Ramen Nakago なかご (Tokyo, JAPAN) ★★★★☆

It’s not the way I pictured ourselves celebrating Christmas in Tokyo. Little nugget has been under the weather for a couple of days now. Last night, he complained about some drumming noise from his ears. Thinking that it could be related to his high fever, we decided to give him some extra time to rest this morning. Skipping lunch became one of the few options left for us to choose here.

Miraculously, he woke up with a ton of energy. But rather than having a fancy meal, we decided to simply go for a simple ramen lunch in Akasaka close to where we were staying.

I knew exactly where to bring him for ramen – Ramen Nakago (なかご), a tonkotsu or pork bone broth ramen specialist which was ranked third in all of Akasaka. From what I've read about Ramen Nakago, its clear and not-overly-rich broth had me sold that it was the perfect medicine for little one to re-gain his appetite.

Like most ramen shops in Akasaka, Nakago is a small 13-seater with the majority of the seats at the counter table.

I quickly purchased the tickets from the vending machine. It's really a no-brainer on our part as Nakago only offers two versions of their "Pure Pork" broth, one which has been infused with soy sauce and the other with salt. The only real challenge was picking the thickness and texture of the noodles but as always, I went with the thin ones with the strongest bite (presumably with shorter cooking time).

The chefs were obviously very detail oriented when it came to the plating of their soba noodles. See how they used something like a comb to make sure that the noodles were laid out nicely.

Soba with "Pure Pork" broth and soy sauce – The noodles were super thin and straight with this slightly chewy texture. Immediately, I realized it's right up my alley.

Contrary to the appearance shown by its color, the clear broth was surprisingly rich with great depth of flavors.

The barbecued pork was fatty with melt-in-mouth texture.

 

There were other goodies in the noodles including an anchovy, turnip, salmon roes, pickled cucumber, seaweed and soft-boiled egg. I don't think I miss anything here. If there's any area for improvement, I'd say I prefer a more runny soft-boiled egg but it's more of a preference for me.

It was nice to see little nugget full of energy again. 

Was it a little late to hit the busy streets of Harajuku with the sun about to set in two hours? Not really according to my young one! So, let's go!

P.S.  Jelloman was missing from action because she decided to find a more powerful ramen to wake up her senses. I was curious of how that has worked out for her.

Food Rating: 6/10

Price: ￥￥

Address: 1/F Iseko Building, 3-16-3 Akasaka, Minato-ku, Tokyo 107-0052, Japan

Closest Metro Station: Akasaka / Akasaka-mitsuke

Tel: +81 3-6277-7739

Opening Hours: 11:30am - 4:00pm, 6:00pm - 9:30pm daily