A Guide to the Regional Ramen of Japan(luckypeach.com)
luckypeach.com
A Guide to the Regional Ramen of Japan
http://luckypeach.com/a-guide-to-the-regional-ramen-of-japan/
14 comments
There's also the momofuku instant ramen museum in Ikeda, (Osaka) where you can design and create your own instant cup ramen. Loads of tourists and local families with kids, but worth visiting if you have 2 hours to kill.
THANK YOU! Went to Japan on my honeymoon and totally forgot the name of one of my favorite ramen meals--Ichiran!
Truly amazing ramen.
I'd also add the sesame ramen I had at Fujiyama Go Go in Kanazawa was amazing (yes, I know they are a chain).
Truly amazing ramen.
I'd also add the sesame ramen I had at Fujiyama Go Go in Kanazawa was amazing (yes, I know they are a chain).
I was also surprised to see no mention of Sano-style ramen, which spread a lot and was/is fairly popular. Though, to be fair, it's hard to make a comprehensive guide of even major regional styles of ramen without writing a small book!
I like ramen, but I am careful about frequency of eating ramen.
It is known among Japanese that extreme ramen freaks have short life.
We Japanese maybe tend to be salt addicted.
So careful people eat soup moderately.
It is about the salt only, or is there something else? I'm curious because ramen sounds like something that should be healthy.
2014 study [1], press release [2], and interpretive article [3]:
Instant noodle intake and dietary patterns are associated with distinct cardiometabolic risk factors in Korea
[1] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24966409
[2] http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/08/140812121642.ht...
[3] http://www.care2.com/causes/did-you-know-instant-ramen-noodl...
Instant noodle intake and dietary patterns are associated with distinct cardiometabolic risk factors in Korea
[1] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24966409
[2] http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/08/140812121642.ht...
[3] http://www.care2.com/causes/did-you-know-instant-ramen-noodl...
Instant ramen is potentially rather different from freshly prepared ramen though, eg in terms of salt content, additives etc.
https://www.google.es/search?q=naritake+ramen&tbm=isch
The layer of oil floating over the stock, the corn, the pork and the butter topping doesn't help neither.
If you want healthy noodles, you can try Soba instead.
https://www.google.es/search?q=soba&tbm=isch
The layer of oil floating over the stock, the corn, the pork and the butter topping doesn't help neither.
If you want healthy noodles, you can try Soba instead.
https://www.google.es/search?q=soba&tbm=isch
It may just be people who eat ramen all the time are more typically stressed out, don't care about health, etc.
Tablespoons of liquid chicken fat and pork belly slices are not exactly the life-extending ingredients :)
Sure--but at what point do the mental health benefits of its deliciousness outweigh the health downsides?
Well, Ramen is really tasty, but obviously it is junk food. Really nice as a threat, but no one with common sense would eat Ramen on a daily basis.
Same way, no one with common sense would eat hamburger and french fries every day.
Same way, no one with common sense would eat hamburger and french fries every day.
> obviously it is junk food
Doesn't that depends on how you prepare ramen ?
For me ramen are just noodles, the "junkyness" really depends on what you eat them with. Could you make the same argument for spaghettis ?
Doesn't that depends on how you prepare ramen ?
For me ramen are just noodles, the "junkyness" really depends on what you eat them with. Could you make the same argument for spaghettis ?
I ate quite a lot of Ramen. Some of them, quite delicious... but never a Ramen that I would consider healthy. All the Ramen I ever tasted were too salty and too greasy. Also, unlike most Japanese meals, Ramen is served as a main dish only, without any vegetables on the side. So your meal will consist mainly in white flour, salt and fat.
Spaghetti are almost entirely carbohydrates. This is not good or bad, you just need to combine with other foods to make a balanced meal.
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Ramen isn't just the noodles, it's also the broth which is usually contains a lot of pork fat.
I cook my own ramen, and I can assure you is super healthy, because I control the amount of sodium.
I use dashi for the broth, but if you cook your own broth, it's even healthier.
