Though located in one of the most competitive area for ramen shops, Nakano, the length of the waiting line of Aoba is outstanding. Actually Aoba is one of the most popular ramen shop even on the nation wide scale.(It is always ranked within top 10 at worst in popularity polls.) Its popularity is simply the fruit of their effort of providing high quality bowls, not by exposing themselves to the mass medium aggressively.After 5 years since its open in 1996, in last year, Aoba opened its first branch shop in Iidabashi, which soon became popular and formed a waiting line as well as Nakano shop. Their third shop opened in Nakano-Nabeya-Yokocho.With the consecutive success of previous shops, Aoba's branches might be mushrooming all over & around Tokyo in the next several years.

Aoba offers both "Ramen" (noodles in

soup) and Tsukemen, both of which are soy sauce taste. The stocks are made from pork&chicken bones, and dried fishes separately. Then they are blended when poured in a bowl just before being served. This blending stock is called "double soup" method, which became famous as the recipe of Aoba was disclosed..
Both Ramen and Tsukemen have upper grade menu called "Tokusei." "Toques" is 200yen more expensive than normal ones, and the difference is that "Tokusei" has extra slices of chashu and seasoned egg. It might sound unreasonable, though , chashu and seasoned egg are Aoba's another specialties and worth of 200yen.

As mentioned before, the menu of Aoba has only 4 items, Ramen, Tokusei Ramen, Tsukemen, and Tokusei Tsukemen. Then the ordering system is quite simple. Just order your favorite when asked at seat. The shop is designed for eating-ramen only, and has not been equipped with anything else. Your prompt eating (without chatting with your pals.) and leaving are strongly recommended especially when others are waiting in line.

Viviting Aoba@ Nakano at evening is like a gamble, since it is often closed quite early because of "sold out." If you would like to avoid waiting in a line, Nabeya-yokocho shop is most recommended. It is the newest and the least known, then it rarely forms a waiting line. But you can still enjoy the same quality as the other 2 shops. As the fore-running 2 shops' examples show, Nabeya-yokocho shop will be crowded once it gets famous. So now is the time to taste without waiting!

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