池袋ラーメン屋行列の謎

When you walk from エッセンスイングリッシュスクール toward the 池袋 station, you probably notice this ラーメン屋. It's called 無敵家.

When I started out as a teacher at エッセンス in 1999, I often went there for lunch. I'm kind of メタボ now, but I was quite thin back then, so I didn't have to worry about 脂肪. 無敵家's ラーメン is very こってり, and I like ラーメン that way. When I visit 北海道 I enjoy the snow, and I want to experience the heat if I go to 沖縄. Likewise, I want as much fat as possible in ラーメン.

無敵家 also offers ニンニク on the counter, and you can put it as you like. I love ニンニク, so this place is one of my favorites in 池袋 (Plus, you can have ジャスミン茶 for free, and it's refreshing).

These days, however, I can't eat there even when I'm in the mood for ラーメン. Why? Well, if you are an エッセンス student, you know the reason. It's always crowded, and you'd have to wait in line for a long time to get in.

Do you see the long line in the photo below?

I took this picture after Saturday's evening class. It was like 9:45 in the evening, and the line was still this long!

I think this restaurant suddenly got very popular several years ago. It used to be much easier to get in before. I wonder what caused this change. I'm not a marketing expert, but I'm curious about the reason. It's a mystery to me. Does anyone have any idea why?