Mitsuyadoseimen, Shimo-Kitazawa ミッ矢堂製麺,下北沢

Following the sad discovery of the Frisco Grill’s demise, I wandered the streets of Shimo-Kitazawa forlorn. Sure, I was pissed off that the burger I wanted to eat was beyond my reach, but I was also gagging for a beer. And that only made me think of Masako, and how cruel the world, well Japanese train operators/construction companies, can be.

Anyway, before too long I passed a tsukemen place, and as it was packed I figured it must either be really cheap, pretty good, or perhaps a bit of both. So it was that I ended up having cold noodles dipped in a soup of my choice at Mitsuya-Doseimen.

It’s a chain, something to do with the Mitsuya people that make “cider,” I guess. Simple shop, clean, wood floors and plain walls adorned with beer posters. No smoking before 5pm, plenty of old folk and families slurping their noodles. Fairly wide range of dishes on offer, but I was hungry and in no mood for deliberation. The spicy looking tan-tan goma (sesame) tsukemen looked good.

And so it was. ¥980 for a well proportioned bowl (although the price is set, you can opt for a small, medium or large portion) of cold, firm, slightly flat noodles topped with onion and some kind of leaf. This was accompanied by a bowl of orange, spicy Thai tan-tan-like soup, laced with good clean bits of chicken. It was just spicy enough to please, without overpowering the taste of the noodles themselves. Beer was overpriced.

I don’t know much about noodles, certainly not as much as this Cowboy, but I came away full and happy, despite having worn a paper bib…

Tel: 03-5790-8038