Light salt-chicken based soup ramen of a chain shop

After so long, I had an opportunity to have ramen outside (cause eating ramen noodle with hot soup is a bit dangerous with baby). The shop is "Menya KOOKAI (麺屋 空海)", a modern ramen chain which has branches mainly in shopping malls around Tokyo.   

Menya KOOKAI

Their specialty "KOOKAI Ajitama Soba"

Despite ordinary (particularly old and dairy ones) ramen shops are dominated by men, KOOKAI attracts women, couple and family because of the clean and stylish interior. They serve all kind of flavored ramens, but their specialty is salt-chicken based soup ramen. The light tasting might be popular among women. For me, it was a bit plain (just happened?). It costed JPY830. My rating is 2.8 out of 5. Gochiso-samadeshita!      

Menya KOOKAI (麺屋 空海) http://www.umai-ramen.com/

Aoba, pioneer of double soup ramen

Aoba (青葉) is a popular ramen chain originally started in Nakano (中野), Tokyo. Currently we can taste their ramen in their branches around Tokyo. Their ramen is orthodox using soy sauce, but the base soup is complex using both seafood and chicken stock, which is so-called "double soup."  It is said that such trend using the double soup has been started from Aoba. 

Ramen chain "Aoba"

Orthodox ramen

Dipping ramen

Aoba provides limited menus. Only three to four types of ramen are available. This is their persistency. Their ramen is orthodox but delicious. Unmistakable taste. Everyone would like. The double soup which does not use chemical seasoning is mild. On the other hand, there might not be strong feature in their ramen. Adding Japanese citrus pepper paste halfway, the taste was a bit changed and good. They also have dipping ramen, but I personally prefer normal ramen. My rating is 3.5 out of 5. Gochiso-samadeshita!

Aoba (青葉)　http://www.nakano-aoba.jp/

A favorite chain of Nagasaki ramen

In Japan, each region has own specialized ramen and Nagasaki (長崎)'s ramen is called as "champon (ちゃんぽん)" whose meaning is "mixed." The feature of champon is  soup made with chicken and pork bones and mixed ingredients such as much vegetables, meat, fish cake and seafood put on ramen. 

Ringerhut 

Inside

Champon with fried squid

Gyoza (Japanese-style grilled dumpling)

We have a chain ramen restaurant specializing for champon. It is "Ringerhut (リンガーハット)." You can see Ringerhut in most part of Japan. Even in Ginza, a posh shopping district in Tokyo, you can find it. Nowadays they also have branches in the US, Thailand and Taiwan. 

In Ringerhut, most items costs less than JPY500. If you have JPY1,000, you can be more than full. In spite of the price, the taste is good. Their champon is addictive taste. Maybe mixed ingredients are well functioned for the rich and complex flavor. For reasonable meal both on price and taste, the champon of Ringerhut might be an option. My rating is 3.2 out of 5. Gochiso-samadeshita!

Ringerhut (リンガーハット) http://www.ringerhut.jp/  

Refreshing chicken ramen

Near the Ushima(湯島) metro-station, there is a famous ramen shop called "Daiki(大喜)."　Daiki has no branch shop and we can taste their ramens only at this shop,though Daiki has enjoyed their fame. Every time I passed by, I saw a queue in front of Daiki. Daiki is actually a shabby and small shop, but its taste attracts many people. 

Chicken-salt and soy sauce soup ramen

Special chicken-salt soup ramen

Daiki offers variety of ramens, but their specialty seems chicken-salt soup ramen. The gentle and refreshing taste is different from those of most other ramen shops and gets popularity even among women. But the taste is a little bit simple for me. I got a bit tired of eating the ramen while eating...though I had been very impressed at the beginning. Maybe it would depend on personal preference. I may prefer much stronger and richer taste(definitely this refreshing ramen is better for health...). My rating is 2.5 out of 5. Gochiso-samadeshita!

Daiki(大喜) http://www.daiki1999.com/

New ramen shop at Ueno Station

I found a ramen shop was newly opened at the JR Ueno Station(JR上野駅) and it is "Tonari(トナリ)", which has been a bit popular in Tokyo recently. Tonari's specialty is tanmen(タンメン), a ramen with chicken salt soup and fried vegetables. Tanmen is usually served at canteen, reasonable diners, etc. and I haven't see such a "tanmen" specialty ramen shop. There was a small queue(still, people may not notice this shop yet).

Entrance of Tonari

Fried chicken and fried dumplings 

Tanmen 

A set meal comprising fried chicken or fried dumplings and a tanmen costs JPY880. The portion of tanmen is very big!! Moreover, what a hearty...beansprout and other vegetables are on the noodle! They emphasized we can get necessary amount of vegetable a day by eating this tanmen. Noodle is very thick. Soup is a simple chicken based salt stock. First, it was very tasty, but...I got a bit tired of this tanmen because of the big portion. If you are big eater, it might be very ok! For me, it was a bit heavy. taste is nice. My rating is 2.7 out of 5. Gochiso-samadeshita!

