Tsuke-men in Matsudo 「松戸市の美味しいつけ麺」

Char-siu at Tonikaku　「兎に角」のチャーシューつけ麺

Have you ever tried Tsuke-men? It's Ramen with the noodles separated from the soup (dashi). You drag noodles, alittle bit at a time, into the soup bowl as you eat. The soup is less diluted than the soup in regular Ramen (more intense flavor) so you don't drink or sip the soup (until the end when, if you like, you can ask for some hot water to thin it out). The first time I ever tried it, I couldn't get over the strangeness of the noodles being in a separate bowl. Now though, I prefer Tsuke-men to Ramen. One reason is, the noodles seems to be a bit heavier than the ones used in Ramen (usually, depends on the place). Since my husband loves Ramen and researches alot of Ramen/Tsuke-men restaurants, we go about once a week out to one of our favorite places or to try a new place. I have become a bit of a connoisseur.

In the last 2 weeks we have tried Tsuke-men at 2 different restaurants near Matsudo station in Chiba. Both were quite good! Give them a try if you ever are around Matsudo station.

Tonikaku
This place seats about 8 or so people and looks like a couple is running it. It is very clean inside. The soup (dashi) is light to medium, not fatty. It has a little bit of a spicy after taste, just right. The noodles were good too. Their Char-siu wasn't too fatty (I won't eat the real fatty kind). I look forward to eating there again someday, it was definitely above average and worth the 15 minutes or so wait to be seated. Plus, this place had the best music! Lots of late 70's hits. Got me in a great mood! It was a delicious and fun lunch. They are open 11:30 am to 2:00 pm and 6:30 pm to 9:00 pm every day except Monday (closed on Mondays) and open only for lunch from 11:30 am to 2:00 pm on Sundays, Thursdays and holidays .

UPDATE:
Tonikaku has a new location just 2 streets over from it's
previous location. The address is:
Nemoto 462, 1st floor
Matsudo-City
047-361-4667

Front of Tonikaku, brand new location

Tsuke-men at Tonikaku　「兎に角」のつけ麺

Tomita
This place makes their own noodles and boy are they GOOD! They are thick and like 'al dente' style. Very unusual and very good! The soup had a bit more fat in it than I prefer but it wasn't overwhelming. I wouldn't be able to eat it so often but it's ok for every now and then. The soup's flavor was delicious, I detected a bit of garlic but not sure. The Char-siu was WAY too fatty for me. There is barely any meat on it at all (see the close up photo I took). I gave all my Char-siu to my husband. There was a pretty good size cue and we had to wait around 20 minutes, but the staff was very organized and took our order before we got in so that once we were seated, the food came right away. As I said, I don't know how often I would eat here, because I prefer alittle less fat but those noodles were some of the best I've ever had. They are open everyday except Wednesdays (closed on Wednesday) from 11:00 am to 7:00 pm.

Front of restaurant Tomita　「とみ田」の外観

Tsuke-men at Tomita　「とみ田」のつけ麺

Char-siu at Tomita　「とみ田」のチャーシューつけ麺