I wanted to try tonkatsu and scooped out a few places in Shibuya; however, we discovered that they were closed for the New Year’s period, so I had to do some quick googling and found dipping ramen – Tsukemen restaurant that was relatively close by. Google gave it a five-star rating out of six reviews; however, I was still a bit apprehensive, but as you should expect, ramen is always better in Japan than anywhere else in the world, especially in small Wellington, New Zealand.

As expected, we entered, and a machine was there to take your order. I also decided to have three gyoza and the tsukemen ramen with additional Japanese eggs – Ajitsuke Tamago. The Gyoza came out first, and I was overly impressed by these little dumplings. They went well with some chilli oil and soy sauce, and the soy sauce was not too overpowering. They were easy to eat, and I was very tempted to order more, but I held off.

The tsukemen ramen came first with the bowl of soup and then the cold noodles, which also had bamboo shoots, some pork char siu, spring onions, and some seaweed with the additional Ajitsuke Tamago. I decided to try the soup on its own and found it very strong in flavour and a bit too salty for me to drink it on its own. However, it carried a lot of depth, and you could tell it had been simmering for quite some time. I then got some ramen and dipped it into the soup. I was in ramen heaven. The opportunity to dip your ramen into the bowl of soup and either let it stay there for a while or dunk it straight out allowed you to tailor how much flavour your Ramen had. The Ajitsuke Tamago eggs were lovely and went well with the tsukemen soup. I also like eating the ramen combined with some of the seaweed. The disappointment of the dish, though, was the pork char siu. It was overcooked, was not very juicy, and cut a bit too thinly.

Overall, I enjoyed my food here at Dipping Noodle. I tried to find his proper name but had no luck online. As I said before, any ramen in Japan is better than any in Wellington, so I was still very happy. Also, tsukemen ramen would be my favourite type of ramen alongside tonkatsu.

Update: Later found out this place is called: Kin Den Maru Shibuya Dogenzaka