Tonari(トナリ)　http://tanmen-tonari.com/

Amusing ramen chain

In the JR Ueno Sttation(上野駅), we have a branch of "Ichiran(一蘭)", a big Hakata(博多) ramen chain. Basic Hakata ramen consists of thin noodle, pork-based rich soup, chopped thin leek and barbecued pork. Ichiran is famous as the nice taste and an amusing system. As you can see, every seat is separated so that we can individually concentrate on eating and we are not seen by others (particularly, women are shy).

Entrance of Ichiran of Ueno Station

Inside (separated seats like a private study room)

Ramen 

Also, we can customize own ramen. Before ordering, we need to fill some inquiries such as the amount of garlic, type of leak, extent of thickness of soup, extent of boiling of noodle, etc. It is really fun. And the service is very quick. In few minutes, you can enjoy your ramen.

I tasted this ramen after so long and it was better than my previous memories(maybe my customization was well succeeded?). The soup is sharp and rich. The combination of this soup and the thin noodle was nice. It can be addictive. The portion of a ramen (JPY780) is small and Ichiran recommends us to order "additional noodle" at JPY150. My rating is 3.4 out of 5. Gochiso-samadeshita!

Ichiran(一蘭) http://www.ichiran.co.jp/index_hp.html  

Well-known dipping ramen shop in Sendagi

"Tsukemen TETSU(つけ麺TETSU)" in Sendagi(千駄木) is one of the popular dipping ramen shops in Tokyo. The shop is very small that 10 people may sit. Even so, the fame is prevalent. People come from everywhere and make a queue. Nowadays, NIssin(日清), a big food processing company sells retort pouch dipping ramens by using the name of Tsukemen TETSU for family use.   

Tsukemen TETSU

Tsukemen, dipping ramen for lunch

We also had to wait for 20 minutes to enter around 3pm on Sunday. TETSU offers different types of dipping ramen for lunch and dinner. At lunch, we can eat thick noodle with soup made of fish and pork while we can taste thin noodle with fish and chicken soup.The taste was very nice! Perfect. I felt everything is well contained in the rich soup. I fully understood why TETSU is so popular. People must be addicted.   

If we continue eating, the soup becomes cold. So, we can ask "baked stone" which can make the soup hot again. This performance is also very interesting. Anyhow, it is worth for waiting. The portion is big enough. The volume of noodle might be 200g per person (I couldn't eat up...).  Next time, I'd love to taste the dinner ramen! My rating is 4 out of 5. Gochiso-samadeshita! 

Tsukemen TETSU(つけ麺TETSU)　http://www.tetsu102.com/

Addictive tomato ramen

Since several years ago, a ramen chain shop named "TAIYOH NO TOMATO MEN (太陽のトマト麺)" has been seen around Tokyo. I heard the feature of this ramen shop is tomato ramen which consists of very thin noodle containing soy bean and rich tomato soup using chicken bouillon, and it has been so popular among women. Indeed, I've also become a fan of the ramen!

Outside of  TAIYOH NO TOMATO MEN

Highball (whiskey soda)

Boiled dumplings with sesame sauce

Tomato ramen with cheese 

Anyhow, it is very different from ordinary ramens, and also very different from tomato pasta.  Chicken soup with tomato is rich and delicious and it matches well with very thin noodles. Cheese and spinach are good accent while eating the ramen. Basic tomato ramen costs JPY730 and tomato ramen with cheese costs JPY830. Once you eat, you would be addicted. As evidence, whenever I visit the shop, most or all seats are already occupied. My rating is 3.5 out of 5. Gochiso-samadeshita!

TAIYOH NO TOMATO MEN (太陽のトマト麺) http://taiyo-tomato.com/   

One of my best ramens

Ippudo (一風堂) is one of my best ramen restaurants. Ippudo has started in Fukuoka (福岡) city, the biggest city in Kyushu (九州) since 1985 and developed its branches all over Japan. Recently they also have branches in US, Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Korea. Though they have widened their business, the quality is always maintained high.

Every restaurant of Ippudo is stylish with the essence of Japanese modern and jazz. Even so, waiters are very cheerful and friendly, and we don't have to hesitate to enter. I always see many individual customers, even woman until midnight. 

Exterior of Ippudo near Okachimachi

Interior

Pickles and variety of seasonings 

Shiromaru, basic ramen

Akamaru, a bit spicy ramen

So delicious!