There used to be a chain in LA called "Chin-ma-ya" that served a variety called "tantanmen" that I haven't found elsewhere. Both the torrance and little tokyo location closed and now I only have vague memories of their terrible looping music to satiate me. You can get tankotsu anywhere but only they had the delicious tantanmen with the golden fried shrimp and the curry-side-dish-thingy. I barely appreciated them when they were here and now I crave what I cannot have.
For what it's worth, I live in Japan and even though tantanmen is common here, I've never had it with fried shrimp or a curry side dish, so it's very likely a special thing for that particular chain.
I haven't yet tried it, but this place has a version of Japanese-style dan dan mien. Not sure about varieties or quality though…
http://www.yelp.com/biz/beni-tora-los-angeles-3
A second to greggman's rec of Tsujita, as well. They have excellent tsukemen (dipping ramen). Across the street, their second location, Tsujita Annex, has really good tsukemen and their ramen is excellent too, if ridiculously filling.
http://www.yelp.com/biz/beni-tora-los-angeles-3
A second to greggman's rec of Tsujita, as well. They have excellent tsukemen (dipping ramen). Across the street, their second location, Tsujita Annex, has really good tsukemen and their ramen is excellent too, if ridiculously filling.
> You can get tankotsu anywhere
First it's tonkotsu(豚骨). not trying to be snarky. Just passing on info. But second, at least in my experience, all tonkotsu in LA sucks except Tsujita. And even Tsujita sucks unless you get their tsukemen or as they call them "dipping noodles".
Or course everything in food is subjective. I like extremely rich flavorful noodles. Some people like light flavors.
As for tantanmen, apparently real tantanmen (if you can call any food real) is the Chinese kind where there's a thick oily spice sauce at the bottom of the bowl and you have to stir it up. In other words there's no soup.
In Japan there's another style of tantanmen which is has a soup broth. As usual there's a wide variety from light to heavy. The light stuff is not for me but the heavy stuff is AMAZING!!!!
http://i.imgur.com/NzBzAdN.jpg
This is from a chain called 万豚記 (wan-zhu-ji) (memory of ten thousand pigs). It's owned by a corporation that has a zillion restaurants in Japan.
http://kiwa-group.co.jp/brand_search.php
many of them carry this style of heavy tantanmen which I love
First it's tonkotsu(豚骨). not trying to be snarky. Just passing on info. But second, at least in my experience, all tonkotsu in LA sucks except Tsujita. And even Tsujita sucks unless you get their tsukemen or as they call them "dipping noodles".
Or course everything in food is subjective. I like extremely rich flavorful noodles. Some people like light flavors.
As for tantanmen, apparently real tantanmen (if you can call any food real) is the Chinese kind where there's a thick oily spice sauce at the bottom of the bowl and you have to stir it up. In other words there's no soup.
In Japan there's another style of tantanmen which is has a soup broth. As usual there's a wide variety from light to heavy. The light stuff is not for me but the heavy stuff is AMAZING!!!!
http://i.imgur.com/NzBzAdN.jpg
This is from a chain called 万豚記 (wan-zhu-ji) (memory of ten thousand pigs). It's owned by a corporation that has a zillion restaurants in Japan.
http://kiwa-group.co.jp/brand_search.php
many of them carry this style of heavy tantanmen which I love
> As for tantanmen, apparently real tantanmen (if you can call any food real) is the Chinese kind where there's a thick oily spice sauce at the bottom of the bowl and you have to stir it up. In other words there's no soup.
Oh, yes. The Chinese word is dandanmian, though, and most English-language menus will write it as "dan dan noodles" (and I've seen it written as "dong dong noodles", too).
Where I live (Dallas suburbs), there's one really amazing authentic Sichuan place -- Royal Sichuan -- which serves actual, authentic dandanmian, and it's some of the best food I've ever had in my life. I can't get enough of it.
Oh, yes. The Chinese word is dandanmian, though, and most English-language menus will write it as "dan dan noodles" (and I've seen it written as "dong dong noodles", too).
