Two words: "tori paitan." The smooth, satisfying soup derived from simmering chicken bones and carcasses long and slow to create a thick, umami-rich broth. Served with ramen and a few choice toppings, it makes for one of the finest bowls of noodles you can find. Just ask anyone who ever supped at Kagari.

In the space of a couple of years, this tiny, eight-seat counter hidden down a Ginza back alley grew from a local word-of-mouth favorite to an international phenomenon, featured in guidebooks — including Michelin — and generating lines stretching around the block. And then, just like that, in November 2017, it vanished.

There were spin-off branches around the city, even one in Osaka. But it was the original location everyone pined for, especially after the second Ginza branch (in the nearby subway station) also closed last summer. With little information available in any language on when, or even if, either would reopen, fans were left in limbo.