One of the famous ramen restaurants “Ippudo” opened in NY last month. Ramen is a noodle dish that comes in a hot soup that is rooted in China and developed farther in Japan . 

It is a very popular fast food. You can find many different types of ramen all over Japan. Kyushu is famous for Tonkotsu (pork based soup,) Hokkaido is Miso (soy bean paste) and salt, and Tokyo is soy sauce. What I want to introduce to you is “Haruki-ya,” one of the main long-established ramen restaurants in Tokyo. The movie “Tampopo” which was directed by Juzo Itami was based on this restaurant. Ogikubo is a ramen town with many popular restaurants located on the Chuo Line. Not too long after WW2, the year of Showa 24, the founder of Haruki-ya who studied at Japanese soba noodle restaurant opened a stand style restaurant in the black market only two minutes walk from the nearest train station. It’s been 59years since then. It’s not too difficult to find frequenters who are fans of this restaurant from grandparents’ generation. Good numbers of the customers are women. They have branches one in Kichijoji, and another in Koriyama, Hukushima. They also opened a restaurant in Shin-yokohama Ramen Museum in 2004.
My favorite is their wonderful soup. It became very popular lately, but people say that they are the founders of this type of soup with great scent of cooked small dried sardines. This Japanese style soup is made with mixtures of seafood, vegetables, chicken and soy sauce. It is very clear so you can see the bottom of the bowl. The ramen comes with a layer of oil on top to keep it hot for a long time, but you will find as you eat that it really isn’t greasy. That is the reason that they have so many frequenters.

Let’s talk about the actual noodles next. It is crinkled and has a good toughness. It has a yellowish brown color since it is made with few different kinds of flour. They slightly change the ratio of salt water and four different kinds of flours to make a noodle depending on each day’s weather and humidity. It is a very similar way to make a soba noodle. The basic ramen has noodle, soup, pickled bamboo shoot, dried seaweed and chopped scallions.
It is always full of customers no matter if it is a weekday or weekend. There are a lot of waitresses and waiters in order to serve a large number of customers. All of them are very nice and have good customer skills. I can see that they have pride in a well known restaurant. Unfortunately, they are increasing the menu prices by 50yen starting from this April in order to accommodate the economy increases. Basic ramen 800yen, large basic ramen 1,000yen, wanton 800yen, wanton noodle 1,200yen, large wanton noodle 1,400yen, roast pork ramen 1,300yen, large roast pork ramen 1,500yen, roast pork and wonton noodle 1,700yen, large roast pork and wonton noodle 1,900yen. It is quite a pricy menu compared to a regular ramen restaurant, but the quality is completely different than the others. Try the  taste of history of this restaurant.     

1-4-6, Kamiogi Suginami, Tokyo
Tel: 03-3391-4868
Hours:
Monday – Saturday 11:00am – 10:00pm
Sunday 11:00am – 9:00pm
Open everyday
Maximum capacity: 18
Two minute walk from JR・Tokyo Metro Marunouchi Line Ogikubo Station

Shin-yokohama Ramen Museum
2-14-21 Shin-yokohama Kouhoku, Yokohama, Kanagawa
Tel: 045-471-0503
Hours:
Weekdays / 11:00am – 11:00pm Weekend and Holidays / 10:30am – 11:00pm
(No entry after 10:00pm, Last order 10:05pm) Open everyday
Entrance fee:
Adult (Junior High School Student or older) 300yen
Child (Elementary School Student) 100yen
Five minute walk from JR Shin-yokohama Train Station
You can learn the history of ramen at this museum, and also enjoy the taste of ramen at “Ramen town” which is built resembling Showa 30’s Japanese Shitamachi town. There is a ramen gift store, too.