Japanese Ramen

My boyfriend and I travelled to Japan this past summer and discovered that the one thing we can't get over is their delicious ramen.  We've tried a couple of places since we've returned, but nothing is the same.  The picture at the top of this blog (and shown below) was our favorite Yokohama style ramen.  It was about a 5-10 minute walk from our Oomori train station (where we stayed).

Below is another ramen place that Johnny quite enjoyed and I found to be ok.  It served pork bone soup ramen as well and we were intrigued to go in because of the long line ups outside.  This popular ramen shop was located in Shibuya.

This next place is Ichiran Ramen.  Our friends told us about it and it's a neat little place, but the ramen wasn't our favorite.  The set up was cool because the workers give you your food through this hole in front of you and you never see their faces.  They pull down the mini curtain to give you privacy once your food is delivered!  We found this by Ueno (after our little trip to Ueno Zoo).

There was also a ramen museum in one of the malls in Tokyo.  The first one had a clear Tonkatsu broth, which we didn't enjoy as much, but the second one was delicious and is shown below.  The pork you see lining the bowl on the right was the best pork I had in Japan because they grilled the outside with a seasoning.  Delicious!

There were many other places we tried, but we forgot to take pictures of alot of them!  My personal third favorite was a Miso broth ramen, but Johnny did not like it as much and that's when we discovered what's meant by a "girl" and "guy" ramen.  I guess we all do have different tastes!


So why did I decide to make my first blog about Japanese Ramen?  My friend told me about a new place that opened up in Chinatown called Samurai Bistro which will be serving Japanese style ramen.  She said they have pork based soup and miso based soup.  I'm going to go try it today so I'll update on how it is!