Ramen

Restaurant inside Kansai International Airport

Japan is a country rich in culture, tradition, technology and most of all foods. There are different delicious and nutritious foods to choose from snacks to heavy meals. Examples of Japanese snacks that can be bought in convenient stores or streets are mochi, natto, onigiri and oden.  Restaurants and hotels usually serve heavy meals such as ramen, okonomiyaki, soba, and Japanese rice curry. This blog will focus on popular and scrumptious ramen with its different types and flavor.

Ramen is a noodle soup dish that was originally imported from China, it has a Chinese-style wheat noodles with meat, fish, nori, miso or soy sauce broth. It became one of the most popular dishes in Japan in recent decades. This noodle soup dish is inexpensive and widely available in different cities and prefectures is Japan. Its cheapness and availability makes it an ideal option for travelers on tight budget. This common noodle dish has countless variations and can be found in ramen restaurants or ramen-ya in every corner of Japan. Despite the fact that ramen is cheap, there’s a big difference in quality from one shop to the next. A shop that earns a reputation amongst ramen aficionados will regularly have long lines while a shop just next door may be empty. It’s the type of dish that isn’t easy to perfect.

Typical Ramen

There are different popular types of ramen which are typically categorized according to their soup base, although variations that combine the different bases are not uncommon. The main types of soup are: Shoyo (Soy Sauce), Shio (Salt), Miso (Soybean Paste), and Tonkotsu (Pork Bone).  The Shoyu ramen soup has a clear, brown broth flavored with soy sauce or shoyu. The soup is usually made of chicken broth but often contains other meats such as pork. It is the most common type of ramen and usually served in retaurants when the type of soup is not specified. Next type of ramen is Shio, this ramen soup is a light clear broth seasoned with salt. Shio ramen is usually made of chicken broth but some also flavored with other meats. The Miso ramen is, of course, flavored with soybean paste. The soup is thick, brown with complex flavor. This type of ramen originally came from Hokkaido because of the long cold winters but nowadays, it can be found anywhere in Japan. The last type of ramen is Tonkotsu, it is made of pork bones that have been boiled in very hot temperature until it dissolves into a cloudy white broth. The soup is flavored with chicken or pork broth which results to thick and creamy texture and it is popular in Kyushu.

The second important factor for the best quality ramen is the noodles. The noodles are usually made up of wheat and have long and elastic texture. There are countless types of noodles that vary from thin and straight to thick and wavy. Most of ramen restaurants allow customers to make their order extra special as by allowing them to select a thickness and doneness of the noodles. Another thing that makes ramen scrumptious are the toppings such meats, vegetables, seaweeds, and other condiments. Chashu is a very common topping, and standard bowls of ramen usually come with one or two slices of fatty roasted or braised pork. Menma is another type of topping, it is a Preserved bamboo shoots with a salty flavor. Negi is a chopped or shredded leeks or green onions, it has also a spicy variation called Karanegi. Moyashi is bean sprout which add sweetness and crush, usually raw or cooked. One of the most popular topping is tamago, it can be hard boiled, soft boiled, raw or marinated egg. Another thing that must be in the ramen is the seaweed such as wakame and nori. Slices of steamed fish cake, Kamaboko, is commonly served on ramen such as Naruto. Corn and butter are paired together and served on Miso or Shio ramen.

Ramen in Nagoya University with rice and side dish

I was able to try the delicious ramen together with my co-participants from other country (picture below) at the canteen of Nagoya University on the fifth day of the tour. The lunch that I ordered include ramen, rice, vegetable salad and other side dish. Ramen are eaten with chopsticks which are usually available at the table. A Chinese style spoon is often provided as well to help with small toppings and for drinking the soup. I made a slurping sound when I was eating ramen. The slurping enhances the flavors and helps cool down the piping hot noodles as they enter your mouth. It is also alright to lift up the bowl to drink the soup directly from the bowl to consume the soup and this is considered as a compliment to the chef.  I can say that one bowl of spicy ramen will surely make your stomach full and will make you forget you name.

Lunch with new friends at Nagoya University