TOKYO – Spicy, steamy, and sticky ramen might be everyone’s favorite Japanese food.
In Tokyo, long lines wrap around the blocks, and waiting an hour for your ramen is normal. What awaits you might just be a dip, but a hot bowl of ramen rarely fails to hit the spot.
Often prepared right before your eyes, behind dirty counters, the noodle dish here costs around 1,000 yen ($6.50) and comes in several local flavors and versions. There is soy-based salty “shoyu” or “miso” paste. Maybe it’s spicy and hot with a hint of pepper. Sometimes there is no soup at all, just a sauce to dip the noodles in.
Curly noodles are lighter than darker buckwheat “soba” or “udon,” which also tend to be flatter or thicker.
Ramen has also grown in popularity in the US, South Korea and other countries. Retail sales in the United States have increased 72% since 2000, according to NielsenIQ, a sales tracking company. In the 52 weeks ending April 13, Americans purchased more than $1.6 billion worth of ramen.
Versions beyond the traditional soup are appearing in restaurants, said Technomic, a research and consultancy company for the restaurant sector. Del Taco, a Mexican chain, recently launched Shredded Beef Birria Ramen, for example.
Packaged ramen that can be easily cooked in hot water at home is called instant noodles; it is pre-cooked and then dried. The story of how Momofuku Ando invented instant ramen in a backyard shed in 1958, when food was still scarce, is the stuff of legend in Japan. He founded the food giant Nissin Foods.
Although convenient, instant noodles are not the same as the ramen served in restaurants.
Some Japanese people frequent ramen shops two or three times a week. They emerge, dripping sweat, smacking their lips.
“I’m probably a talking bowl of ramen,” says Frank Striegl as he leads a dozen American tourists through the alleys of Tokyo’s trendy Shibuya neighborhood in what he calls “the ultimate ramen experience.”
The crowd is ushered behind a battered door, sometimes up narrow stairs, to a dimly lit table where ramen is served in tiny bowls, roughly the size of a cup of latte, or about a quarter of a bowl. of normal ramen. This allows guests to have enough belly space to try six different types of ramen, two at each location during the tour.
One restaurant, Shinbusakiya, offers “Hokkaido classics” from the northernmost main island, while another, Nagi, offers “Fukuoka fusion” from the southern main island of Kyushu. It includes a green ramen, similar to al pesto pasta. Syuuichi, which means “once a week,” offers curry-flavored ramen.
“Of course, it’s not just about eating delicious ramen, but also learning about it,” said Striegl, a Filipino-American who grew up in Tokyo. He calls ramen “people’s food.”
“In a way, many countries around the world have their version of ramen,” he said. “So, I think because of that it’s an easy dish to understand. It’s an easy dish to leave behind.
As tour participants enjoyed their noodles, Striegl described a brief history of ramen: Its roots date back to the samurai era, when a shogun became interested in Chinese noodles, beginning the ramen localization journey that continues today.
Katie Sell, a graduate student on Striegl’s tour, called ramen “kind of a comfort food, especially in the winter. Get a group of friends together, go eat ramen and enjoy.”
Kavi Patel, an engineer from New Jersey, said he was happy to have included the humble ramen on his trip to Japan, along with more established attractions like the ancient capital of Kyoto and the deer park in Nara. “I’m having a lot of fun,” he said.
While ramen has never been more popular in Japan, ramen places have struggled because of the pandemic, the weakening of the Japanese yen and the higher cost of wheat and energy imports, according to a study by Tokyo Shoko Research. .
One of the beneficiaries of the pandemic is a home delivery service for professionally cooked, frozen ramen. Called takumen.com, it has about 500,000 subscribers in Japan.
Another Tokyo operation, Gourmet Innovation, has signed on with 250 of the country’s top ramen restaurants to sell packaged versions of its soup, noodles and toppings, to be heated in boiling water and served at home.
Co-founder and executive Kenichi Nomaguchi, who hopes to expand his business overseas, says ramen and animation are Japan’s most successful exports.
Why ramen? Unlike noodles or curry, ramen is difficult to replicate at home, he said. Preparing it from scratch involves hours of cooking broth, with pork, beef or chicken, various fish or bonito flakes and “kombu” seaweed. Some actions use oysters.
In addition to the different broths and flavors, onion, grated garlic, ginger or sesame oil can be added for an extra touch. Toppings may include bean sprouts, grilled pork, boiled or raw eggs, seaweed, fermented bamboo shoots called “menma,” chopped scallions, cooked cabbage, peas or corn.
Some insist that a bowl of ramen is not complete without a slice of narutomaki, a white fish cake with a pink spiral pattern.
Unusual varieties include coffee ramen and ramen topped with ice cream or pineapple.
Jiro-style ramen, named after a legendary restaurant in Tokyo, features mounds of vegetable toppings, huge steak-like grilled pork, and spicy grated garlic mixed with a fatty pork-based broth.
“Impact is important. Therefore, the pork has to be big to be truly memorable,” said Kota Kobayashi, who serves Jiro-style ramen at his chain, “Ore No Ikiru Michi,” which means “The Way I Live My Life.”
Kobayashi is a former professional baseball player for the Yokohama Bay Stars and played for the minor league Cleveland Guardians before switching to his ramen business.
“When I quit baseball, I chose ramen as my lifestyle,” he said with a smile.
He can get philosophical about ramen. One cultural difference he noted is that Americans tend to leave the noodles and drink all the soup, while the Japanese mostly do the opposite.
And flavor is just part of what makes ramen good. It is also necessary to offer entertainment, said Kobayashi.
In his restaurants, chopsticks are kept in a box on the shelf, so first-time visitors ask where they are. Returning customers go straight to this box. Kobayashi shouts “Welcome back,” making customers feel a connection even if he doesn’t remember anything about them.
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Dee-Ann Durbin contributed to this story from Detroit.
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Yuri Kageyama is on X:
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