Summer Vacation

A few weeks ago John and I took a spontaneous summer vacation! We decided to go up to Hokkaido, the northernmost island in Japan, for the first part of the week, and then pop down south to Kyushu for the final weekend of our trip.

Hokkaido was wonderful, much cooler than the hot humid weather Tokyo has been having, and with lots of wide open outdoor spaces. Our first stop was Noboribetsu, a small onsen town that's famous for its volcanic sulfur vents and geysers. After a night there we went to Sapporo, the biggest city in Hokkaido for several days, and then went out to Otaru and Yoichi. Otaru is a small port town with a lovely canal and old western style stone buildings. And Yoichi is the home of a major Japanese whiskey distillery. We really enjoyed seeing it all, and also relaxing, lying around reading, and spending time in coffee shops.

Fukuoka, the biggest city in Kyushu, reminded us a lot of Tokyo but moved at a much more casual pace. In one ramen shop (that is very famous and had a line out the door) we were told to take our time and enjoy our meal! At ramen shops in Tokyo you are expected to eat as quickly as possible and get out, so it was quite a pleasant surprise.

Both Sapporo and Fukuoka are know for ramen - miso up north, and pork broth in the south, and we ate our hearts out. We liked everywhere we went except for one place. Quick tip - if you find yourself in Sapporo, Yukikaze was incredibly good! And if you find yourself in Fukuoka we thought Issou did not live up to the hype.

Sulfur vents in Noboribetsu

John bought me this adorable coke

Coffee and cheesecake, plus John in the mirror

Our hotel in Sapporo had a fire pit on the roof

The old Sapporo brewery

Yukikaze ramen - so delicious!

Yoichi is old-fashioned and uses direct fire stills

Yoichi distillery

The canal in Otaru

Drinks on the beach in Kyushu

Fukuoka at sunset

If you're not having cake for breakfast you're not doing vacation right

Yokohama Cup Noodle Museum

Last fall I visited the Cup Noodle Museum in Yokohama. That's right, Yokohama not only has a ramen museum, they also have a museum dedicated to instant ramen!

The first thing we did upon arrival was watch a brief movie about the man who created instant ramen. The movie is in Japanese, but you can get a headset with English, Korean or Chinese audio. I thought the movie was cute and had a sweet message about never giving up, which was a theme throughout the museum. It evidently took Mr. Momofuku many tries before he succeeded in creating instant ramen.

Afterwards there is a model of the shed Mr. Momofuku worked in for so many years, a room full of the many different iterations of Cup Noodles and other Nissin brand instant ramen, and some entertaining ramen themed art work.

But the highlight of the visit is the opportunity to create your own cup of noodles for 300 yen. First you are issued a cup and seated at a table with markers to decorate it as you please. Once your cup is ready to go, you can select a broth flavor and your favorite toppings and watch as the cup goes through the assembly line. To be honest, I thought it sounded a little gimmicky, but it was really fun. Depending on how busy the museum is you may be able to make two or three cups if you like, but I've heard of it being limited to one on some days.

Of course, at the end there is a huge gift shop if you need even more than your individualized Cup Noodle to remember the day.

Cup Noodle Museum

Admission: 500 yen

Hours: 10:00-6:00, no entry after 5:00, closed on Tuesday

Phone: 045-345-0918

Address: 2-3-4 Shinko, Naka-ku, Yokohama

Map

So many years and varieties of Cup Noodles

Where To Find Vegetarian Ramen in Tokyo

A couple of months ago I had a vegetarian friend visiting. It wasn't her first visit to Japan, but this time I was determined to find some ramen for her. Finding vegetarian food isn't that easy in Japan, and more than likely it will be vegan or else vegetarian but including fish broth.

However, without too much work I found two different places to get vegetarian and/or vegan ramen.

The first place we went was T's Tantan inside the ticket gates of Tokyo station. Everything in the restaurant is vegan which is particularly nice when a person is often having to select the only vegetarian option on a menu. 

She had the seasonal autumn ramen and I had a tantan noodles and curry set. Both were good, though as a meat eater I definitely like regular tantan noodles more. My friend raved about hers - particularly the broth - and thought it was much better than any vegetarian ramen she'd had in the US. As a note, I got the set with curry because I wanted her to have a chance to try Japanese curry, but this was much more Thai in style - coconut milk based, which is not Japanese at all.

