★★ 中田兄弟 (Nakata Brothers) -Tokyo

Nakata Brothers is a ramen shop just a minutes walk away from Meidai-mae train station on the Keio line. Having grown tired of the heavy tonkotsu ramen, I heard about this store from a ramen friend of mine and decided to make the short trip from Shinjuku to try out this Japanese style ramen. I ordered their 味玉ラーメン (ramen with flavored boiled egg).

The Soup - was a light chicken broth blended with a dried bonito based soup. The soup's flavor is distinctly Japanese without going overboard on the fish flavor. However if you enjoy the typical Japanese style ramen then the flavor for Nakata Brothers ramen might feel a little thin.

The Noodles - are medium thickness curly noodles cooked to regular firmness. A rather springy ramen that didn't seem to match the soup that well.

The Toppings - were cha-shu pork, menma bamboo, nori dried seaweed, and flavored boiled egg. The cha-shu pork was cut so thin though tasty. menma was a little sweet. Boiled egg was great though uncooked in the middle.

Overall - a pretty good ramen that just seems to be a couple steps short from being great. The soup lacks the punch on the aroma side compared to other Japanese style ramen, while the noodles are just average. If Meidai-mae is on your daily travel commute then come try this place out. Otherwise don't go out of your way to come to Meidai-mae.

http://www.mendo.jp/shisyoku/nakata/index.html