that includes chewy char siu, menma, scallions and nori. This is a spot that lets the ingredients do the talking, so don’t expect fireworks in the flavour department – just good, honest handcrafted ramen.

In the shoyu, the mellow soup – a finely balanced combination of meat and dried seafood stock, paired with an unobtrusive tare that helps highlight the sweetness of the dashi – pairs perfecly with the pleasant mouthfeel of the medium-thick, straight noodles.

The shio is a fair bit more distinctive, with an umami-packed clam broth and a strongish tare that’s sure to get your juices flowing in the morning. They only make a small batch of soup for the shio every day, so head over early if that’s what you’re after.

Just as we were about to declare 2025 a wrap on the ramen front, Menya Sankai landed in Okubo and forced us to rip up our provisional ranking. Opened in late October, the shop is helmed by a tsukemen specialist who earned his stripes behind the counter at high-caliber joints including Menya Ittou and Menya Shichisai.

His signature gyokai-tonkotsu (seafood and pork broth) soup is as rich as they come, and the extra-thick, aromatic flat noodles it’s served with help bring out its powerful umami. The standard serving comes with two kinds of char siu – one a textbook pork belly cut, the other a smoked and flambéed beauty that really challenges you to work your jaw. This was easily the best tsukemen we had all year – and a bowl we look forward to revisiting frequently in 2026.

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 the superstar soup, 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.

The latest offering from the crew that brought us the Bib Gourmand-recognised Ramen Koike and the original Aidaya, Aidaya the sequel is nothing like its tsukemen-focused older sibling.

This spot specialises in shrimp wonton noodles (¥1,330), and its signature offering is the kind of bowl that almost redefines the genre. The chicken-and-pork soup is a combination of clear chintan and cloudy paitan with more than a hint of niboshi (dried sardine) punch, while the egg noodles are of the typical medium-thick straight variety.

What propels the dish beyond the competition is the wontons – three artfully crafted morsels filled with springy, juicy shrimp that doesn’t seem to belong anywhere near this price point. The aromatic soft-boiled ajitama egg provides capable backup, and even the char siu – often an afterthought in a bowl like this – passes with flying colours.

Ramen Horiuchi in Shinjuku is one of those Tokyo noodle joints that walk a fine line between genius and insanity, and since July 2025 the denizens of Kanda have been able to enjoy a similarly eclectic selection of ramen courtesy of Furuichi, whose owner is a former Horiuchi chef.

His standard ramen (¥950) is a classic Tokyo-style affair – a rich meat-based soup with a power-packed, gently sour shoyu tare – while the opposite side of the spectrum is represented by creations like natto ramen (¥1,100).

Like Horiuchi, Furuichi does tsukemen too – or zaru, as the style is known here – with options including a basic zaru (¥1,000), natto zaru (¥1,200), menma zaru (¥1,200) and char siu zaru (¥1,500). The tsukemen dishes all benefit from the uber-rich, satisfyingly spicy dipping soup.

Whether you choose to keep it simple with ramen or bend the laws of the genre with a combo of raw egg, natto and sticky noodles as offered by the natto zaru, Furuichi is here to answer your cravings at every reasonable hour: the shop stays open from 9am to 4am on weekdays.

Hailing from the Nagano city of Matsumoto, the Ryoga group of ramen eateries made its first foray into the capital’s noodle scene by landing in Ogikubo in June 2025. And while they cook up entirely competent ramen (from ¥1,000), the shop’s signature gently sour gyokai-tonkotsu (seafood and pork bone) soup is best savoured in tsukemen (¥1,100) form. Tip: Don’t hesitate to spice up the soup with some of the doubanjiang and shredded garlic available at your table.

We’ll let you in on a secret, too: Get a tsukemen ticket from the vending machine and ask the wait staff for ‘Ogikubo’ – you’ll get to savour a solid reproduction of the tsukemen served at Marunaga Chuka Soba, a beloved Ogikubo shop that closed for good in 2023 after 76 years in business. Ryoga has a long way to go to reach the same local legend status, but the newcomer sure has shown promise early on.

