Sometimes You Just Have to Crush a Narita Airport Ramen

If you’re reading this, I’m already in the U.S., home for the holidays to see family, drive the icy backroads that saw me intrepidly eat Jimmy Dean breakfast sandwiches while on the way to Catholic school homeroom, and catch up with old friends. 

All of this is great. However, there’s one glaring gastronomic problem in my small New England state – an egregious lack of authentic and quality Japanese cuisine. 

So, on my route back from Hong Kong, stopping in Tokyo Japan at Narita International Airport for a 4-hour layover, you know I had to get one final Asian cuisine fix before touching down in the land of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, chicken tenders, and lite beer. 

And, with my stomach bloated and gurgling from the previous night’s undigested gyros, I knew I had to go with old faithful – ramen. 

Sometimes, you just have to crush a Narita Airport ramen – especially when that ramen is by Ginza Kagari. 

Third Time’s a Charm For Visiting Ginza Kagari

Website, Address, & Details:

• Location: T2 Center, Japan Food Hall at 1-1 Furugome, Narita, Chiba 282-0004, Japan (International Flights)
• Price: $$ – JP¥1800 to JP¥3000 (USD 11.50 to USD 19.00). 

While you might be sitting here thinking to yourself, ‘Airport ramen, really?’, I assure you, this ain’t just any old airport ramen. It’s Ginza Kagari – a venerated Tokyo chicken paitan ramen establishment that first appeared on most ramen enthusiasts’ radars in 2016 after its inclusion in the Michelin Guide as a ‘Bib Gourmand’ restaurant. 

2017 renovations saw it left off subsequent guides but it seems to be unanimously agreed that this is only temporary. 

I’m talking about its flagship location in…you guessed it…Ginza. Several other Tokyo branches have served ramen fiends faithfully over the years, including one in Otemachi (just north of Ginza), Roppongi, and Narita International Airport. 

Ginza Kagari was on my radar well before I even stepped off the plane on this most recent trip, as I had spent 3 months in 2023 posted up in Japan – hangin’, slangin’, and ramen bangin’. 

Unfortunately, back then, my gourmandizing exploits were somewhat derailed after a ruckus night of slugging yard-long Japanese craft beers with a Michael Jackson-impersonating proprietor that led to me waking up naked in the hallway of my hotel. 

My second stint in Tokyo didn’t prove fruitful either as this time it was the irretrievable breakdown of an attempt at rekindled romance with an ex (of sorts) that ultimately culminated in breaking up at an onsen in Hakone. 

Fortunately, I was able to spend the remainder of that expensive ryokan stay with naked Japanese salarymen in various hot baths, slugging ice-cold vending machine Kirin beers in between dips. 

I digress. Here’s why you absolutely need to get yourself some paitan ramen ASAP. 

Pale Ale Travel Note: The only real point of note that might be less than stellar is that it is roughly 1.5 to 2x the price you’d pay for a standard ramen in the city (Tokyo). But that’s just airport pricing, baby. However, I’m more than happy to pay this before a flight of gas-inducing plane food and one too many 30,000-foot Coke Zeros. 

Paitan Ramen: Tonkotsu’s Seductive Chicken Cousin

Paitan = chicken broth on steroids. Not literally. Gustatorily. 

Translating to ‘white soup’, paitan is an opaque, milky, creamy broth that is rendered by boiling pork or chicken bones for hours on end. The most common and most consumed version of this is tonkotsu (pork bone), which is also its own distinct type of ramen.  

In my ramen tenure, I’ve eaten enough tonkotsu ramen never to receive an invitation to a Porky Pig casual Friday night mixer ever again, so you could say that I’m a big proponent of this style. 

However, while I’ve consumed plenty of ‘tonkotsu paitan’, I’ve only ever slurped down the chicken bone equivalent (‘tori paitan’), once before – which is a real shame as it’s Osaka-originated (and where I spent the bulk of my 3 months in Japan). 

And boy do I have to say that it is goddamn delicious. It boasts a similar texture (aka the creaminess) to creamed corn soup, albeit it slightly less viscous, and noticeably lighter body to tonkotsu, which I suspect is due to a lower density of chicken bones. 

As I was feeling somewhere in the middle of the average Japanese salaryman and Iggy Azalea fancy, I opted for the ‘special soba’ – which I’m pretty sure was only distinguished by an ajitama egg, single asparagus (not relationship-wise), Japanese pumpkin, and more red pepper. 

I’ve still yet to acquire a craving for truffle but maybe at a later date, I’ll be back for the tori paitan ramen with freshly shaved truffle. 

Don’t think that just because this ramen is served at an airport the quality and precision are going to be second-rate. In Japan, there’s an honor and heritage behind ramen that ensures a baseline of quality no matter where you are (that’s a hill I’ll die on).

Ginza Kagari uses a thinner noodle that reminds me of a love child of hand-pulled Chinese noodles and knife-cut Korean noodles. Wide enough to inevitably capture the creamy compound which it’s submerged in, narrow enough to not overpower any singular bite, and allow the rich broth to speak for itself.  

‘Cool’ sous vide slices of chicken provide an enjoyable contrast to the piping hot broth and act as a second formidable vessel to absorb every last drop, while earthy, fibrous chunks of Japanese pumpkin further draw out the sweetness of the chicken stock. The ajitama egg adds further creamy depth (and cruel irony) with its runny, barely set yolk, imbuing faintly salty notes as well. 

The asparagus and red pepper? I’m not really sure how I feel about both in the dish as they felt somewhat out of place but I wasn’t complaining. If I had to hazard a guess, they were included for textural profundity. However, in Big Body’s humble opinion, when the noodles are perfectly elastic and yield a perceivable snap, that’s all the texture I need. 

Ginza Kagari is ‘chicken excellence’ at its finest – and while it was a great day to be me, it was a bad day to be whatever family of chickens provided this meal. 

I can’t say that I’ve consumed many comparable ramen to this. However, with its incorporation of everything chicken, there’s a familiarity that puts you at ease – back to your innocent years when after coming down with a cold, you hunkered down on the sofa with a bowl of hearty chicken noodle soup and your parents to watch Sword in the Stone. 

Pale Ale Travel Tip: If you’re in the Shinbashi neighborhood of Tokyo, make sure to check out my post on one mighty bowl of Iekei ramen at Ramen Taniseya. 

A Tori Paitan Call to Action: Are You With Me?

My rule of thumb for eating in Japan is that there are so many high-quality and memorable restaurants out there that I avoid waiting more than 20 to 30 minutes for a particular spot. 

So, even if my first two times in Tokyo weren’t filibustered by self-sabotage and unrequited love, there’s a chance that I may have completely skipped Ginza Kagari (main branch) altogether due to the line.   

Honestly, the fact that you can get yourself a bowl of this creamy, nutrient-rich, sapid chicken bone concoction in an airport feels like a life cheat code – and I want all of you to get to the next level. 

This article also isn’t just about eating at Ginza Kagari, it’s about trying a new style of ramen (tori paitan) that you didn’t even know existed. 

So consider this a call to action to step outside of your ramen comfort zone and seek out a ramen style that doesn’t get nearly enough love (at least from foreigners). 

If you have any questions about eating or drinking in Tokyo (or Japan), please don’t hesitate to reach out to me! 

Eat well everyone,

Big Body