Everything ramen

[BON]

The ramen shop chain called "Ooshima Ramen", that has

a branch shop in Denver, is broadcasting live video of

their shop on the net. It is a good chance for you to take

a glance of how the ramen shops look like.

I  never want myself viewed while eating ramen, though.

http://www.oshima-ramen.co.jp/yousu.html

[Jinmyo]

When I looked in a few days ago one of the cooks was trying to rouse a customer who was sprawled over on the counter.

Drama.

[jhlurie]

1 o'clock in the morning local time (acroding to the clock on the image) and the shop looks very busy...  is it open all night?

[BON]

Quote: from jhlurie on 10:49 am on Jan. 24, 2002

1 o'clock in the morning local time (acroding to the clock on the image) and the shop looks very busy...  is it open all night?

jhlurie:

I do not know whether they are open all night or not, but they are open till quite late since both shops are

located in party towns.

[BON]

Though I annouced this new in the message board of World

Ramen.net, let me annouce it here too, since it is a BIG NEWS!

Ramen Museum in shin-yokohama is serching for locations of

its second facility in US!! I have checked this news with

the museum staff and he confirmed the news. The location

will be Las Vegas or San Francisco and the timing will

be within 2 years. I'll follow this news and report here

when additional news comes.

* For those who do not know what the ramen museum, check

the following link!

Ramen Museum

[khao]

I will be in Japan at the end of August for 20 days, primarily in Tokyo, with a week spent outside, probably in the general area of Kyoto, Osaka & Nara.

I know Tokyo fairly well, but I would like recommendations as to the absolute best ramen shops in the above cities, as well as must-try places in Kyoto, Osaka & Nara, where I've never been. I'd prefer on the cheaper end of the scale, because I already have some budget-busting meals laid on in Tokyo.

[BON]

I know Tokyo fairly well, but I would like recommendations as to the absolute best ramen shops in the above cities, as well as must-try places in Kyoto, Osaka & Nara, where I've never been. I'd prefer on the cheaper end of the scale, because I already have some budget-busting meals laid on in Tokyo.

khao, Welcome to Japan!

I've been waiting for ramen lovers like you!

As for ramens in Tokyo, please visit my site.World Ramen.net

In it you will find detailed articles of recommended ramen shop

(labeled as "legendary" & "Spotlighted" ramen shops) in the

pages of "Ramen in Tokyo". Among the listed, I would strongly

recommend that you should try "Taishoke@Higashiikebukuro",

"Jiro" and "Aoba".

Coincidentally, I visited Oosaka just 2weeks ago. I have tried

7 bowls there and found "Kamukura" is most tasty. The shop

data is as follows;

Kamukura

Address: 1-6-32 Doutonbori, Chuo-ku, Oosaka

Tel: 06-6213-1238

Bus. Hours: 10:00-7:00

Closed: NA

I'll check and post again for ramens in Kyoto and Nara.

Rgds

[BON]

khao:

It's almost time for you to catch the plane.

Here are the recommendable ramen shop in KYOTO.

(Sorry, I could not find info of ramen shops in Nara.)

Shimpukusaikan

Address:Mukaihata-machi 569, Higashi Shiokouji,

Shimokyo-ku, Kyoto (Close to JR Kyoto station)

TEL:075-371-7648

Open:7:30-23:00 @

Closed:Wednesday

Yonakiya

Address:Nanko-cho 35, Ootsuka, Yamashina-ku, KYOTO

TEL:075-581-7083

Open:11:00-18:00 @

Closed:Monday, 1st&3rd Sunday

Have a good time!

[torakris]

As soon as skchai mentioned Ramen Jiro as a possible place for a get together I started quivering. It is just stories of this place that scared me so much that I am terrified to enter any ramen shop.

Has anyone ever been?

Have you ever heard the Ramen Jiro tale?

Listen as Andy Raskin tells the story on NPR

more information and pictures

[skchai]

Uh. . . didn't mean to make anyone quiver. . .

Thanks for the link to the Andy Raskin piece in NPR. His friend Masa is quite a character. . . does a great job of making you want to "challenge". But a 40-minute wait!

Also, come to think of it, it probably wouldn't be open for dinner, so maybe somewhere else would be better. . .

[_john]

sounds good, can't wait to eat there. I will have to bring a friend along for backup though. At what point do they ask you if you want garlic or extra fat or saltiness? Do you put you money in the ticket machine like a vending machine or do you pay elsewhere?

[torakris]

sounds good, can't wait to eat there. I will have to bring a friend along for backup though. At what point do they ask you if you want garlic or extra fat or saltiness?  Do you put you money in the ticket machine like a vending machine or do you pay elsewhere?

←

If it is like most other places with vending machines for ordering, you put the money in the machine and then make your choice. I am a bit confused as to when you actually tell them what you want as the two reports I noted above gave slightly conflicting information....

are you coming to Japan soon?

