Ramen

Ramen is a Japanese staple dish. It is served in a large bowl with copious amounts of thin curly noodles and a pork or fish broth. The dish includes toppings such as sliced pork (chashu), dried seaweed (nori), a boiled egg (tamago), marinated bamboo shoots (menma), processed fish cakes (kamaboko) and green onions (negi). A fun note about the fish cakes, sometimes they are presented as a white circle with frilly edges and a pink spiral through the center.

Most ramen restaurants offer the choice of either soy sauce broth or salt broth. The bowl is served with a special spoon that rests nicely on the side of the bowl when not in use. Chopsticks are also served with the meal. Locals will typically use the chopsticks to grab the noodles and toppings. After placing the noodles in their mouth, they slurp. Surprisingly, this is completely acceptable. I haven’t been able to adopt this custom. I prefer to fish out the noodles with my chopsticks, place them neatly on my spoon and then take the spoon with noodles to my mouth. No slurping required.

We have tried many ramen restaurants over the past 4.5 months (3 in Yokosuka alone!). In fact, it was our first meal when we arrived in Japan on July 31st.

Many restaurants that serve only ramen are very small and have a long bar where customers sit. Typically, ramen isn’t a “relaxing” meal. Think of it as made to order fast food Japanese style! The cook sets a timer each time he drops noodles into the boiling water. It only takes 3 minutes to boil the noodles! The warm broth and noodles make ramen a perfect meal on a chilly winter day.

The condiments on the bar counter include a spicy powder, spicy sesame sauce, soy sauce and a couple of different paste items. I’m sure the sign behind them tells me what to add to make it extra delicious. Dave adds the spicy stuff, I prefer mine plain. The tissues are napkins.

The glasses are for the self-serve water.

This past weekend was the first time Dave and I experienced the walk up ordering system. Fortunately, the machine had a little bit of English and coordinating number system. Also, the restaurant server spoke a little English and helped by explaining the English and numbers. We deposited our Yen and made our selections.

I ordered a Number 2 (salt broth – second picture from the left on the top row). I pushed the matching number 2 on the second row (green), third button of the machine. Remember, they read from right to left. So, it makes sense the smaller number is to the right, right? Maybe. Dave ordered the Number 4 (salt broth with extra meat – second picture from the left on the bottom row). He pushed the matching number 4 on the second row (green), second button on the machine. And then we both pushed the beer button! Bottom row (blue), first button from the left. After that evolution, perhaps we needed a second beer!

The ramen was very good and made our bellies full and happy. The nori and green onion bites are my favorite!! No worries, when you visit, ramen will be a must eat – at least twice! You need to decide if you like the soy or salt broth the best!!