Kokugidou, a Ryogoku style Japanese café

Kokugidou is a well-known café in Ryogoku. You might know Ryogoku, as it is where the Kokugikan Sumo Hall is located.

In fact, sumo wrestlers drop by this café from time to time, to take home snacks like “Anko Arare”, small rice crackers with red bean paste coating.

On the second floor, there is the café area where it is possible to have snacks or a light meal.

The second floor is not very big, but has several tables that can contain about twenty people all together.

The wellhole style architecture makes the room seem more spacious than it actually is. I like the roomy and comfortable atmosphere.

And of course, this is Ryogoku. There is a sumo wrestler painted on the curtain to the kitchen.

Chilled kishimen, rare in a café

Living in Tokyo, I don’t get many chances to eat kishimen, or flat noodles.

Although Kokugidou is mainly a sweets café, I took the opportunity to try the chilled kishimen, a rare dish in to find Tokyo restaurants.

The kishimen is here after ten minutes.


Ummm, the wonderful smell of dried bonito fills the air!

The dish is topped with crunchy bits of deep-fried dough, boiled fish-paste, lots of nori seaweed and cilantro.

I was surprised when I saw the wasabi on a separate plate.

There are little bits of ice in the soup. I take a sip. It looks quite light, but has a good dashi stock flavor. I could drink this endlessly

The noodles were a bit firmer than what I like, but it felt nice as the flat noodles went down my throat.

Now, together with the cilantro. The unique taste and smell spread through my mouth. I enjoyed the expansion of the flavor.

When the dish first arrived, it looked quite small, but I was wrong. The amount of kishimen is pretty substantial. By the time I finished the noodles, the toppings and the soup entirely, I was completely full.

The cilantro and wasabi were perfect complements to the ksihimen. I very much appreciated this “Ryogoku style” café!

writer：Yoko