Santora (三ん寅): Tokyo’s Premier Sapporo Miso Ramen Shop; Edogawabashi, Tokyo

When it comes to Sapporo style Miso Ramen, two shops reign supreme; Junren and Sumire. The two shops have been the de facto Miso Ramen kings for the better part of the last 60 years and it seems like there is nothing slowing them down. Sumire has even gone around opening branch locations in Kanto with their Yokohama location bringing in huge lines daily and both shops have partnered with food distributors to make home meal kits available in most supermarkets. The reach of the two shops is so large in fact that their style of Miso Ramen is known in the ramen world as JunSumi-kei, a combination of the two shop names shortened. Given their reputation and long history in the ramen industry, many young and aspiring ramen chefs have come knocking on their down to receive their rigorous training. In their long 60+ year history, they’ve trained some of the top Sapporo style ramen chefs in the industry, many of whom have gone off to open shops of their own. However, one of the rare distinctions for JunSumi-kei ramen is to get an official recognition from either of the two shops themselves as a Noren-wake, a sort of blessing from the shops to open as a former disciple. One such shop to have gotten this prestigious distinction is Santora, a Noren-wake of Sumire and one of the most talked about Miso Ramen shops in Tokyo since their opening a few years ago.

Of course with this recognition comes insane lines so be sure to plan accordingly if you’re thinking of grabbing a bowl. The queue can get quite long so it’s best if you come 30 minutes or so before they open and try to get in during their first lot of customers. Lunch time peaks, especially on weekends, can last close to 2 hours so bring a book just in case to keep you busy. Thankfully the shop is open 7 days a week from 11:00-15:00 for lunch and 17:30-20:00 for dinner. They do take holidays such as New Years and Golden Week so be sure to check their Twitter for the most up to date opening hours.

My order for the day was their famous Miso Ramen and I decided to grab a soft boiled egg and steamed bean sprouts topping as well. As you can see, they tend to get a lot of foreign customers given their popularity so their ticket machine is, thankfully, in English as well. Of course their Miso Ramen is the most popular menu item, but they do serve a Shoyu and Shio Ramen. I’ve yet to try it, but it is quite popular among the regulars. The overwhelming best seller though is the Miso so if it’s your first time to Santora, I would recommend sticking to the basics.

Pictured is my Miso Ramen. I was actually a bit surprised when it arrived because I was essentially expecting a complete replica of Sumire, but it was visually unique and was a preview of what’s to come flavor wise. If you compare the bowls from Sumire side by side, you’ll see that it has a cleaner, softer look on the soup, but the toppings and plating style is very similar. Sumire has a much oilier sheen on the surface of the soup while the one here at Santora has a bit more matte, emulsified look to it. The dollop of fresh grated ginger was a nice touch and I loved the gingery aroma it provided as the waitress brought my bowl.

Starting with this noodle pull, they have the same darker yellow hue reminiscent of the Sumire brand and gets their noodles sourced from Nishiyama Seimen. They are medium thickness and has a box, square cut to them so it has a really old school retro vibe and is a pretty satisfying slurp. I wouldn’t say these are necessarily my favorite style as it is rather dense and doesn’t leave any room for the soup to soak up, but this is pretty much the standard with Sapporo Miso ramen and the purpose is more of a soup carrying vessel, than a soup sponge. Due to how dense these strands are, they do however have a phenomenal texture with a bit of chewiness and bounciness that makes for a really filling meal.

So back with the soup, the oiliness is a lot less pronounced here at Santora and I don’t want to make any assumptions, but I would wager its probably due to them not using as much lard when they sauté their vegetables and miso. I personally prefer more lard so the one at Sumire really strums the right chords for me, but I can see how this is more popular in Tokyo as an afternoon lunch spot in an area where a lot of office workers come by looking for something hearty, but nothing heavy that might knock them out for the rest of the day. While it’s not quite as oily, it does have a huge miso punch and I really enjoyed how impactful they made the toasted, roasted aroma and flavor profile of the miso. The base is pork bones and dried fish which gives the soup both depth and richness from the pork as well as some hits of umami from the fish. While you can feel the richness of the pork bone broth, you barely taste any of the fish, rather you get the full power of glutamate combos with it mixing with this phenomenal miso tare. Soup does have a bit of grittiness to it, but really adds to the overall flavor of the bowl in my opinion.

Toppings include the pork chashu, some menma, and negi, as well as my add on bean sprouts and ajitama soft boiled egg. I thought the pork chashu was bit dry and tough for my liking, but I did enjoy how lightly seasoned it was and its willingness to soak up the soup and let it be the dominating flavor profile. Same goes for the bean sprouts which were slightly blanched and then topped on my bowl. It’s basic flavor profile was perfect for use as a vessel to get more soup in my mouth as quickly as possible. Crunchy menma gave the bowl a nice texture variety with the chewy noods, but I thought the soft boiled egg was overkill and I would probably pass on it if I were to come again.

As far as Sumire Noren-wake goes, it wasn’t among my favorites, but I am biased for a richer oilier Miso Ramen soup so many may disagree. However, in terms of Miso Ramen in Tokyo in general, definitely one of the best shops and is in the top tier for its style. If you enjoy Miso Ramen, this is definitely a must hit. If you do decide to make a visit, let me know in the comment section below or tag me over on Instagram.