Where I live (Dallas suburbs), there's one really amazing authentic Sichuan place -- Royal Sichuan -- which serves actual, authentic dandanmian, and it's some of the best food I've ever had in my life. I can't get enough of it.
I haven't had dandanmian in Dallas but I have had it throughout the SF Bay Area and Los Angeles (Monterey Park, Alhambra, the places where many claim the best Chinese food in the USA is). While I like it I don't crave it the way I crave the Japanese style so if you get a chance please come to Japan and try it here. I think you'll like it. Just make sure you pick a good one. There's also plenty of bad ones here too.
all tonkotsu in LA sucks except Tsujita
I've been there and Silverlake Ramen was better. You can probably find more gems around Gardena/Torrance.
I've been there and Silverlake Ramen was better. You can probably find more gems around Gardena/Torrance.
Like I said, everyone has different tastes. I've been to around 50 ramen places in and around LA trying to find anything remotely like what I have in Japan. Every place I've been in and around Torrance as absolute shit. Some would give me a bowl of what they called tonkotsu ramen and it tasted like ankake instead. Goopy white cornstarchy sauce with little flavor.
Tsujita was the only one that tasted anything like the kinds I like in Tokyo.
That only makes it better for me though. People like what they like. If you like Sliverlake more power to you. But it's nothing like ramen in Japan.
Tsujita was the only one that tasted anything like the kinds I like in Tokyo.
That only makes it better for me though. People like what they like. If you like Sliverlake more power to you. But it's nothing like ramen in Japan.
I remember being in Fukuoka and visiting the so called "ramen stadium" at the top of some shopping complex. More varieties than you could poke a stick at, and all purchasable via ticket machine only. I ended up getting some random thing that had pork, and what appeared to be quail eggs in a black broth. I can see why they like their ramen.
There's a similar one in Kyoto at the JR Rail station that is very nice with 8 styles of ramen, all in different little sit down restaurants with ticket machines: http://www.insidekyoto.com/kyoto-ramen-koji
I remember going to both and getting lost in the sea of choices.
A bit like the food courts in Singapore/HK.
Fukuoka also has food stalls with plenty of good ramen if someone is heading there
Fukuoka also has food stalls with plenty of good ramen if someone is heading there
What about instant ramen? While it's not entirely a fair comparison to freshly made ones, the Japs have certainly pioneered and mastered the skill of churning out instant ramen that has "fresh" pork/seafood in it. Personally, I prefer the dry soba to the soupy ones.
> the Japs
In the United States, "Jap" is an ethnic slur. You might want to use another word.
In the United States, "Jap" is an ethnic slur. You might want to use another word.
Wasn't aware of that, my bad. In Singapore (where I'm from) it doesn't have any negative connotation.
only in the usa because of war propaganda shame :(
it's pretty common and non offensive elsewhere. not sure about uk... but other English speaking counties and latin countries use the term just fine
it's pretty common and non offensive elsewhere. not sure about uk... but other English speaking counties and latin countries use the term just fine
But it's okay to call the English "Brits".
It's a legacy from WWII. See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jap
try calling one a lobsterback and see what happens.
different groups have different insults. welcome to reality.
different groups have different insults. welcome to reality.
I really want to try ramen, but i don't like meat. Is there any Vegetarian friendly ramen?
Japan is not a really easy country for vegetarian people because fish, and specially meat, consumed in tiny amounts, but they are everywhere. I would say that sometimes meat is used more as a condiment than as an ingredient. Also, in my experience, most of Japanese don't consider that things like the bonito flakes they put in the stock are "actual meat", and when you say that you don't eat meat, they actually understand that you don't eat steaks or sashimi.
Said that, there's a nice vegetarian Ramen shop in Tokyo Station:
http://ts-restaurant.jp/tantan/
Said that, there's a nice vegetarian Ramen shop in Tokyo Station:
http://ts-restaurant.jp/tantan/
Where do you live? Here in Minneapolis, where ramen is becoming trendy, many places have vegan alternatives.
