Rokurinsha 六厘舎 is well known for its tsukemen, or dipping noodles. It is also the most popular tsukemen name with the longest wait in Tokyo.
Rokurinsha started as a small outlet in the neighbourhood of Osaki area in year 2005. It became so famous that patrons continue to come, and sometimes 300 over people were waiting for places outside the tiny counter. The neighbours were not happy and so in year 2010, the outlet is being moved to Ramen Street in underground of Tokyo Station.
It remained to be very popular, as evidenced by the lines outside. Average waiting time is 30 minutes to one hour on a regular day.
We were visiting the Tokyo Skytree and chanced upon Rokurinsha (it’s good to have an eating list on hard) on the sixth floor of the Tokyo Solamachi mall located right below Tokyo Skytree. The wait was not too bad, around 20 minutes during lunch hour. While waiting, we were given a laminated menu and we had plenty of time to decide on what to eat.
I opted for the “ladies size” noodles (780 yen) that comes with 300g of noodles.
KampungBoy opted for the standard size tamago tsukemen (930 yen).
I just had to add the ajitama egg (100 yen), can’t resist a whole boiled egg with a wonderful firm, golden yolk!
When we finally reached the ticket machine at the entrance, we just need to slot in the coins/notes and wait for the order slip to be printed.
Our noodles came with a thick, rich broth on the side, served as a dip separate from the noodles. The broth is made with chicken bones, niboshi (dried baby sardines), sababushi (dried, smoked mackerel flakes) and katsuobushi (dried, smoked bonito flakes), along with vegetables. In the broth were negi (leek), chashu, fish cake, bamboo shoot, ajitama egg and gyofun (dry fish powder). The gyofun is really something – enough to transport us to umami heaven.
Packets of gyofun is available right in front of every patrons, you can add in according to how thick/flavourful you want your broth to be.
The noodles were thicker and chewier than usual, but very good in drawing those flavourful broth up.
Towards the end, if you have soup left in your bowl, you can ask for extra broth to dilute it. That’s another surprise, because it turned into a very delicious soup that I just have to slurp it down till the last drop.
The wait in line is totally worthwhile. Highly recommended!
Rokurinsha 六厘舎 – Skytree
Add: Tokyo Solamachi, Level 6, 1-1-2 Oshiage, Sumida-ku, Tokyo Japan, Tel: +03 5809 7368
Getting Here: Oshiage Skytree (Hanzomon, Toei Asakusa and Keisei-Oshiage lines); Tokyo Skytree (Tobu Skytree Line)
Hours: 11am – 11pm (last order 10pm)
Rokurinsha 六厘舎 – Tokyo Station
Add: Tokyo Station Ichibangai Basement 1, Tokyo Ramen Street, OGGI JR東京駅構内店
1-9-1 Marunouchi, Chiyoda, Tokyo 100-0005
Hours: 7:30am – 10:00am (last order 9:45am), 11am-10:30pm (last order 10:00pm)
There’s also an outlet in Haneda Airport but the reviews are not as good as the Tokyo outlets.