Since June 2025, Narimasu up in Nerima has had the honour of hosting one of the city’s finest purveyors of next-generation chuka soba. That’s right – Ito’s version is far from your orthodox take on the classic Tokyo dish, but a wildly innovative version that can rightfully be said to push the genre in a new direction.

First off, the shop is not bashful about going all in on the niboshi, as evidenced by the smell that hits you as soon as you walk in the door. Besides dried sardines, their distinctive, boldly flavoured broth is drawn from high-end skipjack flakes, kombu, shiitake mushrooms, shijimi clams, chicken, duck and black pork bones, and vegetables.

Ito’s Chuka Soba (from ¥1,000) is a show-stopping bowl: the pungent but complex soup hits you from the first sip, but doesn’t dominate the meticulously crafted whole. The thick and juicy char siu, gorgeous medium-thick noodles and minimalist array of toppings all push in the same delicious direction, beseeching you to keep slurping.

If you’re a true niboshi sicko, opt for the Niboshi Soba (from ¥1,000), in which five types of dried sardines come together in a harmony of pure umami.

Having done his time at Yoshimuraya, the Mt Olympus of ie-kei ramen, the chef behind Tetsuya broke out on his own in May 2025, determined to shine the light of orthodox Yokohama-style tonkotsu ramen on Ichigaya and beyond.

Tetsuya’s standard bowl (from ¥960) is just about the closest approximation of a Yoshimuraya experience you can get in Tokyo; not as rich as at many ie-kei competitors, and exhibiting excellent command of the style’s constituent parts: pork bones, chicken stock and shoyu tare.

As you’d expect from any self-respecting ie-kei joint, there’s a plentiful selection of optional seasonings, including the obligatory garlic, ginger and doubanjiang. Their smoked pork thigh char siu deserves special mention, too – as does the soundtrack, a comprehensive survey of dance king Tetsuya Komuro’s ouevre.

Getting to Kinpeki without a car takes some commitment. The roadside shop is about 12 minutes’ walk from Kameari Station, and we can only imagine what navigating the surrounding residential streets would have been like in an age without Google Maps.

But no matter how long you take to reach it, this joint pays you back handsomely – in the form of a perfectly balanced bowl of artisanal shoyu or shio ramen. Crafted by the unlikely duo of a veteran ramen craftsman and a former engineer, the bowls here come in three tiers. The Classic (¥950) contains just the basic toppings, while the Signature (¥1,150) gets you char siu and an ajitama egg. The Noble (¥1,500) adds a third type of char siu – this one a show-stopping duck – plus some sansho peppers on the side.

Whichever ramen or topping combo you go for, you can look forward to a remarkably refined soup. The shoyu version highlights a tare made with three types of soy sauce, including a transparent ‘white’ variety, while the shio draws on high-end French salt and chablis – yes, the white wine – for a concoction that tastes heavenly while feeling decidedly out of place way out in Showa-coded Katsushika.

Hachioji’s loss, Nakano’s gain: Kaika on Waseda-dori opened in February 2025 after the closure of Motsuke, one of the western suburb’s most storied ramen joints, forced its chef to make new plans.

In vibrant Nakano, he’s carrying on the legacy of his former digs with a menu centred on orthodox chuka soba (from ¥1,100) and dandan noodles (from ¥1,200). The former’s additive-free soup goes heavy on the niboshi without sacrificing balance, while the medium-thick, curly house-made noodles exude the intense aroma of high-quality domestic wheat.

All bowls of chuka soba come with two types of char siu – a charcoal-grilled, umami-rich chunk of chuck and a low-temp thigh cut – plus an ajitama egg, menma, a wonton and assorted greens. 

The dandan noodles are perhaps less outstanding, but still well worth a punt – especially if you miss Motsuke’s old-school take on a dish that’s seen remarkable evolution in Tokyo over the past decade.