That's a tough call because I think its difficult to compare two different styles of ramen. I think asashikawa-style ramen has more layers of flavor than hakata-style, whereas the hakata-style will have a straight forward pork flavor to it. Plus I really can't be quick to judge since I had Ippudo only once in my life. To give you another prosective, my manager would definately pick Santoka over Ippudo. He thinks that hakata-style ramen smells terrible. In his words, "it smells too porky". My manager believed that the yasahi (kind of like the mirepoix/aromatics when making a French stock), that we used help to not only add flavors, but to mellow out that pork "stench" he always ranted about. But then again, my manager might be slightly biased, since his hometown is Asahikawa and his first job in high school was at the original Santoka.... However, I would most likely prefer ippudo over santoka's miso or shoyu. The shio, I'm not so sure about.