Momonoki Shinjuku: A Salad-Topped Ginger Tsukemen
Momonoki Shinjuku (小麦と肉 桃の木) is a small tsukemen shop near Shinjuku Gyoen, and it serves one of the more original bowls of dipping ramen I've had in the city. Look for the black exterior and the pink noren curtain.
A Shop With Setagaya Roots
Momonoki started back in 2009 as a brand under the Setagaya ramen group, one of the more respected names in Tokyo ramen. After the owner left, the shop closed for a while, and then she reopened it as her own shop in 2019. It's one of the few ramen shops in Tokyo run by a female owner.
The shop is known for lighter-style tsukemen (dipping ramen), and the menu reflects that. The noodles are made with 100% domestic wheat, and they're wide and flat, a lot like kishimen.
The Bowl: Seabura Shouga
I ordered the seabura shouga (背脂生姜醤油), a shoyu (soy sauce) tsukemen with pork back fat and ginger. Back fat can mean heavy, but the ginger changes that. It's bright and sharp, it cuts right through it, and the whole thing ends up surprisingly sappari, meaning clean and refreshing rather than greasy. I liked that balance a lot.
Inside the dipping soup was a generous amount of stir-fried pork slices, and they reminded me of shougayaki, the ginger pork you'd get at a Japanese set-meal shop. That's not something I've come across in a tsukemen bowl before.
The noodles came topped with a small salad, dressing and all. It sounds odd, but it works. The fresh vegetables are a nice break between dips, and the light, flat noodles pick up just enough of the soup without getting weighed down.
When you're done, ask for soup-wari. Momonoki thins the leftover soup with soba-yu (the cooking water from buckwheat noodles) instead of the usual dashi.
What Else to Order
Besides the seabura shouga, the lineup includes a kotteri (heavier) shoyu, a kokumaru shio (a rich, rounded salt-seasoned tsukemen), and a spicy option. The shop also rotates seasonal limited bowls, some of which get pretty creative.
Momonoki Shinjuku - Final Thoughts
Momonoki is a good pick if you want tsukemen that isn't the usual thick and heavy style. The ginger and back fat combination, the flat noodles, and the salad all make this a bowl I'd happily go back for, especially on a warm day in Shinjuku.
If you're eating your way around Shinjuku, the Shinjuku section of my Tokyo Ramen Guidebook has more of my favorite shops in the area, so you can line up your next bowl after Momonoki.
