| 唐そば（渋谷区） Tousoba (Shibuya-ku, Tokyo) Shibuya／Ramen, Tsukemen  The second generation has inherited the taste of the legendary ramen restaurant that was immensely popular in Kurosaki, Kitakyushu, in Shibuya. Lunch: ~￥999 Dinner: ~￥999 Tousoba（@IYRXkzYMZN547lX）X (twitter.com) |
Tonkotsu ramen is very popular not only in Kyushu but also in the Kanto region.
Many people think of Hakata ramen or Kurume ramen when they think of tonkotsu ramen, but there is a tonkotsu ramen in Shibuya that is a cut above the rest.
This time, we report on “Tousoba,” a famous restaurant from Kitakyushu that is a must-try for those who love tonkotsu ramen.
For information on business hours, holidays, and reviews, please check the official website and the Google map at the bottom of this page.
Legendary ramen restaurant in Kurosaki, Kitakyushu
I love Kyushu, having worked there (Fukuoka, Kumamoto, Miyazaki) for 10 years.
Of course, I also love tonkotsu ramen, the standard Kyushu ramen, so when I was working in Kyushu, I often discussed ramen with the locals.
One such person from Kitakyushu enthusiastically said, “Tousoba is the best ramen! I was impressed by his passionate words.
Tousoba, he told me, was a legendary ramen restaurant that sold 700 bowls a day and was extremely popular.
Expanding to Tokyo, but Suffering
It was 1999 when “Karasoba” closed its store in Kitakyushu and expanded to Tokyo (Shibuya).
The second generation of “Karasoba” overcame the opposition of his father, who was also the founder of the restaurant, and moved to Tokyo, but he was in constant pain because he could not produce the same taste as his father.
The story was broadcast as a documentary on TV, and the image of the second generation in tears because of the pain and suffering is still burned in my mind’s eye.
I heard that thanks to his father’s advice and the extraordinary efforts of the second generation himself, the store got back on track.
The other day, I met an executive of a business partner who told me that he was from Kitakyushu, and I asked him about “Karasoba.
He replied, “Karasoba is still in business in Shibuya. Please visit there.”
Hearing this, I immediately went to “Karasoba” located near Shibuya Hikarie.
The person who told me about the restaurant told me that it is standard to eat ramen and rice balls together at Karasoba, so I ordered rice balls together (menu as of November 2023).
It was quite different from Hakata Tonkotsu
I had the impression that Kitakyushu was an intense town of coal mines, and I imagined that the pork bone ramen of that city would be very heavy, but it was completely different.
It had a light soup that was somewhere between Chinese noodles and tonkotsu ramen, and medium-thin noodles that were not thin but smooth.
It was quite a surprise.
It is a uniquely evolved type of tonkotsu ramen, clearly distinct from the tonkotsu ramen of Hakata, Kurume, or Kumamoto.
I was honestly surprised to learn that there is such a type of tonkotsu ramen in Kyushu.
Tousoba” is a must-try for those who love tonkotsu ramen.
Access, Reviews
For access, hours of operation, holidays, and reviews of Tousoba, please see the Google map below.
