Dashi to Men Yuei sits a short walk from Higashi-Koenji Station on the Tokyo Metro Marunouchi Line. Its premise is "dashi soba" — a noodle dish the owner positions as neither ramen nor udon. The shop began in 2021 as a pop-up in Nishi-Waseda and opened its own premises in Higashi-Koenji in 2023. The signature is aburasoba (brothless noodles) made with ultra-thick handmade noodles and served with a cup of dashi broth on the side. At the 25th TRY Ramen Awards (2024–2025) it took 1st place in the new-shop brothless category and 4th overall in the new-shop division, and it was selected for Tabelog's Ramen TOKYO Hyakumeiten 2025 for the first time. The shop opens four days a week; Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays are reservation-only, with weekdays first-come, first-served.

A shop that started with "dashi soba"

The owner is Kentaro Kishimoto. After graduating from Waseda University he spent about six years in a sales role at Mitsubishi Electric before asking himself what it was he genuinely loved — and the answer, he has said, was ramen (Enjoy Tokyo, December 2024). He began his training at Chuka Soba Takechiyo in Kita City, then learned noodle-making at Shinjuku Daruma Seimen. Alongside the roughly two years he spent running the pop-up in Nishi-Waseda from 2021, he also trained in hand-cut noodles at Iwai, a Sanuki udon shop in Jujo (same article).

The name "Yuei" (遊泳, literally "swimming freely") reflects his stated wish to make a living from what he loves and to enjoy it with playful, unconstrained thinking (from the 2021 opening announcement). The first incarnation opened on 10 October 2021 inside a shared space called V Plus in Nishi-Waseda, Shinjuku, trading only on Sundays and Mondays, and started with dashi soba at ¥700. On 31 July 2023 he opened the current shop on the ground floor of Koenji Samaria Mansion in Higashi-Koenji.

What to order

The signature today is the aburasoba. It is brothless, but the shop's format is to serve a cup of dashi broth alongside it. The announcement at the 2023 opening listed "aburasoba with seasoned egg (with dashi broth)" at ¥1,100, while a December 2024 feature article gives it at ¥1,150. Prices may have been revised since, so confirm current figures on the shop's official X or Instagram.

The noodles are made in-house from a blend of four varieties of wheat flour, prepared in batches of roughly 100 servings at a time (Enjoy Tokyo, December 2024). They are high-hydration and very thick; the owner has said he set out to make "noodles with a texture like raw octopus" (official TRY article). The same article singles out the aotogarashi-nira (green chilli and garlic chive) topping, and limited-run dishes appear from time to time — for example the kinoko nanban (¥1,500), which ran until February 2025.

Practical notes

The shop advises customers that "our hours are fluid, so please be sure to check our social media." Checking the official X (@d_t_m__yu_ei) or Instagram (@dashi_to_men__yu_ei) shortly before you set out is the safest approach.

  • Reservations are required on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays; weekdays remain first-come, first-served. Book through the shop's official page on TableCheck (https://www.tablecheck.com/en/shops/dashi-to-menyuei/reserve); reservations open at 11:00 one week before your intended visit date (checked 17 July 2026).
  • Booking rules: seating is limited to 30 minutes from the time you are shown to your seat; one bowl per time slot, so if you want a second you must book a further slot; and you should gather in front of the shop 15 minutes before your reserved time (per the same booking page).
  • The shop states that customers wearing strong fragrances such as perfume or fabric softener may not enter, and asks that you pass this on to anyone joining you (per the same booking page).
  • The owner handles everything from noodle-making to prep himself, and is reported to spend non-trading days on preparation. The shop may close early once sold out.