Sansanto Ramen: Higashi-Jujo’s Evening-Only Mix-Style Bowl
Sansanto: Higashi-Jujo's Two-and-a-Half-Hour Bowl
Sansanto (燦燦斗) ramen in Higashi-Jujo was on my list for an embarrassingly long time. It’s one of the big names in Tokyo’s “mix-style” ramen, where a pork-and-chicken broth meets a fish broth in the same bowl, and it comes up in the same breath as Kisso and Kokaibo.
The reason it took me so long is simple. They only serve ramen for two and a half hours in the evening.
A Very Local Spot
Higashi-Jujo isn't somewhere you end up by accident. It's a quiet residential stop in Kita Ward, and you won't see many tourists around. You come out of the station, walk up a little hill, and there's Sansanto, looking like it's about to fall apart.
That's part of the appeal. The building is old, there's a red lantern out front, and the whole place feels like it hasn't changed since the Showa era. Inside it's a small counter run by a husband-and-wife team, with the noodle machine sitting right behind the seats. Buy your ticket from the machine before you join the line. That's how they do it here.
The Bowl
The soup is pork and chicken blended with fish, mainly mackerel and bonito. It’s a classic mix-style broth with the fish front and center on the first sip and the pork and chicken giving it body underneath. On the light-to-heavy scale, it lands in a comfortable middle.
The noodles are made in-house and fairly thick, with a smooth, slippery bite. Toppings are straightforward: chashu pork, menma (bamboo shoots), chopped negi (spring onions), and a few kaiware sprouts. For what is a relatively cheap bowl, there’s a lot of craft going on. They also do tsukemen and aburasoba if you’re coming back for a second visit.
Sansanto Ramen in Higashi-Jujo: How It Stacks Up
Here’s where I land on the big three of mix style. Kisso is still at the top for me, Sansanto is right behind, and Kokaibou follows. I’ll be honest, though: I ate Kisso many years before Sansanto, so it’s hard to compare them head-to-head. Either way, Sansanto makes a really good bowl.
There’s also a caveat. Sansanto was my third bowl of the day. Ramen number three never gets a completely fair shake, so if I’d come to Sansanto on an empty stomach, it might have ended up on top. I may have to go back and find out.
If you're serious about mix-style ramen, Sansanto belongs on your list. Just plan your evening around it.