The second place we went was Afuri, which is a trendy ramen chain with multiple locations in Tokyo. If you watch the show Girls on HBO there is a scene of Shoshana eating there. Afuri is known for its yuzu flavored broths, and I just happened to notice that they have a vegan option on their menu. This is a great place to take a group, if not everyone is looking for vegan or vegetarian food. A bonus here is that if you're a vegetarian you can add a soft boiled egg to your ramen (my favorite part!) which you won't find at a vegan restaurant. As a note, the vegan ramen comes with noodles made out of vegetables because their regular noodles use egg, but you can pay to upgrade to regular noodles (which I highly recommend) if you're vegetarian and not vegan.

My friend enjoyed both, but said she's choose T's Tantan as her first choice because of the greater choice and the uniqueness of of the broth. But either way you can't go wrong.

T's Tantan in Tokyo Station

Tantan noodles and curry set at T's Tantan

Seasonal Autumn Ramen at T's Tantan

Vegan Ramen at Afuri - So Gorgeous!

T's Tantan

Hours: 7:00-11:00 7 days a week

Phone: 03-3218-8040

Location: JR Tokyo Station, on Keiyo Street

Map

Afuri

Locations Include: Roppongi, Ebisu, Azabu Juban, Naka Meguro, Harajuku, Sangenjaya, Shinjuku and Yokohama

Ivan Ramen

It's been so long since I've blogged about anything! I can't believe how lazy I've been. Sometimes you just need a little break when life get to be too much of a routine. Luckily lots of exciting things are coming up. Next week John's brother will be here visiting, and right now I'm helping Raku book her long-delayed honeymoon!

Over the weekend we trekked out to the suburbs of Tokyo to visit Ivan Ramen, a ramen shop famous for being started by a foreigner. He achieved great success here, and has now moved to New York and opened a couple ramen shops there as well.  After doing our research we were prepared for a wildly popular place with a long line wrapping about the building, but when we arrived we were the only people there. To be fair, it was a little early - about 6:45 on a Saturday evening, but only two other people showed up while we ate, so there was no wait or rush to slurp up the hot noodles. I wonder if fewer people are interested now that Ivan isn't actually working in the shop?

I tried Shio ramen for the first time, which is a light salty broth composed of a mixture of chicken broth and dashi (a light fish broth). I think shio ramen is not my favorite style, but Raku assured me that it was a very good and very classical example of the dish. The noodles were wonderfully springing, but grew soggy faster than we were used to. Raku added bamboo shoots to her bowl and said they were "delicious and rugged." My soft boiled egg was absolutely perfect - the best part of the bowl. John got the spicy garlic ramen, which comes with a much smaller amount of broth, but he really enjoyed it. He thought the chashu (pork belly) was very good quality too.

It takes a really long time to get out there, about twenty minutes past Shinjuku, so I wouldn't go on a regular basis, but it was fun to go once. The shop is small, with about ten seats and it's in a little neighborhood that feels very removed from the bustle of Tokyo.

Ivan Ramen

Hours: M-F 11:30-2:00, 6:00-9:30, Weekends 11:30-8:00, Closed Wed and 4th Tues of the month

Phone: 03-7650-5540

Address: 3-24-7 Minamikarasuyama, Setagaya-ku, Tokyo

Map

The Neighborhood

Ivan Ramen - vending machine in Japanese and English!

Our chef hard at work

Just look at that egg. Yum!

My Favorite Ramen

Last month I had no problem telling you where the best burger in Tokyo is, but there's no way I could say where the best ramen in Tokyo is.  For starters there is just too much ramen in Tokyo for me to ever try them all.  More importantly there are so many types of broth, noodle, and topping options it would be like me telling you that penne with pesto is categorically better than spaghetti with marinara sauce. But I can tell you about my favorite ramen.  (If John was writing this he might even try to tell you it's the best)

Furyu Ramen in Shibuya

We first on stumbled Furyu with Tim and Christine back in November.  I was hungry and irritable, frustrated that we hadn't been able to find the perfect souvenir for Christine's sister, and sad that they were leaving in a few hours (so probably being a terrible host) when we finally decided to eat lunch.  I ordered the spicy miso ramen and fell in love at first bite.  Honestly, the first time I wasn't sure if it was just so good because I was starving, or if it was really that amazing.  But John and I have been back several times and it is always wonderful.

