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Chasing that Jiro high at Fujiyama 55

Jeeves De Veyra

<div><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1772441667790jiro ramen.jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" width="960"/>Jiro ramen. Jeeves de Veyra</div>Ramen in Japan is like adobo in the Philippines. Everyone has their own version. Every prefecture, every region has versions of miso, shio, and shoyu with some that defy classification.I have a ramen crazy friend who spent several years working in Japan. So when we booked a trip to Tokyo for the Taylor Swift Reputation tour years back, we asked him for an eat list.Above all the recommendations was this little ramen shop in the backroads of Tokyo that he would go to as often as he could.On a rainy evening, we took the train and walked several blocks to find a long line of people. As soon as we got inside, it was small, cramped, and haphazard. Hungry diners were standing behind those seated slurping away their ramen on a U-shaped counter with huge pots of broth boiling away as the cooks made ramen noodles and assembled orders.As with Japanese shops, order taking was via a machine. After feeding the machine money, it spit out a ticket to be handed to the people behind the counter. I remember that they only served one thing and that was THAT ramen. I took the largest size which was around 2000 yen at that time.
What I got was a heaping bowl of ramen with rich broth with bean sprouts and cabbage piled high topped with thick slices of fatty chashu so soft that it would just disintegrate with the slightest touch of chopsticks. Damn, it was good and nothing like any ramen I have ever had.
Two of my dining companions couldn’t finish it because it was so rich. To which, I accepted the challenge to finish those bowls off. I recall that it was the first time I stumbled out of a ramen restaurant dizzy with all that fat.
Nothing came close to that bowl of ramen — until now.<div><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1772441727668front.jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" width="960"/>Fujiyama 55. Jeeves de Veyra</div>I’ve always passed by Fujiyama 55 at the corner of McKinley and EDSA on the way to BGC many times and have always ignored it. It was only after seeing someone’s post about the Jiro-style ramen on their menu that finally got me through its doors.While the original Fujiyama 55 comes from Nagoya, this is as close to that Jiro-style ramen I slurped in Tokyo as I can get locally.It comes close where it counts. Where it mattered was the broth, it’s as garlicky as I remembered with globules of pork fat floating in the slightly sweet broth. I’d say it’s very different from the usual tonkotsu or paitan ramen served at local ramen-yas. There were the requisite toppings of bean sprouts and cabbage, and the noodles were a bit different — thick, meaty, and chewy that they also use in their tsukemen.Where it differed was the chashu. The chashu was much thinner than the one I remembered back in Tokyo with a texture like that of sukiyaki. It was Just different with its own personality, though there is an option to order extra chashu to get that protein hit.
But still, this was a great representation of that bowl I had back in Tokyo. I’m not as young as I used to be so I can’t have this as often as I’d want. If there’s ever incentive to hit the gym (or buy maintenance meds), it would be going back to Fujiyama 55 to have another bowl of Jiro, perhaps with extra servings of chashu to get it closer that mythical bowl I had back on a rainy evening in the back streets of Tokyo.<div><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1772441755630tsukemen.jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" width="960"/>Tsukemen. Jeeves de Veyra</div>Alongside the Jiro ramen, their tsukemen with their dipping broth of gyokai tonkotsu that’s thick with pork and fish is another must try.  Diners have the option of ordering rice and cheese to make a cheese risotto with the remaining tsukemen broth to make sure nothing goes to waste.<div>Fujiyama 55 Ramen Philippines can be found at the G/F, Mckinley Exchange Corporate Center on the corner of EDSA and Mckinley Road and is open daily from 11am to 10pm. Please check out @fujiyama55.ph on social media for more information.</div>

There are ramen bowls you enjoy — and then there are ramen bowls you chase for years.

There are ramen bowls you enjoy — and then there are ramen bowls you chase for years.

The Dish: Chasing that Jiro high at Fujiyama 55

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The Dish: Chasing that Jiro high at Fujiyama 55

Jeeves De Veyra

Published Mar 02, 2026 04:57 PM PHT

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