Araki

For noodles at Araki, sanma-men is a strong choice, topped with a thick vegetable sauce. One diner’s lunchtime bowl was a saucy ramen with pork, cabbage, carrot, bean sprouts, bamboo shoots, wood ear mushrooms and garlic chives. Its mild seasoning, made with a light-coloured kaeshi tare and an animal-based broth, was paired with slender, curly noodles and crisp-tender vegetables.

The noodle menu also ranges from miso ramen and tantanmen to sanratanmen and wonton ramen. Yakisoba comes in several styles, including gomoku sauce, salt, Shanghai-style and thick-sauce versions. A diner who ordered gomoku sauce yakisoba reported finding pork, prawns, squid and vegetables, along with a little crab meat. It stands out when you fancy something other than noodles in broth. For wontons, there is gomoku wonton ramen or gomoku wonton. One account describes the gomoku filling as a mix of vegetables, prawns, crab, egg and squid, with wontons wrapped around generous portions of filling. The diner enjoyed alternating between the assorted filling, a drink and the wontons.

For something other than noodles, lunch set meals come with rice, pickles and miso soup. Options include ginger pork, stir-fried meat and vegetables, and fried chicken; smaller portions of rice are available. You can also add a rice set to an à la carte dish, making it easy to choose between a full set meal and a lunch built around smaller plates.