Karashibi Miso Ramen Kikanbo Ikebukuro

I walked here after an afternoon in Ginza where I had previously eaten a ramen lunch already and perused several depachika offerings. I wasn’t hungry but I knew there wasn’t much going on around this area so it would be an extra trip to this area alone just to try Kikanbo’s spicy miso ramen.
I arrived around 3pm and there were only 5 other people with around 9 – 10 bar seats. Like some other ramen places, you order from the vending machine. And this one can be quite intimidating to those who can’t read Japanese because there are a lot more options, with topping and drinks included there as well. The paper bibs are located just to the right of the vending machine, and I highly recommend it here. Even when I was trying extra hard to be careful, there was a lot of splatter.
I picked the smallest ramen option at 800 yen, which was a decent sized portion for someone with a smaller appetite. After giving your ramen ticket, the staff will ask you what spice levels for both types of spices — hot (kara) and numbing (shibi). I chose futsū/​futsū, which translates to normal or usual and is the 3^rd out of 5 levels.
I would say that I have a higher than average spice tolerance and it was a good level. It wasn’t hot enough where I had to take breaks or drink water after every bite. The soup was full flavored but I think it lacked some finesse. It tasted a bit two dimensional to me with just strong pork flavor and the numbing spice from the sansho, a Japanese numbing pepper similar to Szechuan peppercorns. The numbing spice does feel great though on the palette as it lingers throughout the meal, especially if you enjoy that mild burn from eating spicy food.
There’s a lot to like about Kikanbo’s ramen. The pork slices are huge, sumptuous and extremely flavorful. The mound of bean sprouts are crisp and serve as a great refreshment to the spices. But I’m not sure if it was the fact that this was my second bowl of ramen within 3 hours but it just didn’t stand out as something I would scramble to come back for like other ramen places I’ve tried on this trip. But I do still recommend trying it out because I haven’t had sansho in a ramen before and the décor and ambience is great with tengu mask adornments and taiko drumming in the background.