Ramen ラーメン
Wheat noodles in a hot soup with toppings such as sliced pork and green onions. It came from China and is now one of Japan's most popular everyday dishes.
About Ramen
- What it is: Wheat noodles in broth. The four main soups are shoyu (soy sauce, the most common), shio (salt), miso and tonkotsu (creamy pork bone).
- Styles: Each region has its own. Sapporo is known for hearty miso ramen, often with butter and sweet corn. Tokyo ramen is shoyu with dashi and wavy noodles. Hakata ramen in Fukuoka uses thin, straight noodles in cloudy tonkotsu soup, topped with pork, green onions and red pickled ginger.
- Where to try it: Ramen shops near stations and in entertainment districts, izakaya and food stalls. In Fukuoka, the yatai street stalls in Nagahama and Tenjin are a classic place for Hakata ramen.
- Instant ramen: Momofuku Ando, founder of Nissin, created Chicken Ramen, the first instant noodles, in 1958, and Cup Noodles in 1971. The Cupnoodles Museums in Ikeda (Osaka), the birthplace of instant ramen, and in Yokohama let visitors make their own cup noodles.
- How to eat it: Many shops have a ticket machine by the door, so buy your ticket before sitting down. Eat the noodles quickly before they go soft, and slurping is normal. In Hakata, you can order kaedama, an extra helping of noodles.
Checked against: Ramen | japan-guide.com · Hakata Ramen | Crossroad Fukuoka · Yatai (Food Stalls) | Crossroad Fukuoka · Cupnoodles Museum Yokohama | Travel Japan (JNTO).
Ramen on Shibuya246
Photos and stories from the blog, as they were written at the time.
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