[_john]

I am coming in the fall. There are a lot of places that I "can't wait" to eat at but ramen jiro is high on that list. I'm sure it will take me a while to get settled physically and linguistically before I will be ready to go to scary ramen-ya whether I have someone with me or not. But once again, I can't wait. speaking of other places:

http://www.links.net/vita/trip/japan/tokyo...tsugakudou.html

[torakris]

Ice cream ramen

scroll down for pictures

no comment

[Cheeko]

Ice cream ramen

scroll down for pictures

no comment

←

...wow...

I can't get over those eggs...

...and while were on the subject of unusual ramen items...

http://shopping.konekoya.com/asu/ramen/001.html

http://shopping.konekoya.com/asu/ramen/003.html

http://shopping.konekoya.com/asu/ramen/004.html

http://shopping.konekoya.com/asu/ramen/002.html

(from my "kitty-geek" explorations )

[Route246]

There's a ramen shop, more like a stand, at the Tsukiji outer market, I think on Shin Ohashi Dori near the National Cancer Center that I always go to when I'm at the market. It's around the corner from Tsukiji Shijo subway station. I found it almost by accident many years ago. I was leaving the market after a sushi breakfast and I was still pretty hungry. This little stand has maybe 3-4 seats with more standup area near the street. What struck me was how crowded it was. This is in an area where there are many booths lined up serving everything from oden to yakisoba to unagi. This ramen shop was by far the most crowded. Here I was, pretty hungry (first morning in Japan after a flight from California) so I tried it and understood why it was so popular. The soup (shoyu ramen only) was just plain good. The couple that runs the stand seems so perfectly in sync with each other, churning out bowls of shoyu ramen as fast as people could order them. Nothing is better on a cold winter morning than a hot bowl of ramen, outside in a little booth.

I'm sure there are hundreds of little stands like this that are all over Japan. Charming little shops that serve a competent product and they really focus on what they're doing.

I'm wondering how much this place makes, how many long hours this couple puts in.

Oh yeah, one other nice feature of this place is the ceramic bowls, no plastic bowls here like the portable ramen stands.

[GlorifiedRice]

I know these arent Japanese, but they still are Ramen and they were delicious...

ps-thisthis is what they looked like prepared, for my son with an egg for protein

[flowbee]

on the topic of ramen, does anyone know how to cook those soy sauce simmered eggs that ramen is often served with? i love the soft runny yolks and would like to make them at home!

[Hiroyuki]

on the topic of ramen, does anyone know how to cook those soy sauce simmered eggs that ramen is often served with? i love the soft runny yolks and would like to make them at home!

←

That should be easy, although I've never made them before. (I hate runny eggs!)

Recipes vary, especially in boiling time. Some say to boil eggs for 3 minutes, while others say for 7. Anyway, boil eggs for 3-7 minutes, constantly rolling them in the pot to make sure that the yolk is located at the center of the egg. Cool them in cold water. Remove the shell.

For the soaking liquid, mix 3 parts water, 1 part soy sauce, and 1 part mirin in a pot, bring to a boil, boil for some time to remove alcohol, and turn off heat. Let it cool.

Soak the eggs in the liquid for 1 day.

[nakji]

I finally made it to the Shin-Yokohama Ramen Museum a couple of days ago with my husband. We've been saving it up for a special occasion, and since we have ten days off, and nowhere to go, it seemed like a good time.

Set up like a 1960s-era downtown, the museum has a eight ramen restaurants of various styles. The top floor has a smallish gift shop where must-have souvenirs like porcelain Cup Noodle cups, kamaboko key chains, and mystifyingly ugly kewpie dolls-dressed as bears-dressed as maids (helpfully labelled as "popular in Akihabara Maid Cafes"). Then you descend into the "neighbourhood" and choose your shop.Fortunately for us, the shops all offered a mini size for around 500 yen. After a careful reading of the museum's brochure, we decided to focus on two kinds; miso style from Sapporo, and Kumamoto style, from Kyushu.

Our first bowl was from Komurasaki, and was in the Kumamoto style. It had a tonkotsu broth and the noodles were thin and round; not curly, and it was topped with cloud ear mushrooms, bean sprouts and char siu pork. It was garnished with grilled garlic chips. At the first taste, the broth was a little bland and unassertive, but as the bowl progressed, the garlic melted into the broth to form an intensely garlicky soup - but not sharply garlic - more of a strong, mellow garlicness. We were off to a great start.

The second bowl was at Keyaki, a shop from the Susukino area of Sapporo. It had a miso broth, curly noodles, and a substantive topping of vegetables including steamed carrots, cabbage, shredded green onion, and mushrooms. It had ground pork, rather than the standard char siu, and also a few flakes of red pepper, which together made an attractive multicolour tangle on the top of the bowl. The bowl itself belied its "mini" status, and was as big as my head. I was in trouble. The first taste of the broth yielded an incredibly rich, ginger-scented mouthful. The ground pork fragmented nicely into the soup, meaning that instead of saving the meat for one delightful bite, as is normally the case, I got a taste of it in almost every spoonful. The vegetables were also a welcome addition, adding a lighter touch to what is often a bowl full of grease and carbohydrates. The chef's vision, that each bowlful be "...an a la carte dish that appeals to the five senses..." was realized, and I found myself finishing my bowl and Peter's as well.

