Ramen Horiuchi Shinjuku Head Shop

I found Ramen Horiuchi Shinjuku Head Shop in Nishi-Shinjuku while searching online for a place to have morning ramen near Shinjuku Station. This restaurant is open from 8:00 a.m. on weekdays and Saturdays, and is conveniently located just a 3-minute walk from the west exit of Shinjuku Station. I had an 8:30 a.m. train to catch that day, and this seemed to give me plenty of time to get there in time.

However, if there was a long line before the restaurant opened in the morning, my morning ramen plan would be ruined. So on Saturday morning, I left the hotel a little early so that I could arrive at the restaurant 30 minutes before it opened. Now, would this Ramen Horiuchi Shinjuku Head Shop function as the morning ramen spot before the train as I had hoped? I will describe the situation of the restaurant in detail later, so please continue reading this article to the end…

Conclusion: On a weekday, you may need a little more time… Here is what Ramen Horiuchi Shinjuku Head Shop looks like before opening on a Saturday morning.

Ramen Horiuchi Shinjuku Main Restaurant is located in a triangular area between the street in front of the station and Ome Kaido, a little north of the west exit of Shinjuku Station. This area is densely populated with izakaya-style restaurants, and although it is deserted in the morning, at night it is crowded with young people every day.

I arrived at the main branch of Ramen Horiuchi at around 7:35 a.m., and at this point there was only one other customer. I waited for 20 minutes before the restaurant opened, and there were only 7 customers including myself. The restaurant has only 14 seats at the counter, so it is easy to calculate the time for a gathering of this size, and I think it works well as a morning lull spot before boarding the train. However, the traffic on weekday mornings is completely different from that on Saturdays, so if you want to use the restaurant on weekday mornings, it would be better to wait for the restaurant to open early or to leave a little extra time for your visit.

Ramen Horiuchi’s standard menu, “Ramen”, is the best morning ramen!

What I ordered at the Ramen Horiuchi Shinjuku Head Shop this time was the restaurant’s standard menu item, ramen (price: 890 yen including tax). After 7-8 minutes of waiting, the ramen arrived in front of me…

At a quick glance, it looks like this. The wide flat noodles and toppings of chashu pork, spinach, and nori (seaweed) are reminiscent of a Japanese-style ramen, but…

With that aside, let’s start with the soup… I was surprised when I took a sip. The broth is said to be made from chicken bones and pork bones, and the chicken broth is particularly rich in flavor, with the aroma spreading to the nose and the chicken broth permeating through the tongue and into the body. It’s been a long time since I’ve had Chinese noodles like this… I think it works great not only as a morning noodle, but also as a finishing drink at night.

The noodles are straight flat noodles with a smooth surface. The noodles are soft boiled and have a sticky texture, and when swallowed, they go down the throat without any resistance. However, there is one point to note, although it is a happy miscalculation. The amount of noodles is surprisingly large. Therefore, the volume of noodles may be a little too much for women or those who eat small amounts of food.

Now, let’s move on to the main topping, chashu pork, which is about 1 cm thick and has a good balance of lean and fatty meat, with the juices, fat, and ramen broth blended into the chewed cross section. Next time, I would like to eat this chashu pork as much as I can… but the price jumps up to more than 600 yen once I choose chashu-men, which I feel is a bit expensive…

This is the kind of ramen at the Ramen Horiuchi Shinjuku Head Shop, and I think it is the perfect morning ramen. If you can eat this before commuting to work, you will surely make a strong start at work.

By the way, this restaurant is closely related to the Ramen Manrai restaurant a few doors down, and although the name is different, it is in fact a branch of the same restaurant. Speaking of Ramen Manrai, it is a famous ramen restaurant that was highly praised by Tamori, a well-known food connoisseur. That can’t be bad, can it?

Other Ramen Menu Items at Ramen Horiuchi Shinjuku Head Shop (prices include tax)

• Zaru ramen: 950 yen
• Natto ramen 980 yen
• Tsukimi ramen 990 yen
• Chashu zaru ramen: 1,350 yen
• Chashu ramen: 1,550 yen

新橋店でも朝ラーメンできます！らぁめんほりうち 新宿本店へのアクセスは、最寄り駅のJR新宿駅から徒歩3分

Morning ramen is also available at the Shinbashi Branch! Access to the Ramen Horiuchi Shinjuku Head Shop is a 3-minute walk from the nearest station, JR Shinjuku Station.

In addition to the Shinjuku main branch, Ramen Horiuchi is also open near JR Shimbashi Station. According to the official website, the Shinbashi Branch opens one hour earlier than the main branch, at 7:00 AM. Shimbashi is a “sacred place for businessmen”. It seems that the Shinbashi branch will contribute to the morning nutrition of working businessmen, don’t you think? I think both the Shinjuku Head Shop and Shinbashi Branch are extremely valuable as Tokyo’s morning lahr spots, so ramen lovers would do well to check out this store.

Here are the details of the stores…

P.S. If you are looking for delicious ramens in Tokyo, please stop by this article below…