★★ ばんからら～めん (Bankara ramen) - Tokyo

Bankara ramen is ramen chain store that recently expanded into the kabuki-cho area near Shinjuku station in Tokyo. I tried their 角煮ばんからら～めん(Kaku-ni Bankara ramen).

The soup - was a rich tonkotsu based shou flavored soup. This soup further pushes the extreme of how oily a ramen can get. The rich broth is covered with a layer of oily to begin with, then there's bits and pieces of se-abura pork fat added on top. I strongly recommend you request them to go easy on the oil and fat. The soup goes very well with raw garlic and the pickled ginger though, they are available on each table and you can add as much as you want.

The Noodles - are medium thick, slightly curly noodles, cooked very firm. The noodles are very chewy and delicious.

The Toppings - are the standard cha-shu pork, menma bamboo, negi green onions, dried seaweed... and a huge piece of kaku-ni slow cooked pork. All the toppings are very good and matches very well with the ramen. The kaku-ni slow cooked pork could be a little more tender, but the bigger complaint I have is the amount of fat on the pork. Isn't there enough fat in thie ramen already?

Overall - I love heavy oily tonkotsu ramen and I don't mind the fat. If you are new to ramen then be forwarned at how heavy this ramen can be. If you do come here then I recommend you get the regular ramen and not the kaku-ni bankara ramen. I also suggest you order the ramen with little fat 脂控えめ (abura hikae-me).

http://www.toshimaku-town.com/do/001/016/