Eifukucho Taishoken stands just outside the north exit of Eifukucho Station on the Keio Inokashira Line. It opened on March 4, 1955, when a bowl of chuka-men cost 35 yen. Seventy years later it still serves essentially one thing: a soy-based ramen built on niboshi (dried sardine) broth, with what the shop's own site calls "easily double the noodles of other shops." Despite sharing a name with the Higashi-Ikebukuro Taishoken, it belongs to a different lineage — this is the shop the "Eifukucho-style" branch of ramen grew out of.
What kind of shop it is
The founder was Kenji Kusamura. He chose niboshi at a time when pork-bone broth was the norm, reasoning that dried sardine — the same stock base used in miso soup — sits closest to the Japanese palate, according to the official site of the TRY Ramen Awards. The broth combines several types of niboshi from different regions with katsuobushi, soda-bonito and mackerel flakes, and the shop says it has reworked the recipe more than 300 times since opening. Its company timeline also records the year it began buying sardines directly from the fishing grounds (1972), and a fire that destroyed the shop in April 1969, after which it reopened that October.
At the 25th TRY Ramen Awards (2024–2025), the shop placed 2nd in the niboshi category of the TRY Meiten (established shops) division with 76 points; it placed 5th at the 23rd and 6th at the 24th. There is only one Eifukucho Taishoken. It trains apprentices who go on to open their own shops using the Taishoken name under a noren-wake (branch-naming) system, but its FAQ states plainly that it has no involvement in the recipes or operation of those shops.
What to order
The menu is short: two noodle dishes, chuka-men at ¥1,180 and chashu-men at ¥1,430 (as of July 2026, per the official site). The only add-ons are a raw egg (¥50) and menma bamboo shoots (¥200). There is very little to deliberate over.
The chuka-men arrives in a 24 cm jumbo bowl holding 290 g of medium-thin noodles — two portions' worth, made by Kusamura Shoten (per the TRY Ramen Awards site). A film of Dutch lard covers the surface, which keeps the soup hot down to the last mouthful. The first spoonful is genuinely hot, so approach it slowly. The tare that sets the base flavour is a blend of three soy sauces the shop describes as "new," "medium-aged" and "long-aged."
If the volume concerns you, a sukuname (smaller portion) option was added in March 2022, per the shop's timeline — just say so when you order. The ¥50 raw egg is the shop's own suggestion: crack it into the small bowl and dip the noodles into it tsukemen-style (tsukemen = noodles served with a separate dipping liquid). The menu page also prints a staff variation — two ladles of soup, a little chili oil, and a circuit of vinegar around the bowl.
Tips for visiting
There is no car or bicycle parking, so use a nearby coin lot if you drive or ride. There are also no toilets in the dining room itself: they are on the 3rd floor (women and children) and the 4th floor (men). The shop explains this came from the previous owner's wish that customers eat in comfortable surroundings, and staff will show you the way if you ask.
Each month's closure dates are posted on the top page of the official site and on Instagram. One caveat on hours: the site's top page lists 11:00–23:00 while its shop-information page lists 11:00–22:00, so if you are aiming for a late bowl, confirm the current listing on the official site or Instagram first.
The yuzu used for aroma goes into the bowl only from around November to May and stops once stock runs out, so in summer it is usually absent — the shop's FAQ says so directly. To take the flavour home, the counter sells the omiyage ramen set (¥1,230) and you can buy a single pack: soup, fresh noodles, menma and naruto, with no chashu and no yuzu.