Men Cry (MENくらい): Thick Noodle King of Tokyo?; Hamamatsucho, Tokyo

Late last year I wrote a review on one of my favorite shops in Shinagawa, Chuka Soba Waka Tokyo and I mentioned over on my Instagram that I wouldn’t be surprised if they expanded sometime soon. Well, after only just recently moving their Waka Tokyo location out near Kita Shinagawa station, they have branched out and opened a second brand with Men Cry, located just a short walking distance from the JR Hamamatsucho station near central Tokyo. As much as I enjoyed the ramen at Waka Tokyo, I admittedly had some doubts since the photos I saw made Men Cry’s ramen look like a Jyunteuchi Men to Mirai copycat and I was not a huge fan of that shop. Despite my concerns, it came highly recommended, by numerous ramen heads, so I got up off my butt to try their Iriko ramen, their rendition of a light, Niboshi, dried sardine ramen.

Unfortunately no English on the ticket machine at Men Cry, but the menu is quite simple so I’ll go ahead and translate it here. The first row is their Shoyu Ramen followed by the Shoyu Ramen with Ajitama soft boiled egg, with extra pork chashu, and finally with both Ajitama and extra pork chashu. Second row if the same options, but for the Iriko ramen variety. Third row is the Abura Soba, or soupless ramen, followed by the Abura Soba with extra chashu and Ajitama. Next button is for roasted garlic and last button in the row is for added spice. Fourth row is the toppings of Ajitama, Wontons, Chashu, and to get extra noodles. Fifth row is for raw egg over rice, raw egg and chili oil over rice, raw egg and truffle over rice , and a special egg over rice bowl. Last row is for Kimagure beer and Asahi Super Dry beer. receipt, and to get your change. On my visit I opted for the Iriko Ramen with the Ajitama soft boiled egg which seemed to be the most popular choice online and my gf ended up getting the Abura Soba, or no soup ramen.

So the above is my Iriko soba which was good, but truth be told, I would have been happier switching bowls with my gf…more on that later. Anyways, the soup for the ramen is an Iriko (dried sardine) broth, and is seasoned with a shio tare, or salt based seasoning. My bowl came adorned with three plump wontons, a slice of pork chashu, several marinated menma bamboo shoots, a spoonful of diced onions, and a few sprigs of sprouts alongside a sliver of yuzu peel. Again, not to say this was bad, but it was a bit predictable and follows a pretty common, toppings blueprint. Back to the soup, taking in my first spoonful, I was met with the usual impactful dried fish punch, but in a cleaner form. It’s vastly different from the bitter, cement style rendition that’s also trending right now and even more reserved than a lot of the lighter Niboshi ramen which is popular in central Tokyo. I enjoyed how refreshing the soup was and it’s helped by the use of Iriko which typically has a more reserved dried fish flavor than regular Niboshi. Of course the master’s experience and expertise in Niboshi plays a factor as well, and that’s on full display with their shio tare and Niboshi aroma oil which both balanced beautifully with the gentle Iriko stock. Since it is a shio based tare, and the Iriko is quite gentle, it doesn’t have a super impactful flavor, but if you love a umami enriched, dashi like soup, this is the one for you. I personally was a bit underwhelmed, but then again, that could be a result of me killing my taste buds with super fortified, gritty Niboshi style ramen all the time and losing the ability to appreciate something as light as this.

While the soup was definitely solid, I have to believe the main selling point at Men Cry are these noodles. As you can see from the photo above, these thick, voluptuous strands are a work of art. Each serving is hand pressed before boiling and has a soft exterior and chewy center that is seriously to die for. Consistency is almost like mochi and it soaks up the soup much the same way. The closest comparison is Men to Mirai and Hikage (both founded by the same master) which I do find a bit strange since there is no connection between the shops that I know of, but they were able to execute these noodle styles pretty well. I initially thought these thick noods were a bit out of place in this Iriko ramen since the soup is so light, but you could honestly just put dashi on these strands and it would probably taste good. For me, the noodles definitely saved the bowl since I wasn’t the biggest fan of the soup, but I may be in the minority as this Iriko gets tons of positive reviews on Tabelog and Ramen DB.

Again, as I mentioned earlier, the toppings aren’t anything to write home about, but I did enjoy these block cut menma bamboo shoots. Chashu was fine and wontons were solid, but nothing too spectacular in my opinion. Dark brown, Ajitama soft boiled eggs were cooked beautifully with a bright orange yolk, but besides that, I honestly didn’t find the toppings too exciting.

What I did find exciting however was my GF’s Abura Soba, or no soup, mix noodles. The noodles they use is exactly the same, but they replace the Niboshi with this creamy, rich shoyu based seasoning with a sort of lard based aroma oil. Hands down this is one of the best maze soba I have ever had and I sadly only got to eat a few bites and some leftovers after my GF was done. In my opinion, this is what these thick noodles work best in and the super impactful, punchy sauce is the perfect companion to these voluptuous noodles. Eating this reconfirmed that sort of imbalance the light soup had and I am definitely coming back so I can have a full portion of this for myself. While the review is about the Iriko, do yourself a favor and get this soupless version if you end up making a visit!