What is it about handmade noodles, young chefs, minuscule restaurants and hard-to-find locations? Here's another highly idiosyncratic craft-noodle shop that opened recently, which is every bit as hard to find as Nemuri-an.
Asahi lies on a sleepy side street just off Inokashira-dori in a mainly residential backwater halfway between Shimokitazawa and Yoyogi-Uehara. It's a tiny place, a converted store barely big enough to squeeze in two low, cobbled-together tables along with their equally mismatched chairs, plus three stools at a cramped counter by the kitchen.
That may not sound promising, but Asahi has one cogent claim to fame that may make it worth searching out: It is, to the best of our knowledge, Tokyo's one and only ital (Rastafarian vegan cuisine) noodle shop. Think of it as the soul mate of the excellent, whole-food baker, Levain, which is just a short stroll down the road.
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