That said, getting a really good umami flavor and rich texture in a vegan broth is hard - not impossible, but much harder than with meat. And frankly, most vegetarians are lousy cooks who don't pay attention to good textures and flavors, and most meat eaters are lazy cooks who don't learn how to get richness without meat doing the heavy lifting for them.
For vegetarian/vegan, a kombu-based broth can get that richness, but it'll take a lot of patience to make (this is also true of bone-based meat broth).
That said, getting a really good umami flavor and rich texture in a vegan broth is hard - not impossible, but much harder than with meat. And frankly, most vegetarians are lousy cooks who don't pay attention to good textures and flavors, and most meat eaters are lazy cooks who don't learn how to get richness without meat doing the heavy lifting for them.
For vegetarian/vegan, a kombu-based broth can get that richness, but it'll take a lot of patience to make (this is also true of bone-based meat broth).
Search for shojin ryori, it's the food made at Buddhist temples (or temples of related religions), and probably it isn't the cheapest food. There are some well evaluated shojin ryori books on Amazon. Some temples will do vegan food, others will have eggs and milk, but I think you'll rarely find any kind of meat in it.
On the other hand, I'd love if they didn't put fish stock in everything, including ramen, I really like ramen. I found a ramen house where I live (Sao Paulo, there's a huge Japanese/Asian neighbourhood in here, and it's a great place to find vegetarian ingredients such as mushrooms) which offers one dish without fish stock, but they closed and reopened, and now I'm not sure they still have it on the menu.
And what has been said about vegetarianism in Japanese culture is true. They probably think fishes come from trees. I actually had an uncle (I'm from a Japanese family) who said he was vegetarian but ate fish.
On the other hand, I'd love if they didn't put fish stock in everything, including ramen, I really like ramen. I found a ramen house where I live (Sao Paulo, there's a huge Japanese/Asian neighbourhood in here, and it's a great place to find vegetarian ingredients such as mushrooms) which offers one dish without fish stock, but they closed and reopened, and now I'm not sure they still have it on the menu.
And what has been said about vegetarianism in Japanese culture is true. They probably think fishes come from trees. I actually had an uncle (I'm from a Japanese family) who said he was vegetarian but ate fish.
It's definitely not traditional, but I can think of a few options in Tokyo. The most accessible one is Chabu-ton on top of Yodobashi in Akihabara.
It's pretty rare, and most so in the more traditional places. Even if there's no meat in the ramen, the broth is generally pork (occasionally chicken) based.
Funny story time: in my late and unlamented career as a translator, I was attached to a pair of US artists visiting Gifu's international arts and crafts fair. Both were vegans and expressed a desire to have vegan ramen.
I explained this to the ramen shop proprietor. He came out with a bowl of ramen with chashu (pork) on top of it. When I pointed out that pork does in fact count as a meat product, he plucked it off with chopsticks. I then said "Excuse me, I don't mean to be a bother about this, but I can't help but notice that you poured the broth from a pan marked Pig. Is there, I don't know, pork in the broth?" "Oh you read Japanese!" "Yep, literacy is a handy quality in a translator." "Do your guests read Japanese?" "No." "Then as far as they know it's hearty vegetable broth now isn't it!"
I explained this to the ramen shop proprietor. He came out with a bowl of ramen with chashu (pork) on top of it. When I pointed out that pork does in fact count as a meat product, he plucked it off with chopsticks. I then said "Excuse me, I don't mean to be a bother about this, but I can't help but notice that you poured the broth from a pan marked Pig. Is there, I don't know, pork in the broth?" "Oh you read Japanese!" "Yep, literacy is a handy quality in a translator." "Do your guests read Japanese?" "No." "Then as far as they know it's hearty vegetable broth now isn't it!"
If you look out a miso broth then you’re probably OK. My wife has fish and shellfish allergies, but a surprising number of places were OK with that. The scary one for her is my favourite: kitsune udon. What looks like a block of fried tofu traditionally has bonito flakes mixed in before cooking.
While this is the "wrong" season for it (unless you are in the southern hemisphere) - you might want to try to cook a "nabe"[1] at home.
