One of the foods I’ve always wanted to try while traveling in Tokyo is tsukemen. I had saved several tsukemen places on Google Maps that I wanted to visit, and one of them was Fuunji. It was a rainy day, and I didn’t want to go to all the tourist spots, so I decided to head to Shinjuku for lunch and some shopping. Since Fuunji was close to Shinjuku Station, I headed straight to Fuunji.
1. Fuunji location
It’s close to Shinjuku Station, so if you choose the right gate, you’ll be right in front of the restaurant. However, Shinjuku Station is also huge, so you’ll need to find your way around. I was able to find the restaurant, but then I got lost trying to find the subway gate from Shinjuku Station to my hostel in Shibuya.
2. Opening hours
There is a break in the middle. Please check the opening hours before visiting.
3. Waiting / How to order
I was worried that the wait would be long because Fuunji is a famous restaurant, but it was a little after lunchtime and it was raining, so there wasn’t a line outside the restaurant, but there was quite a line inside, so I think we waited for about 15 minutes.
When you enter the restaurant, there is a long bar-like table in front of you, and people are waiting in line behind it. You can go through the line, choose your menu in front of the vending machine, and take a ticket. Note that you can only pay with cash.
Once you get your ticket, you hand it to the cashier in front of you. Once you hand over your ticket, you’ll be asked how much ramen you want. The unique thing about Fuunji is that they don’t charge extra if you order a large size. You can choose between a regular size (Naomori) or a large size (Omori). If you don’t understand Japanese and are stumbling around, don’t worry, they will ask you in English. I ordered the regular size because I had to eat other food, but I saw many people around me ordering the large size.
After ordering, you have to wait in line all the way to the end of the restaurant. I found the waiting in line in a small restaurant to be unique and frustrating, but it was still interesting because it was organized.
Ordering is not difficult as the menu is written in English on the vending machines. There are two types of ramen, regular broth and tsukemen, and you can choose your toppings. I ordered the special tsukemen with all the toppings. Tsukemen is the one that says Dipping in English. There is an Extra Noodle option on the menu, but the standard large-sized ramen is also very large, so I don’t think you need to choose it.
5. Fuunji Tsukemen
The line to get in quickly shrinks and I were ushered in and seated. In front of us are bottles of water and broth to add to the tsukemen. The broth is meant to be added when you finish the noodles and drink the soup at the end.
The noodles and tsukemen were served together, and the noodles were quite good despite being plain. The noodles were thick and chewy, so it was delicious even if you just eat the noodles. I saw the large size noodles around me, and the amount of noodles was big enough to almost fill the ramen bowl.
When I received the tsukemen broth, there was a powder sprinkled on top, so I was curious and tried a little bit of it separately. It was katsuobushi powder. The tsukemen broth itself had a lot of katsuobushi flavor, so it had a strong umami taste. I heard that it was made by adding katsuobushi to chicken broth, but it didn’t have a strong impression of chicken broth because of the strong katsuobushi flavor.
I was a little worried because I had the impression that tsukemen was strong because the noodles were dipped into the soup, but I was afraid that it would be too salty. However, unlike my worries, it was not very salty, so I ate it with noodles and it was very delicious. After eating the tsukemen, I regretted that I should have ordered a larger portion.
After finishing the noodles, I poured the broth in front of me and tasted the soup. The broth warmed the soup and lowered the salinity, making it much better to drink. The soup was so delicious that I wanted to eat it with rice, but unfortunately, there was no rice menu.
So far, I introduced Fuunji, a tsukemen restaurant in Shinjuku, Tokyo. I had heard about tsukemen on YouTube, but I hadn’t actually tried it, so I was very happy to taste it. There is always a wait, but the line shrinks quickly because of the good rotation. For reference, the noodles were very delicious, so if you have a large appetite, I recommend ordering a large size.
