Katsumaru (勝丸) Roppongi, Tokyo

Overview
Style: Chinese-style Tonkotsu soup with freshly-made noodles
Overall rating: 8.4/10.0
Location: Meguro and Roppongi, Tokyo

This week let's start with something good and not easy to miss (in later weeks we'll visit the hidden jems in one of those allies my Japanese friends took me to). This is one of my all-time favorite ramen shops. Not only because it's right in Roppongi Hills, but also because there's this one ramen that I'm LITERALLY addicted to (my friends always joke that they must have put some kind of weed in my bowl every time I went there to make me get addicted). It also stays open until very late. Let's not waste any more time.

The Signature Bowl
My favorite is the cabbage ramen. It's one very unique ramen that you really cannot find in any other ramen shop out there. The side-kick is from the sweet crisp cabbage quickly stir-fried with cut up Chachu (pork) in the store's signature sauce, Chinese style. The pork (I heard) is speically ordered from Kyushu, with its politically correct ratio of fat and meat to yield the soft-mushy texture and the sweet-salty taste. If you love vegetables in your food, this bowl presents a good alternative to bamboo shoot most shops put in the ramen. The noodle is quite soft and springy and medium-thickness, round-cut, with a unique pale-ish yellow color since they're made from egg-white only. The soup is Tonkotsu (pork bone) based which made the texture thick and white-ish, but what makes the soup taste quite special is the trace of the sauce and the smell of sesame oil used to stir-fry the cabbage that dissolves into the soup. I usually ordered with hard-boiled egg topping (the yolk is still soft and liquidy, but the white egg is hardened. I like it this way better than soft-boiled egg (onsen tamago) which is too soft for me), and sprinkle some chilli powder to spice it up. This bowl is only available in the Roppongi store only (namely the only place on planet earth!). Price is 900yen.

What else is on the menu
They have all the traditional styles ramen, with full-piece chachu pork (quite fatty, but to me that's what makes it good) and all types of soup base you can choose from (Shio=salt base, Shoyu=soy sauce base, and miso base). They also have quite a variety of toppings: hard-boiled eggs, soft-boiled eggs, seaweed, spring onion, bamboo shoot, etc. My faourite topping is the pork wonton. Add it on top of a normal miso ramen and, yum!! You can choose the soup base you want and add any toppings you like. They also have all the above variations as tsuke-men (the noodles and the soup are separated. When you eat it you dipped the noodles into the soup first.), and pretty good fried gyoza. The variety of the side dishes is not too great here, lacking my all time favorite like karaage (deep-fried chicken).

Price range
600-1000 yen. Extra toppings on average is about 100 yen each. Gyoza is 300 yen for 3 pieces, 500 yen for 6 pieces.

Atmosphere
This is another reason why Katsumaru is never going to be like other ramen shops you will see in Japan. The shop is decorated in the US 70's style and plays old-style records from the 70's in the background (the only thing missing really is one of those old jukeboxes. I'm sure they take requests too). The seats are mostly counter seats with two small tables. Not too noisy. Around lunch time this place will have salary man standing in lines around the block, but the turnover is high enough that you should be able to get seats within 15-20 minutes. And the fun of course is when you have to buy the ramen tickets from the vending machine.

A little history
The shop is about 32 years old (hence the 70's theme). The owner Kotou Masahiko is the runners-up in the TV Champion gameshow in 1999. The shop was also featured in the Osaka Ramen Museum for a limited one-year period in 2002.

Ratings
Noodle: 8.0/10.0.
I like the texture overall, but it lacks the variety. I do prefer to have the option of choosing the softness and the thickness of my noodles (call me picky).

Soup: 10.0/10.0.
The taste blends really well with the pork and the noodles, and not too oily. I always drink it up.

Toppings: 10.0/10.0.
Good variety, and they all taste pretty good.

Side dishes: 7.0/10.0.
The gyoza is good, but nothing spectacular. Lacks variety.

Condiments: 8.5/10.0.
They have all the condiments which go well with their noodle style (chilli oil, chilli powder, vinegar, ginger) but I think they should also have grinded sesame and freshly crushed garlic. It would have been good w/ some of the noodles.

Atmosphere: 8.0/10.0.
A bit small, but cozy. It will not give you the Japanese feel, but extra points for the 70's creativity.

Service and staff: 10.0/10.0.
It's clean, it's fast, and the staff is very nice. They will enthusiastically help you if you have problems with the ticket vending machine and give free toppings to loyal customers (like me :).

Menu variety: 6.0/10.0.
Could have used a little more.

Location: 8.0/10.0.
Both locations are quite convenient, but only two stores on the west side of Tokyo.

Value for money: 8.0/10.0.
A bit on the expensive side, but not something that you can find a substitute.

Overall Rating
8.4/10.0

Location and access
Meguro Store:
Address 2-8-10 Meguro, Meguro-ku, Tokyo Meguro Bldg 1F Urban
Access 8 min walk from Meguro station, JR Yamanote line
Phone 03-5434-5320
Store hour 11:00 - 4:00am daily (Last order 3:30am) (yay to all the late nighters out there!)

Roppongi Hills Store:
Address: 6-2-31 Roppongi, Minato-ku, Tokyo Roppongi Hills-B1F
Access Walk from Roppongi Station, Hibiya subway traffic 0 min (directly at the Concourse)
Phone 03-3746-2731
Store hour 11:00 ~ 23:00 (Last order 22:30)