Some pickles are always offered free of charge and we wait for ramen over eating them. Ippudo provides rooibos tea, instead of cold water, which seems to alleviate our guilty for eating high-calorie ramen. The feature of their ramen is tonkotsu (豚骨) soup, made by pork-born bouillon, which is popular in Kyushu. Sometimes, tonkotsu ramens tend to be rough taste which we can easily tired of, but Ippudo's tonkotsu is very sophisticated and distinctive. Noodle is very thin and it is the best combination with the soup.

Anyhow, a bowl of ramen in Ippudo is perfect. We can easily eat up quickly and want to order additional noodle (actually many people do so). If you have chance to find Ippudo and have no dietary restriction on pork, please try it! You never regret. Shiromaru, basic ramen in Ippudo costs around JPY800. You can taste their ramen until 3 am. My rating is 4 out of 5. Gochiso-samadeshita!

Ippudo (一風堂) http://www.ippudo.com/index.html

A fun place....New Chitose Airport in Hokkaido!

There are many sight-seeing spots in Sapporo, Hokkaido, but one of the recent attention is New Chitose Airport (新千歳空港). For you, airports are usually the place for travel and stay few hours until airplane fly. But the New Chitose Airport is very different. It's like a big amusement park with many shops and restaurants! As you can see its website, there are also hot spring, movie theater, museum of Doraemon (ドラえもん) and others. We can enjoy a whole day in the Airport. 

We can also taste Hokkaido ramens as there are 10 ramen shops from all over Hokkaido. Most shops offer "small-sized" ramen in addition to the regular one, we can try various tastes of several shops. 

"Royce", one of the famous chocolate companies in Hokkaido opens their chocolate shop, where we can see chocolate factory through the window. It's so fun!   

Royce's chocolate factory

Next to the Doraemon museum, there is a lovely Doraemon cafe. Even if you are no longer child, I believe you can fully enjoy the Doraemon world there! 

There are also many fish shops to sell fresh seafood of Hokkaido. I bought a rice bowl of fresh sea urchin at JPY1,980. It's not cheap but we can't buy such a high quality bowl at this cost in Tokyo. In fact, it was worth for pay. Very fresh and meltingly delicious!!  

My rating for the New Chitose Airport (新千歳空港) is 5 out of 5. Gochiso-samadeshita!
http://fleur.new-chitose-airport.jp/ja/

Most famous miso ramen in Sapporo

As I wrote in the previous blog, Spporo(札幌) is famous as miso ramen and there are many ramen shops there. Competition is severe. Among those ramen shops, Sumire(すみれ) is probably the most famous and representative in Sapporo. The Sumire's main shop is a bit away from the center of Sapporo, whose access is not so convenient for tourists. However, there are always long queue surrounding the shop and the parking is full. 

However, thanks to the experience and good service, we don't have to wait so longer than expected. As a lot of signatures of celebrities all over the world are decorated on the whole wall, we can kill time by seeing them while we wait. The ramen is very delicious but a bit salty.  Oil is dropped on the surface of the soup to keep it hot. Younger generation would like the strong taste. It was tough for me to eat it up this time, but I remembered that I had eaten up several years ago...(am I getting old?). Anyhow, if you go to Sapporo, I recommend you to go there at least once. You can be proud that you have tasted the authentic Sapporo ramen, particularly the Sumire!

My rating is 3 out of 5. Gochiso-samadeshita!
Sumire(すみれ) http://www.sumireya.com/

Miso ramen recently popular in Sapporo

Sapporo(札幌) is the capital of Hokkaido(北海道), the farthest north prefecture of Japan. Hokkaido is caught on agriculture, fishery, stock breeding and accordingly, that is  a paradise of food! There are many specialties using local ingredients such as sushi, crab dishes, fresh meat barbecue, beers, chocolates, cakes, etc. and ramen (Japanese noodle). I don't know why ramen has been originally developed in Hokakido, but there are many kinds of ramens all over Hokkaido. For instance, the feature of Sapporo's ramen is miso, Japanese bean paste while the one of Hakodate is salt based.

Sapporo TV tower

Because of the popularity, there are many ramen shops in Sapporo. As I don't have exact information on local ramens, I usually ask local people like hotel men, taxi drivers, etc. about the popular ramen shops there. This time, a hotel man recommended us to go "Keyaki(けやき)" as a new type of miso ramen. That was bingo! The soup is made of chicken, vegetable bouillons and miso and the taste is fresh but rich. I tend to get bored eating miso ramen, but I could eat up this ramen tasty until the end.

The shop is a bit shabby, but inside is kept clean. Usually there is long queue surrounding the shop. I wish if I could taste it in Tokyo...My rating is 3.6 out of 5. Gochiso-samadeshita!

Keyaki(けやき) http://www.sapporo-keyaki.jp/