So delicious and so affordable!

Furyu makes Hakata style ramen which is a wonderful rich pork broth (called tonkotsu) with thin straight white noodles (as opposed to thicker, crinkly, yellow noodles).  The regular tonkotsu is delicious, but the spicy miso paste they stir in takes it to a whole new level of deliciousness.

I'm getting hungry just from the pictures

I normally just get the regular bowl for 600 yen.  It comes with been sprouts, green onions, and some diced up pork.  I really prefer the pork diced into tiny bites that mix into the soup, rather than the larger slices of chashu that John gets.

John's ramen with chashu

Furyu has many locations all over the city, but I personally prefer the Shibuya location.  I thought their ramen was just a little bit better than in Shinjuku.  I'm not sure about the others, but in Shibuya they have an English menu.  They also offer extra noodles, so if you aren't stuffed after the first bowl just call out "Kaedama" to the chef and you can have up to two free noodle refills.

Furyu Ramen
Hours: M-S 11:00 am-3:00 am, Sun 11:00-8:00
Locations

Yokohama Ramen Musuem

This week Raku has had a friend visiting, and the three of us went out to the Ramen Museum in Yokohama.  For some reason the museum spells it "raumen," but I'm just going to stick to the regular spelling.

The museum area of the museum is actually quite small.  It's just a wall inside the gift shop with some history - all in Japanese.  But the point is not to read about ramen, it's to sample the ramen!  The museum has recreated a little 1958 ramen village with nine ramen shops.

Main Square of the Village

Ramen Alley

Everything has been aged to look like it's from 1958

The museum has selected from the most well know in the country to represent the four major types of ramen: shoyu (soy) broth, miso broth, shio (salt) broth, and tonkotsu (pork) broth.  The shops all have vending machines that sell tickets for half and full sized bowls.  We decided to try three different types, but even with the half sizes we were stuffed by the end!

Our first ramen was tonkotsu style from Komurasaki.  Tonkotsu is my favorite type of ramen anyways, and this was excellent.  The broth was wonderfully flavored with garlic and had a rich almost creamy consistency.  There is red pepper on the table than you can mix in, which I did halfway through.  Both ways were great.  The only bad thing I would say it that noodles were maybe slightly overcooked.

Komurasaki: Tonkotsu Ramen

 Our second stop was at Sumira for some miso ramen.  This was my least favorite of the day.  The noodles were thick and crinkly, with a nice springiness to them, but I didn't care for the broth.  It was very thick and very oily, with a strong ginger scent.  I normally love ginger, but I thought it clashed a with the miso, and that the flavor of the bamboo shoots clashed even more.  I did like how the pork was diced rather than in slices.  For what it's worth this was Raku's favorite miso of the day, but her friend agreed with me.

Sumira: Miso Ramen

By our last stop we were all losing a little of our enthusiasm (even though I didn't finish my ramen at Sumira).  Luckily, at Shinasoba-ya the small portions were significantly smaller than at the other two places.  The noodles here were the thinnest and most delicate which Raku and I both enjoyed, though her friend preferred them thicker.  The broth had a delicate flavor that Raku and I both though reminded us slightly of Udon broth.  Raku found this very unsettling, but I was just glad it tasted better than the miso.

Shinasoba-ya: Shoyu Ramen

By the time we finished our tongues were burning from both the salt and the hot broth.  In our dehydrated state we went to the gift shop which was very entertaining.  Raku's friend bought some ramen to take home, and we all laughed at the ramen themed gifts.

Classical and Jazz Noodle CDs?

Super cute ramen stickers!

Yokohama Ramen Museum

Admission: Adults 310 yen, Children 100 yen

Hours: Typically 11:00-10:00, but varies daily, consult this page

Phone: 04-5471-0503

Address: 2-14-21, Shinyokohama, Kohoku-ku

Map