Ramen Jiro Ikebukuro Higashiguchi-ten (ラーメン二郎東口店); The NS-kei Jiro, Ikebukuro

So I’ve been on a roll lately with my Ramen Jiro adventures and hit up the Ikebukuro location not too far back with @namajapantv and @ramen_beast. A little backstory on the Ikebukuro location, the shop is operated by a parent company called NS Planning. NS Planning operates this location, the Shinjuku Kabukicho, and the now closed Shinbashi location. They also produce the shoyu tare that you’ll sometimes see at the Jiro locations with the Jiro labels. Anyways, due to the corporate feel for the shops run by this company, not a lot of Jirorians are fans of the Ikebukuro and Shinjuku locations. I myself don’t think too highly of the Shinjuku Kabukicho location and so I wasn’t too excited to try this one. However, I do want to finish off the Jiro locations so I convinced these two to come along with me to check this off my list. Shop is located about a 7 minute walk from Ikebukuro station and is open all day without breaks from 11:00 am to 23:00.

Menu is as listed above. They only have one Jiro style bowl in different sizes and how much pork char siu is included. A regular bowl as is is 750 yen, with extra pork char siu at 850, and double extra pork char siu at 950 yen. A larger ramen portion serving is 850 yen with extra pork char siu at 950 yen and double extra pork char siu is 1050 yen. Non listed ramen options of Maze Soba is offered at 850 yen, with a large going at 950 yen. Tsukemen is only offered during the summer and is 800 yen for the normal bowl and 900 yen for a large. Toppings not listed are Buta Mashi for two extra slices at 100 yen, Hogushi Buta which is essentially pulled pork for 100 yen, marinated hard boiled egg for 100 yen, raw egg at 50 yen, and cheese for 100 yen. You’ll buy your tickets for your order at the machine directly on the left after you enter the shop. Once you take your seat, hand the chef your tickets and wait for your bowl. Once your bowl is ready they’ll ask you for your free topping choice which you can read up on in my other Ramen Jiro reviews.

My order for the day was a regular bowl of Jiro with a side of Hogushi Buta and raw egg. Call was my go to of ninniku, abura, karame, or garlic, pork back fat, and seasoning tare sauce. First off, appearance wise it was rather low on the emulsification and the pork char siu had already lost its shape due to how long it had simmered. Bean sprouts were definitely higher ratio than the cabbage and it was way more blanched and overcooked than I would have liked it. I did like the marinated seabura, or pork back fat though which is rather unique and not a ton of shops have. Other than that, it looked like a typical, very standard bowl of Jiro.

Starting with the soup, the broth is rather low on the emulsification scale. If you look just at the photo of the ramen as presented, you can see how much oil is floating on the surface of the soup and not emulsifying in to the bowl. The soup is rather understandable given the way in which this location is operated. Since it’s operated all day, they're essentially just making enough soup as the day progresses. I would assume it would get better at night as the day goes by and the soup simmers longer. Honestly though even if I were to come later in the day, I doubt it would change that much given the circumstances. Flavor wise, it's rather salty and not as impactful as other Jiro locations. It relies pretty heavily on the oil and Shoyu tare seasoning, lacking the depth I usually expect.

Noodles were on the higher water content and kansui side as it gave the distinct slippery and watery feel in contrast to the rigged, low water content noodles. It was ok and most customers were ordering “men katame” or al dente noodles which I probably should have done as well to help keep the shape. The oshon flavor is still there and is definitely more chewy than other ramen styles, but it just didn't sit right with me when I think back to other Jiro locations I've had. The uniformity really proves how “corporate” the location is and the way they streamline the production of their ramen. The pork char siu here is of the pork shoulder variety and had a meatier feel than the pork belly style. I think the way in which they over simmer their pork works as a benefit since it is a chewier cut than the pork belly and the shoulder they use have a higher ratio of protein to fat. Can't complain too much, especially in Ikebukuro where I'm sure it's not the easiest to keep everything cost efficient with rent and other non ramen related expenses being quite high.

On a similar note, the bean sprouts to cabbage ratio is way higher than most shops, again likely due to the expense of using cabbage. I barely had any pieces of cabbage and I kind of missed having it as it does add a bit of sweetness to the bowl that I crave. Shining highlight for the bowl was the topping of Hogushi Buta, which is a sort of Japanese pulled pork, and their Abura which is pulled out of the soup a tad early to keep it's shape and then marinated in a soy sauce, mirin, msg bath. The Hogushi Buta gave the bowl a really unique twist and the really made the bean sprouts heavy vegetables more enjoyable. Same goes with the Abura. Since the soup isn't the most impactful in flavor, the Abura gave it some extra kick that rounded out the bowl rather nicely.

Hard to really complain too much about this location as it is centrally situated in a really popular area of Tokyo. Most shops tend to be located outside Central Tokyo and thus have a lower operating cost and freedom to do a bit more since it closes between lunch and dinner hours to prepare for each service. However I can't really say I would recommend coming here if you're looking for a special Jiro experience. You'll get the bare bone basic of what Jiro as a style has to offer and I don't think it's the best for first timers as it might deter them from going to other locations. If you're in the area though, which you'll bound to be since Ikebukuro is quite the popular tourist destination, I think a quick bowl here wouldn't be the worst. Anyways, as always, let me know through my social media accounts what you thought or leave me a comment down below whether you agree or disagree. Always looking to hear other people's opinions.