Duck Ramen in Tokyo – consider these the BEST 5! These awesome Tokyo ramen shops are all about delicious duck soup and equally delicious, fatty duck toppings.
1. Chukasoba Billiken (中華ソバ ビリケン)
Billiken is located in Tokyo’s popular Asakusa neighborhood. Their ramen soup is duck, whole chickens, niboshi (dried sardines) and kelp…all cooked for 5+ hours. They season this soup with the lighter “Usumurasaki” soy sauce. All these actions add up to a wonderful bowl of duck ramen.
Among toppings, you have beautiful slices of duck chashu that are grilled first to reduce fat. There’s also a generous pile of crunchy vegetables. The thick, hand-massaged noodles are a real treat too. Lastly, Billiken is from the same group that runs Ramen Kai (clam ramen).
2. Menya Fukumaru (麺屋 福丸)
Fukumaru uses ONLY duck (from Yamagata) and water in its soup. The soy sauce seasoning this time around is bolder…but not too bold to mask those pure duck flavors in the soup. They also add a homemade, syrupy duck oil. This is another potent reminder that this is duck ramen.
The most satisfying toppings have to be the slices of meat. You get duck breast, chicken breast and pork. Finally, they use thinner noodles here. They’re made in Saitama and are a bit more delicate. All in all, this bowl might just be my favorite on the list.
3. Chukasoba Manchiken (中華そば 満鶏軒)
Duck is clearly the chief ingredient at ramen shop Machiken as well. They even have a cartoon duck logo on their bowls. But instead of a soy sauce seasoning, their most popular bowl is brightly seasoned with shio (salt). The salt allows the duck flavors to really pop out…much like the cartoon duck.
They go big (literally) here with the toppings. Each ramen comes with big slices of white negi (spring onions) and komatsuna (Japanese spinach). But in addition to the slices of duck you have broiled cubes of duck meat. To top off the bowl, there’s yellow yuzu citrus for some sparkle.
4. Kamo to Negi (鴨 to 葱)
Just like at Fukumaru (entry no. 2), the ramen soup at Kamo to Negi is purely duck and water. They also employ a light soy sauce seasoning that properly allows the duck aromas to burst forth. For toppings, their approach is simpler. They present you with tender duck slices, bamboo shoots, and negi.
“Kamo” is duck and “negi” are spring onions. You actually get to choose 2 negi from 3 options. In this particular bowl, we have Kyoto Kujo negi (top) and a thick white negi (right). This is probably the most elegant looking bowl on this list, right down to the noodle fold.
5. Ginza Kamo Soba 9th Keisuke (九代目けいすけ)
Keisuke has several ramen restaurants inside and outside of Japan. What’s neat is that each restaurant serves a different style of ramen. At their Ginza restaurant, they serve duck ramen. A darker soy sauce carries a soup that is part duck, part kelp.
The toppings are quite unique in this one. Besides your standard slices of duck, it’s hard to miss the vibrantly red egg yolk in the center. The long-shaped toppings are gobo (burdock root vegetable). They’re prepared in a tempura style. You’d almost think this was a duck soba-ramen hybrid!
BONUS ROUND! Mendou Nishiki (麺堂 にしき)
Nishiki hasn’t been around that long. But being one of the few places for duck ramen in Tokyo, they’ve made a nice splash. You know the drill by now – the soup is primarily duck and kelp. But what’s different is that they encourage you to add sansho numbing pepper and black pepper (available at the counter).
These two give the soup more punch. Furthermore, they’re not at all stingy with the duck slices. 5 in total – count them! These actually might be the best duck slices of duck on this list.
Hopefully you’ll have a chance to visit at least one of these excellent duck ramen shops in Tokyo!