FOOD

The Art of “Ramen”

what the kebab is to Aussies -- perhaps after one too many drinks. But you don’t have to be drunk to appreciate its true value. People don’t think twice about queuing for hours in the cold for Originally a Chinese dish, Japan’s own take on ramen has becomehandmade noodles dunked in a hearty bowl of long simmered soup. Ramen is truly a national obsession, evident in the myriad of glossy guidebooks, comic books, TV shows and blog sites reviewing each bowl. Let’s get slurping!

1 Ramen Shops — Old and New

Let’s get this straight. There are two types of ramen shops. One has a fairly basic décor of plastic tables, folding chairs and fluorescent lighting with a ticket vending machine offering only a few ramen options. Prices range from 400 to 800 yen. This is the old school type. Then, there is the newer, design-oriented ramen shop. These boutique style ramen shops offer a wide variety of soups and toppings, with each bowl costing 800 yen and above. Both types of ramen shops are typically small with a dozen or two seats and offer gyoza dumplings and fried rice on the side. Ramen shops that tend to be rated higher among food bloggers are often boutique ones with better atmospheric lighting, but there are gems in the basic old school types as well. If you see a queue out the door even when it's not meal time, that is a good sign. Remember, if you are still peckish after a great ramen meal and there’s some soup left in the bowl, you can always order “kaedama” or a “change of noodles.”

2 Choices, Choices...

Forget the dried instant noodles you subsisted on at university. The noodles at boutique style ramen shops are usually freshly handmade works of art, with condiments like grilled pork, bean sprouts, leek, and bamboo shoots all floating on a longsimmered broth. There are two main types of noodles used for ramen: yellow egg noodles, which are fairly firm and curly, and white flour noodles which are soft and wide. Some shops let you specify just how al dente (or soft) you want your noodles. The main types of soup are:

Shoyu (soy)— Popular in the greater Tokyo region, this is a dark, clear soup often made from fish-based dashi added to chicken stock.	Shio (salt)— Thin, light soup often made with pork.	Miso— A rich, salty soup that derives much of its flavor from miso.	Tonkotsu (pork bone)— Extremely rich, cloudy soup made from simmering pork and other ingredients like chicken, garlic, fish stock and ginger, depending on the shop.

3 Ramen Museum For The Die-Hards...

Ramen addicts, rejoice!
The Shin-Yokohama Raumen Museum, not far from Shin Yokohama station, is where you'll find ten or so of Japan's best ramen shops under one roof. Aside from picking up ramen trivia while enjoying the retro Showa Period ambience, you can go all out and sample each stand. Of course, you can opt for mini-sized bowls, just to be sensible. These shops offer a variety of regional styles. Yokohama ramen is typically a bowl of thick noodles in a soy flavoured pork broth. Sapporo in Hokkaido is known for its garlicky, thick-noodled miso ramen with butter and corn toppings, while Hakata ramen in southern Japan has fans swooning over its milky tonkotsu pork broth and thin, resilient noodles. Ramen from Wakayama near Osaka is somewhere between light soy-based Tokyo-style ramen and rich porky Kyushu ramen, with thin, firm noodles. But often, the flavours are simply at the whim of the chef who keeps the soup ingredients secret, and that is why some shops have such a strong following. Slurp away!