Taishoken
As a huge fan of ramen and tsukemen (i.e., dipping noodles), I enjoy trying to find all the good tsukemen. I’ve been to a few places already both in Los Angeles and in New York City, but the thing that really caught my eye here was that his restaurant says it is the “original tsukemen since 1951” whatever that means. The original location actually started out in the bay area in Northern California, and it has some notoriety that west coast people have raved about. They opened an outlet here in NYC fairly recently, so I thought I’d stop in and give it a try on a brisk, cold Wednesday evening.
Ambiance & Service
When I walked in, you immediately see a counter top, and surprisingly there were just 2 guests. I was asked if I wanted to sit in the counter or a table, and I opted for the counter. The host also served as the waiter and took my order within minutes. The food came out within minutes as well. The counter top faces the kitchen area, so you can see how they mix all the sauces and make the food.
Food
The Spicy Tokusei Tsukemen ($23.50) came with cold thick noodles with rich dipping broth made with pork, chicken, dried anchovy, and bonito. It’s topped with two kinds of pork chashu, egg, menma, nori seaweed, and green onions. The broth has some chili oil, spicy niku miso, and ichimi spice. The noodles were decently chewy, but somewhat difficult to pick up and dip with. The broth itself had a consistency more akin to curry than other tsukemen restaurants. Usually the broth tends to be hot and oily, so that it coats the noodles well. This one definitely has more of a gravy-like texture. The flavors leaned much more heavily to anchovy and bonito flavors (read: fishy). Spice wise, it had a bit of a heat but not uncomfortably so. The egg was cooked pretty thoroughly surprisingly, so it’s not liquid. I got some senses of yuzu salt, and I felt that if they could’ve had a bit more of that, it may have helped balance the rich, gravy, savory texture of the soup better. Both chashu pieces were overcooked, so they came off a bit chewy and dry. If I had the option, I would probably replace the pork belly with the sliced thin meat instead. The pork belly was the more mediocre flavor and texture wise of the two pieces.
Overall, because I was not enjoying the flavors of the soup (ignoring the texture), I decided to pass on adding the dashi soup to it. I truly did not care about drinking it watered down.
Overall Impression
Taishoken unfortunately did not impress me much nor even meet an average expectation. For tsukemen, I would probably pass on this. I would probably opt to TabeTomo nearby instead.
Yelp & Google Jabs
The tsukemen is exactly how I remember it – thick, bouncy noodles with the perfect chew, and that rich dipping broth that coats every strand. The spicy tokusei broth has so much depth and umami, and the portions are super generous. The chashu is melt-in-your-mouth tender, the egg is perfect, and everything is consistent from bowl to bowl.
This ex-SF based Yelper remembered this might prefer more fish forward flavors in their flavors. If you prefer more pork flavors, I would definitely pass on this one.
This review is solely based off their soft opening and lack of preparation, but I hope in the next few months they’ll iron things out… For whatever reason, our experience just wasn’t it-the inefficient sign up process, unnecessary dine in cold weather, and cold dipping broth just gave me the ick. Usually one can’t crawl out from an ick, thus I don’t think I can even fathom coming back when there are other tsukemen options in the city that just have it together.
An Elitist decided to write a review and criticize the soft opening about everything wrong. Even though they acknowledged it was a soft opening, the review chastised specifics that obviously the restaurant will need to address. Someone should explain to the elitist again what is the purpose of a “soft opening”.
Revisions
- Jan 7, 2026 - Initial revision.