With fine dining dominating the top of the ranks, Tabelog introduced a new system in 2017 for casual restaurants, known as B-kyu Gourmet – much like the Bib Gourmand category created by Michelin.
These lists, known as the Hyakumeiten (100 top establishments), contain the best 100 restaurants in each B-kyu category. The 30 categories include soba noodles, gyoza dumplings, Japanese curry and cafes. Ramen, naturally, is one of Japan’s most popular B-kyu gourmet foods and was among the first dishes to be given a list.
With more than 50,000 ramen shops listed on Tabelog, the ramen Hyakumeiten was expanded to include separate lists for Tokyo, East Japan and West Japan. In 2023 a new Osaka-only list was introduced.
Each person has their own standards for delicious ramen. However, there is no doubt that [the Hyakumeiten lists] will serve as a guideline.
Although Tabelog has a built-in rating system based on the public’s reviews, the Hyakumeiten is a curated list of choices submitted by the top reviewers on the platform.
This can be seen as a great honour among Japanese foodies as Tabelog gamifies its system with special stamps for completing all 100 shops in a list.
The top overall reviewer on Tabelog since 2020 has been Masayuki Terada, who has reviewed more than 11,000 restaurants across Japan.
‘Dream ingredient’: would you eat ramen with alien-like isopod sea creature?
‘Dream ingredient’: would you eat ramen with alien-like isopod sea creature?
“Each person has their own standards for delicious ramen,” he says. “However, there is no doubt that [the Hyakumeiten lists] will serve as a guideline.”
The Hyakumeiten lists were a windfall for chefs. Shops will proudly show a Hyakumeiten sticker in their window or ticket machine, put the winner’s poster on the wall, and display the winner’s trophy every year that they have been included.
Some of Japan’s top shops have been on the list every year since 2017.
Hiromitsu Mizuhara runs six shops in Tokyo, four of which are in the 2023 Hyakumeiten – Tsukemen Kinryu, Ramen Koike, King Seimen and Chukasoba Nishino.
“Entering the Hyakumeiten is important when running a ramen restaurant,” he says. “It is even more important than being included in the Michelin Guide.”
The Tokyo Michelin Guide is used by many tourists from overseas and its Bib Gourmand category names 19 ramen shops in the 2023 guide, 15 of which are also on the Hyakumeiten.
Three Tokyo restaurants this good and yet no Michelin stars?
Three Tokyo restaurants this good and yet no Michelin stars?
Tabelog also gives gold, silver and bronze awards to restaurants in a lavish ceremony akin to the Michelin Guide’s three-, two- and one-star system.
Although the list isn’t necessarily a ranking, a visitor to Japan who loves ticking off the top places could easily visit those with the highest Tabelog user score.
In Tokyo, dining at Ramenya Shima, in Nishi-Shinjuku, required a two- to three-hour wait before it brought in a sign-up system. Arrive before 8am, write your name on the board and come back at the allotted time. It is worth the effort for real ramen lovers who want to try the craft ramen, made with a blend of artisanal soy sauce and noodles made in-house.
Kohaku, whose full name means Lake Shinji Littleneck Clam Chukasoba Kohaku, uses premium clams from Lake Shinji, in Shimane prefecture, to make its golden ramen.
The lunch-only Kamata restaurant is just a 20-minute train ride from Haneda International Airport, making it an easy choice for tourists.
Ramen FeeL is a top-ranked restaurant located in the western reaches of Tokyo, at the base of the Okutama mountain range. It can take nearly two hours from central Tokyo and often sells out, but with a new online reservation system, it can now be part of a day trip outside the Tokyo Metropolis.
Ramen FeeL is the only restaurant in Japan directly descended from Ramen Iida Shoten, another Hyakumeiten and the top-ranked ramen place in Japan.
Before the Osaka list was added last year, the West Japan Hyakumeiten list was dominated by Osaka, leaving deserving regions such as Kyushu and Shikoku under-represented.
The Osaka list is topped by Jinruiminamenrui, a restaurant loved by Japanese and overseas visitors alike. The fish-heavy shoyu (soy sauce) ramen is its bestseller.
Kadoya Shokudo makes old-school style chukasoba with premium ingredients sourced from around Japan. Menya Jikon has a menu with a rotating list of choices from deep shoyu styles to lighter shio (salt) ramen.
With Tokyo and Osaka each having their own 100-restaurant lists, less visited parts of eastern and western Japan can showcase their local styles on the Hyakumeiten. In the west, outlets such as Tonjinchi, in Toyama prefecture, have had their elegant shoyu ramen on the list for years.
Kyushu, which was given only two or three spots in previous years, now has 18 restaurants on the list. Long-time favourites such as Anzen Shokudo, in Fukuoka, easily made the list for homestyle tonkatsu ramen served by a group of sweet grandmas.
Shikoku, the island just south of Kobe, isn’t known for ramen (it is more udon country) but was given three spots. Prefectures such as Kyoto and Nara expanded their ramen influence with additional spots.
The list isn’t without its critics. On an aggregate review site such as Tabelog, restaurants in big cities tend to get more attention than those in the countryside. Tsukasa Kuroda is one of Tabelog’s top ramen reviewers and visits about 1,000 eateries every year.
“[Hyakumeiten] is not the best in Japan though it represents high-quality ramen,” he says.
Some far-off places do make the list, such as La-men Nikkou, in Shiga prefecture, which gives travellers with flexibility a chance to see a part of the country that most tourists don’t visit.
Hidden gems such as Urashima, in Wakayama prefecture, can be reached with some careful planning from Osaka, while places such as Tora Shokudo, in Fukushima prefecture are difficult to reach without a car.
A small group of foreign ramen fans have also started using the Hyakumeiten. Abram Plaut, creator of the Ramen Beast phone app, was one of the few to visit all 300 restaurants listed in the 2022 Hyakumeiten.
“The list is a good representation of trendy ramen in Japan, but it could be more varied,” he says. “Many of the local regional styles get forgotten for newer places in the cities using premium ingredients like duck or truffles.”
Sure enough, two new entries in the 2023 Hyakumeiten have duck in their name; Gion Duck Noodles, in Kyoto, and Kamo Chukasoba Kaede (kamo is Japanese for duck), in Tokyo.
Ramen chef Paweł Dobierski travels from Poland to Japan a few times a year to try famous restaurants and visited more than 200 in 2023.
“The list helped me a lot when I was looking for good shops,” he says. “The Google star system doesn’t really work for ramen in Japan. I’ve been to great places, but almost all of them had fewer than four stars.”
For fans of old-school eateries, the list leaves them guessing. Most places opened only in the past decade, with just a few standing the test of time.
The best ramen places in Hong Kong – this Frenchman knows his noodles
The best ramen places in Hong Kong – this Frenchman knows his noodles
Takano, in Tokyo, opened its doors in 1996. Tantantei, also in the capital, has been serving classic shinasoba with wontons since 1977. The head shop of Ramen Jiro, in Mita, Tokyo, has been operating since 1968.
Despite these minor gripes, the Hyakumeiten continues to be at the top of the ramen rankings in Japan. Hardcore ramen lovers strive to visit all 400 while casual fans of the dish are fine chipping away at the Tokyo 100.
For general foodies, all of the categories make deciding what ramen to eat simple – if it’s on the list, it’s probably great.
Brian MacDuckston is a ramen critic who runs the Ramen Adventures website. He was the first foreigner to visit all ramen venues in the 2022 Hyakumeiten list. Living in Tokyo made the nationwide task difficult, so he spent 40 days in Osaka visiting more than 70 shops in and around the greater Osaka area.
