Ramen Tour
Oct 4th, 2007 by Neil
There’s not a lot of light at the end of the tunnel when you have to travel more than 3 hrs to get back to work and back each day. The one solice we do have is the food down here is pretty damn good, especially the Ramen. We’re back on the “Ramen Tour” a few days a week, where a few of us will go to some select Ramen shops in and around Hon-Atsugi. Probably the all time favourite and current flavour of the month is “Akanko”. The shop is named after a place north of Tokyo named Akanko.
“Spreading through the eastern end of Hokkaido, Akan National Park features volcanic mountains, dense forests of subarctic primeval trees, and three caldera lakes, including Lake Akan.”
The downside of a decent feed of Ramen for lunch is the motivation to put your head down and get the afternoons work done is at an all time low. I guess that’s why a walk through the office anytime after lunch will see quite a few heads on desks while people try and catch a bit of shut eye.
Ramen (ラーメン or 拉麺) is a Japanese dish of noodles served in broth that originated in China. It tends to be served in a meat-based broth, and uses toppings such as sliced pork (チャーシュー chāshū?), seaweed, kamaboko, green onions, and even corn. Almost every locality or prefecture in Japan has its own variation of ramen, from the tonkotsu ramen of Kyūshū to the miso ramen of Hokkaidō.
There are many different kinds of ramen in Japan with the main differences varying upon geographical location. Most each area, from Kyushu to Hokkaido, has its own special type of ramen. The differences between these areas types of ramen are mainly based upon the type of soup and the type of noodle. The main types of ramen are tonkotsu or pork based soup, shoyu or soy sauce based soup, and miso paste base soup. The noodles also come in many different types ranging from thin to thick and straight or curvy or even crinkly.
Some famous ramen are:
- Hakata ramen - tonkotsu base, straight and thin noodles (Fukuoka prefecture)
- Kishu or Wakayama ramen - tonkotsu base, straight and thin noodles
- Kitakata ramen - shoyo base, medium and crinkly noodles (Fukushima prefecture)
- Hokkaido ramen
- Hiroshima ramen
Some common ingredients in Japanese ramen include:
- chaashuu
- bamboo shoots (menma)
- bean sprouts (moyashi)
- seaweed (nori)
- hard-boiled egg (yude tamago )
- leek (negi)
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You know you are positively evil. Just looking at that picture has me craving a bowl of ramen, except the only ramen around here (especially at this time of night) is instant ramen. -_-
I haven’t had authentic miso ramen is ages.
Joanna, i hate to say it but it`s absolutely world class too. The miso base is fantastic and with the egg and baked chaashuu it`s generally our Friday favourite if not atleast once more during the week. Miso is my favourite by far.
I’ve always been a huge ramen fan, unfortunately it’s hard to find a good bowl here in San Diego. Most of my Friends think I’m crazy because when I can have it I’ll eat nothing but soups all day. To tell you the truth they are great because the liquid fills me up and I’m not hungry at all until the next meal.
I hear you there Jerad. I never thought i`d say the same myself. Now i pine to have a bowl of Ramen for lunh which can see me through the day with only a light dinner that night.
Man, you gus are making me go NUTS here in Adelaide, I would frequesnt my local shop between Osaka & Kobe AT LEAST twice a week to get hold of my favourite pork ramen, of course along with a few Asahi’s, the famous gyoza & a handful of Karage (my god, I’m salivating just writing this!!). My wife & I would have arguments as to which shop we were going to on the night. A mate of ours from New Zealand put me on to my favourite & we stumbled across my wife’s fave one drunken night falling out of the train. Not much sign of a good one here though. Thanks for the reminder!! Hmmph.
Nice to hear you`re a Ramen fan Berger, i can`t get enough and the belly i sport is proof enough of that! Still seems funny to hear you talk about `the wife and i` … haha, hope Bernie is well mate. More Ramen shots to come in the near future. Might even post a shot of Hinoki Ramen now seeing as it`xs almost luncthime and it`s 5 mins down the road from home.