Morioka reimen is one of the city's three famous noodle dishes, and it was born in this house. Teruhito Aoki — a first-generation Korean resident of Japan born in Hamhung — opened Shokudoen in May 1954 with four tables. He married the cold noodle of Pyongyang to the fiery cold noodle of his home Hamhung, then reworked the noodle itself, dropping the buckwheat for a pale, chewy strand, and Morioka reimen was set. The house grills yakiniku too, and its standing is on the record: a Tabelog 3.66 and a place on the Tabelog 100 for yakiniku, East, 2025.
What you eat
The reimen this house invented, a clear cold broth over that white, elastic noodle with the Hamhung heat behind it, and a grill of yakiniku alongside. It is the founding version of a dish now made all over the city, eaten in the room where it was worked out.
Cash on the counter
One thing to know before you sit: this house takes cash and only cash, no cards, no e-money, no QR. In a country that has gone largely cashless, it is almost a signature, a small insistence that matches the rest. Come with notes in your pocket, and the forty seats fill quickly around the open hours.
Best for
Travelers who want Morioka reimen at its true source, and who don't mind, even enjoy, a house that still runs on cash alone.
