Here is my second ramen report from Tokyo in June. I’ve previously reported on glorious bowls of tori paitan (creamy chicken) ramen at the Roppongi Hills branch of Ginza Kagari. Here now is a quick look at some more glorious bowls of ramen, this time at Ramenya Toy Box in Arakwawa City. While I had been sure that we would not have much trouble getting seated at Ginza Kagari’s satellite branch, I was not very confident about our chances at Toy Box, which has neither any branches nor very many seats: just seven or eight around a small counter in a tiny dining room. But it’s not just the small number of seats that makes it a challenge; it is the fact that they have quite a bit of acclaim as one of the very best purveyors of shoyu ramen in all of Tokyo. And they don’t open for very long: 11-3 for lunch and 6-9 for dinner. Add to that the fact that we were a party of four and the odds of our being seated together seemed somewhere between slim to none if we were to just waltz up to the place for dinner. So we didn’t.

Instead, we went for lunch and arrived well before they opened, reasoning that if we were among the first seven people in line we could be seated alongside each other for sure. As it happened when we arrived, 30 minutes before opening, there was only one person waiting. But within 10 minutes there were a lot more and by the time they opened at 11 the line was 20 deep (on a Thursday). This was not a pleasant wait. It was a very hot and humid day in Tokyo and there’s barely any shade in front of the restaurant. But, boy, did the ramen make it worth it!

At opening, they let the first group of people in one by one. You order at the machine just inside, pay (cash only), get your ticket, hand it to one of the chef’s assistants, and sit down where you’re told to. The great thing about being #2-5 in line was that we could observe the Japanese guy in front of us work the machine—we really didn’t want to gum up the works. Of course, this in itself is not enough: the machine only has Japanese text on it. However, I was prepared. I’d found an image online of the vending machine, used Google Lens to translate the Japanese text and saved a screenshot of the translated image. Referring to this on my phone, we got our order in quickly and sat down expectantly.

The restaurant, as I mentioned, is very small. There are four seats up the counter as you enter and three or four more down the other side. Both sides of the counter overlook the tiny kitchen. In this kitchen are various vats. One contains chicken parts (from a few bespoke Japanese breeds) simmering at a precise temperature (marked on a gauge). Depending on what you’ve ordered your bowl is assembled with precision. The options here—all featuring that chicken broth—are shio/salt ramen, shoyu/soy sauce ramen, and miso ramen (which has miso added to the broth in the bowl as it’s being assembled). What did we get? The missus got the shoyu ramen with wontons and seasoned egg; the older boy got the special shoyu ramen (with egg, wontons, extra chashu); the younger boy got the special miso ramen (with all the added toppings); and I got the special shio ramen (again with all the toppings).

The shio ramen is the best way to taste that excellent chicken broth at its purest, which is partly why I ordered it: the other part is that I figured I might have to help the older boy finish his shoyu ramen. More fool me. He was the first to devour his entire bowl and leave the restaurant (so someone else could get his seat). Thankfully, the missus shared some of her bowl with me and so I can report that as excellent as the shio ramen was, the shoyu was even better still. And the miso ramen was excellent too, though a bit heavy. And it wasn’t just the broth and the toppings that were excellent; the noodles were outstanding as well (I believe they’re made specially for the restaurant). We’d also ordered a couple of bowls of chashu rice. I’d read that this is a must-order at the restaurant and it was indeed very good; but it was hard to finish them and the ramen.

For a look at the restaurant and everything we ate, launch the slideshow below. Scroll down to see how much it all cost and to see what’s coming next from Tokyo.

The unwritten rule at ramen restaurants in Japan is that you don’t take too long to eat and you don’t linger after you’re done. Toy Box also asks that you not take any pictures of the kitchen and so I did not (you can see their other rules in the sixth picture in the slideshow). By the way, they have a reputation for gruffness but we were treated with great kindness/patience. Price? Looking at the prices on the vending machine, we must have paid just below 7000 yen for everything or just about $47. (By the way, the prices in the Google translate pic are not current—you should look at that pic for translations of the menu options and at my pic for current prices.)

What’s next from Tokyo? More sushi, more ramen, and then a meal in a completely different category.