Golden Gai & Hanazono Shrine

While walking towards Gunkan Higashi Shinjuku, I made a detour into the Golden Gai, a rabbit warren of tiny bars and restaurants. Almost all the venues were closed, but one ramen restaurant - Ramen Nagi - caught my attention. I learned from a quick google search that this restaurant is very well regarded, and it even had vegan ramen. I made a mental note to return after my Atlas Obscura explorations in the vicinity.

I returned to Nagi Ramen at around 11.30am and found that a small queue had formed around the alleyway. I joined the queue and waited to be called up to the restaurant. Nagi Ramen is a small, ten seat restaurant with counter seating only. To get to it, one has to climb a very steep and narrow staircase, order and pay at a machine at the top of the stairs, and then squeeze into a narrow counter space. Patrons seated in certain spots even had to stand up to let others pass. There was barely enough elbow space to eat, and woe behold any left hander seated to the right of a right handed person.

After a short wait, I was handed my bowl of vegan ramen. It certainly was an odd ramen, with thick noodles, minimal broth, and a sprinkle of menma (bamboo shoots), nori (seaweed), and spring onion served in a shallow bowl. It was very different from the generous, vegetable-heaped bowls at my local vegan ramen place in Honolulu. I'm generally not a big fan of bamboo shoots, and I tasted almost nothing but bamboo shoots on my first taste of the broth, but the savory broth and the chewy noodles grew on me within a couple of slurps. I happily tucked into the rest of my meal while savoring the unique experience of eating world class ramen in such a cramped space. For 1,500 yen, I gained a priceless experience.

If you follow my blog, you might have seen me posting pictures of 6'6" Jeff squeezing into tiny spaces or tiny tuktuks during our travels. I challenged Jeff to squeeze into this space on our next trip, and he gamely accepted the challenge. We may have some fun videos in the future.

After lunch, I ducked into the only other venue in Golden Gai that appeared open, which was a little coffee nook. This was a six-seater shop with almost no space between the counter and the wall. I ordered a coffee and rice flour scone from the friendly proprietress. While enjoying my snack, I had to get up twice to let other people in or out.

After eating, I wandered around Golden Gai a little and then I walked through the Hanazono Shrine. There was scaffolding being set up at the shrine, and I suspect it is for an upcoming festival. Back in 2018, I chanced upon a festival at this site during a layover in October. After exiting the shrine, I saw a taiyaki stand and I couldn't resist getting one.Read more