Tyi, brother deer and I visited Japan this past summer and fell in LOVE with the ramen there. We each almost swore to never eat ramen anywhere else again. I mean it was that much more delicious than anything we ever found back home. We actually stumbled upon Ichiran ramen while we were wandering the streets in Harajuku.
Ordering ramen
Upon ordering our bowl of Ichiran ramen in the little vending machine type order station outside, we were each seated in our own little cubical. We were presented with an order sheet so that we could mark down the customizations we wanted for our ramen. There was a choice of how buttery you wanted your soup, how much onions you wanted, lean/fatty pork, how tender you wanted your noodles, and how spicy wanted it to be.
This was what I was presented with, a bowl of delicious ramen and it was delicious!
Making it at home
They sold dry ramen in packages along with a package of soup base so that their customers could attempt to make a bowl of ramen just as scrumptious at home as well. We planned to buy some to take home with us, but we ended up forgetting. Lucky for us, ichiran had a branch back in Hong Kong so we had a change to get some when we returned there. Apparently the line to eat at ichiran in Hong Kong is a two hour wait! That’s insane! The three of us walked by the huge line of patrons with a smug smile because we only waited fifteen minutes in Japan for our ramen. Anyways, we each ended up buying a few packs of the original pork ramen to bring home.
After many months of anticipation, we finally got around to attempt making a bowl of these at home. Although the noodles tasted similar texturally to the ones we had and the soup was pretty much the same as well, they were definitely NOT THE SAME. Well, we didn’t exactly use any of the same toppings, but I didn’t expect the difference to be so noticeable even so.
Don’t get me wrong, it was yum and satisfying nevertheless but I was a little disappointed because I had high hopes for it to be a good replication of the real thing. Sigh, I guess this means if I ever want a bowl of this deliciousness again, I’m going to head back to Japan, not that I mind going back though of course!
I loved Ichiran when I ate at the branch in Shinjuku. I don’t remember seeing the dry ramen for sale when I went. Good thing because I probably would have gotten them and been disappointed too. Great post.
I guess I’ll just have to get myself back to Japan to have such deliciousness again!