REAL Ramen!
The New York Times has a mouthwatering Frugal Traveler article about "Tokyo's sprawling ramen ecosystem." Although we here in the States are used to ramen as a ridiculously cheap, dried foodstuff, ramen is serious business in Japan. As Frugal Traveler Matt Gross says, Tokyo's ramen stands and restaurants serve ramen where "everything is fresh, handmade and artisanal."
I learned a lot about ramen and Tokyo from this article. (Among other things, I learned not to read articles about "real" ramen at lunchtime. I finally broke down and fixed up a packet of Top Ramen, but it just wasn't the same.) Many ramen shops specialize in just one kind of ramen. For example, one restaurant specializes in green curry ramen, another in tonkotsu (a milky pork broth).
I learned a lot about ramen and Tokyo from this article. (Among other things, I learned not to read articles about "real" ramen at lunchtime. I finally broke down and fixed up a packet of Top Ramen, but it just wasn't the same.) Many ramen shops specialize in just one kind of ramen. For example, one restaurant specializes in green curry ramen, another in tonkotsu (a milky pork broth).