Two "mini" bowls spelled the end of me, but Peter felt he could push on for one more bowl - at Fukuchan. This shop featured Hakata-style ramen based on a tonkotsu broth, an innovation dating from the 1980s, according to the museum's brochure. It differs from the broth style usually found in Tokyo, which is - can anyone comment here? A salt or shoyu based broth? and is quite popular. In fact, I realized that of all the bowls of ramen I had eaten since coming to Japan, I had only once tried Tokyo-style ramen - all other bowls had been in the Hakata style. Peter felt the broth was "...insanely good, only just this side of being a liquid, and it didn't have a lot of junk in it, like that [sapporo] stuff." According to the brochure, Fukuchan blends "new" and "mature" broths - "...New soup has sharpness but without richness. Mature soup adds necessary richness...". It's served with fresh garlic to be crushed into the bowl (and claims to be the restaurant that started this craze) and slivers of pickled ginger; a counterpoint to the unabashed gravy-like nature of the soup. Peter barely made it to the end of the bowl.

That pretty much finished us off. I realized that we gave short-shrift to more traditional styles of ramen, and that we missed the shop offering ramen with "...a layer of grilled lard", but the human stomach only has so much capacity, and I had already reached the dread state of pho belly; a state where too much delicious broth sloshes dangerously about your stomach, threatening to capsize anyone silly enough to attempt walking after soup. There would have to be a next time.

I preferred the Sapporo style, but Peter was firmly behind the Kumamoto, as he's generally mad for garlic.

[Hiroyuki]

It differs from the broth style usually found in Tokyo, which is - can anyone comment here? A salt or shoyu based broth?

←

Do you want to know whether tonkotsu broth is salt- or soy sauce-based? It can be both, so there can be both tonkotsu shio and tonkotsu shoyu.

[nakji]

It differs from the broth style usually found in Tokyo, which is - can anyone comment here? A salt or shoyu based broth?

←

Do you want to know whether tonkotsu broth is salt- or soy sauce-based? It can be both, so there can be both tonkotsu shio and tonkotsu shoyu.

←

Hmmm. Now I'm more confused. Actually, I meant to ask what broths in Tokyo were usually based on. Can I assume they can either be shio or shoyu based as well? Aren't they usually clearer than a tonkotsu broth?

[Hiroyuki]

It differs from the broth style usually found in Tokyo, which is - can anyone comment here? A salt or shoyu based broth?

←

Do you want to know whether tonkotsu broth is salt- or soy sauce-based? It can be both, so there can be both tonkotsu shio and tonkotsu shoyu.

←

Hmmm. Now I'm more confused. Actually, I meant to ask what broths in Tokyo were usually based on. Can I assume they can either be shio or shoyu based as well? Aren't they usually clearer than a tonkotsu broth?

←

Ah, you were talking about Tokyo ramen. Clear, soy sauce-flavored, usually chicken broth. Have you ever seen the movie Tampopo? Tokyo-style ramen is well depicted in it.

[MoGa]

Hmmm. Now I'm more confused. Actually, I meant to ask what broths in Tokyo were usually based on. Can I assume they can either be shio or shoyu based as well? Aren't they usually clearer than a tonkotsu broth?

←

It is confusing, and I think it also depends on who you speak to in Tokyo. Shoyu ramen may be accepted as the standard Tokyo ramen style, but the reality isn't so cut and dried.

For instance, Tokyo's most famous ramen place/brand is Ramen Jiro, which serves tonkotsu ramen. Tonkotsu is the preferred ramen choice for many Tokyo residents. My husband (who's from the city and who spent five years there quite recently) enjoys both the shoyu and tonkotsu styles, yet when asked a similar question recently he had the impression that there were more tonkotsu ramen restaurants in Tokyo. It may depend on the neighbourhood you live in and what grabs your attention. The only thing that appears consistent is that Tokyo is not a great place to find miso ramen.

[nakji]

Hmmm. Now I'm more confused. Actually, I meant to ask what broths in Tokyo were usually based on. Can I assume they can either be shio or shoyu based as well? Aren't they usually clearer than a tonkotsu broth?

←

It is confusing, and I think it also depends on who you speak to in Tokyo. Shoyu ramen may be accepted as the standard Tokyo ramen style, but the reality isn't so cut and dried.

For instance, Tokyo's most famous ramen place/brand is Ramen Jiro, which serves tonkotsu ramen. Tonkotsu is the preferred ramen choice for many Tokyo residents. My husband (who's from the city and who spent five years there quite recently) enjoys both the shoyu and tonkotsu styles, yet when asked a similar question recently he had the impression that there were more tonkotsu ramen restaurants in Tokyo. It may depend on the neighbourhood you live in and what grabs your attention. The only thing that appears consistent is that Tokyo is not a great place to find miso ramen.

←

Right, and I noticed that during my time here, I've only had a non-tonkotsu broth once. Confusing, but certainly pleasurable to research.

Ah, you were talking about Tokyo ramen. Clear, soy sauce-flavored, usually chicken broth. Have you ever seen the movie Tampopo? Tokyo-style ramen is well depicted in it.

I have seen Tampopo! But at the time I wasn't rally focusing on what the broth looked like. I'll have to re-watch it.