It's a brilliant, simple dish -- and typical for Japanese cuisine it can be magnificent in its simplicity if you are careful when selecting what to put in.
I would personally prefer some beef, fish, shell fish ... but there's nothing really inherent in the dish that dictates one need it. You'll need to amass things that in aggregate makes for a good broth -- and vegetables certainly can do that.
[ed: Ah, I was a bit quick googling. The recipe is great for the first part of the nabe -- but it doesn't mention that one way to end the whole thing, is, when all the other ingredients have been eaten, and have left their taste in the broth: Add ramen - and eat with the broth.]
[1] http://www.thekitchn.com/cooking-japanese-nabemono-106649
It's a brilliant, simple dish -- and typical for Japanese cuisine it can be magnificent in its simplicity if you are careful when selecting what to put in.
I would personally prefer some beef, fish, shell fish ... but there's nothing really inherent in the dish that dictates one need it. You'll need to amass things that in aggregate makes for a good broth -- and vegetables certainly can do that.
[ed: Ah, I was a bit quick googling. The recipe is great for the first part of the nabe -- but it doesn't mention that one way to end the whole thing, is, when all the other ingredients have been eaten, and have left their taste in the broth: Add ramen - and eat with the broth.]
[1] http://www.thekitchn.com/cooking-japanese-nabemono-106649
If you live in the westwood area around ucla in LA there's a place that serves vegan ramen. It uses a soy based broth and it's really good. I'm not even a vegetarian.
It's called Yamadaya.
It's called Yamadaya.
In Japan, they usually think fish in vegetarian food is normal.
So you need to take care of the ingredients even when they clam they are vegetarian restaurant.
In the US every ramen place I've ever been to has had a vegetarian alternative. If you simply don't like the taste of meat (as opposed to religious or philosophical purposes) you can ask for it without the meat - you are likely to get meat broth but that tastes more salty than meaty. Outside of the US it is probably rare.
This is a great write-up. I had the fortune of visiting a national Ramen festival in Japan (and the privilege of being on national Japanese television as the novel white-person!) and I really enjoyed sampling the various regional varieties all in one place. There's an astounding degree of variation that I wouldn't have predicted, a priori.
I didn't see it mentioned, but if you're not subscribed to the Lucky Peach, it's a really great publication. I happened upon Issue 1 (the Ramen issue) in a grocery store a few years ago and I've subscribed ever since.
I'm a bit saddened that we don't seem to have too many of these kinds of "multiple ingredient, endless variation" style foods here in the US. Most regional fare (pizza, BBQ) is comparatively simple. Or is it just me?
Isn't pizza a prime example of "multiple ingredients, endless variation"? After all, at a fundamental level pizza is oven-baked "stuff on flatbread", even the flatbread (dough) can be customised (different styles, seasoning, stuffing), to say nothing of the base sauce, cheeses and other toppings.
The US has lots of sandwich variants. Sometimes we use dipping sauces or soup sides, sometimes the ingredients are unusual, there are various styles of bread, toasted vs. untoasted, etc. This is a food genre that is shared with Europe and the Commonwealth, of course, but original variants abound here.
True, I was just thinking about that! But on the other hand, it's hard to compare a sandwich — something that usually takes no more than an hour of cooking, total — with ramen, whose broth can take several days to make, and whose flavorants alone have rich traditions and endless varieties.
EDIT: But I suppose it becomes a lot more true if you factor in the bread, and include things like bagels.
EDIT: But I suppose it becomes a lot more true if you factor in the bread, and include things like bagels.
I think you're looking at the other side of the fence with too rosy of glasses. Is not bread for those sandwiches labor intensive? The fillings too -- all sorts of roasts and vegetables and pickles and meats that can each take a while to make. Why is it that 'broth' is allowed to add to the time of Ramen when these things arent allowed to add to the time of a sandwich?
Not to mention BBQ is something that does take a lot of time -- 2, 4, 8, 24 hours of BBQing, even multiple days if you sous vide it.
