Ramen appears as a signature dish in 1 Japan cities. See each city's local variant and where to eat it.
Ramen · Tokyo
Tokyo ramen is the postwar wheat-noodle bowl evolved from Chinese soba: shoyu, shio, tonkotsu or tsukemen, finished with chashu, scallion and ajitama. Specialist counters only.
Chinese soba shops opened in 1910s Tokyo, but the form exploded after American wheat aid in the late 1940s. Sit-down ramen shops took over Tokyo by the 1950s; Nissin launched instant ramen in 1958. Tsuta in Sugamo became the first ramen with a Michelin star in 2015, opening a Bib Gourmand wave that named 18 ramen shops in the 2026 guide. The city now runs 5,000-plus ramen counters across the wards.
Where to eat in Tokyo:
- Japanese Soba Noodles Tsuta
- Afuri Ebisu
- Ichiran Shibuya