Not to mention BBQ is something that does take a lot of time -- 2, 4, 8, 24 hours of BBQing, even multiple days if you sous vide it.
Yes, you're right. I thought of Katz's right after I posted that!
As for BBQ, I am not saying that it's an unworthy food in any way. It's just that ramen seems to have a lot more variations on account of all the different combinations of ingredients. (Broth, base, fillings, noodles.) Same with pasta in Italy. That's what I mean by "simple". (Though, yes, I suppose there are a whole lot of sauces and rubs, too.)
As for BBQ, I am not saying that it's an unworthy food in any way. It's just that ramen seems to have a lot more variations on account of all the different combinations of ingredients. (Broth, base, fillings, noodles.) Same with pasta in Italy. That's what I mean by "simple". (Though, yes, I suppose there are a whole lot of sauces and rubs, too.)
Broth, base, fillings, noodles for ramen.
Sauce, rub, wood and smoke, cuts of meat for bbq.
Sauce, rub, wood and smoke, cuts of meat for bbq.
I think people who aren't heavy BBQ fans don't fully appreciate the number of decisions that goes into a well-made BBQ. The sauces and rubs alone show a huge amount of variation that can make or break the entire thing.
There are quite a few variations in regional pizza styles.
http://slice.seriouseats.com/archives/2008/01/a-list-of-regi...
http://slice.seriouseats.com/archives/2008/01/a-list-of-regi...
Others have argued for pizza, but I'll add that pasta in generally is like this (tons of variety both in how you sauce it and how you make the dough). Many egg dishes are great for this as well, such as quiches, omelets and frittatas, all of which are great for using up random leftovers :)
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Missing my favorite! "Tori pai tan" from Kagari in Tokyo. Literally "white chicken soup." http://i.imgur.com/e4vS59N.jpg
I can't tell from the picture on my phone -- is that a clear chicken soup or a fatty chicken soup?
Daikichi in Yushima, Tokyo also has a very good (clear) chicken soup -- it's not uncommon to see people lining up before it even opens.
Daikichi in Yushima, Tokyo also has a very good (clear) chicken soup -- it's not uncommon to see people lining up before it even opens.
Is there any type of Ramen that doesn't use Pork?? I wouldn't want to miss out on Ramen just because i dont eat Pork.
There's many kinds of ramen. Pork is one of the most common. There's chicken ramen. There's salt ramen. There's soy sauce ramen. There's miso ramen. And there's every combination. Soy+Miso+Chicken, Chicken+Pork, Pork+Sardine+Miso, Salt+Shrimp+Pork, Tomato, Cheese :P
You will find it hard to know for sure if there's no pork though because even if it's labeled salt-ramen if you look at the details it might say made with pork as well.
You will find it hard to know for sure if there's no pork though because even if it's labeled salt-ramen if you look at the details it might say made with pork as well.
You forgot the seafood based combinations! They have pure seafood bases too, though. My Japanese friend brought me to a shop in Tokyo that apparently specialised in a 100% seafood base/stock. It was light compared to the meat-based stock but equally good.
While it's not uncommon to mix in chicken, fish etc, virtually all ramen stock is pork based though. There are porkless variants, but you'd have to look pretty hard to find them.
Shoyu ramen is often based on chicken stock. If they serve it with pork as a topping, you can probably ask them to leave it off.
Not eating pork guarantees you'll be missing out on Ramen just like how you're missing out on bacon.
You can always go for imitation bacon or non-pork based Ramen but the experience is different.
You can always go for imitation bacon or non-pork based Ramen but the experience is different.
I love Ippudo's spiciest on the menu, here in Tokyo. Supposed to be Hakata-style. Like to top it with gyoza.
Funny how this is related to hacking. I guess a lot of devs love this stuff.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Okinawa_soba
And if the god of ramen is Hakata-style tonkotsu, its temple is Ichiran:
http://blog.gaijinpot.com/ichiran-ramen-without-word/
And while it's a tourist trap, Yokohama's Ramen Museum is still a good way to sample many of these:
http://www.raumen.co.jp/english/