Three years ago I started photographing ramen on a bike trip through Japan. This may have got slightly out of hand so i built a tier list map

Three years ago I was cycling through the Seto Inland Sea and dropped into Kuishinbō Senryō in Onomichi for ramen near the end of the trip.

I took a photo of the bowl.

I took a few more ramen photos on that trip, one thing led to another, I downloaded a tier-list app onto my phone and started ranking them. Then I did it for every bowl on the next trip. And the next one.

And while I eat ramen at least once a week here in Sydney, and there are very good ramen restaurants in other cities I visit, I only seemed to add Japanese bowls to my tier list.

I spend about a month in Japan every year, and over those trips I've "photographed" and ranked 45 bowls across 17 prefectures.

ramen.jimhasadhd.fyi

Every bowl I've eaten since in Japan gets a D – S tier, plus scores out of 5 for value, presentation and zuzutto — essentially, how enthusiastically I want to slurp the thing. I had some rules in my head but also raw feelings contribute.

I've added the photos, what I ordered, what I paid, and where the shop is.

The bit I actually wanted for myself is the map/search. You can type in your hotel, station or town in Japan and it'll show the bowls I've eaten nearby, nearest first. So when I'm travelling I can immediately answer the important question: what ramen have I already decided is good within walking distance?

A few things the data has taught me:

• My S-tier bowls average ¥1,073.
• My D-tier bowls average ¥1,625. Apparently spending more money does not improve my judgement.
• Best value so far was a ¥600 champon in rural Kagoshima. Tatami seats, very old chef, and what felt like every grandparent in town eating lunch.
• Worst was ¥2,600 gluten-free ramen at the Osaka Expo, after standing in a very long queue.
• Most expensive was ¥2,800 tsukemen at Kadoya Shokudō. Absolutely excellent, but the price is basically the only reason it missed S tier.
• I've ordered kaedama 11 times.
• I have repeatedly described bowls as “unfinishable” and then finished them.

A few bowls I would actively send someone out of their way for:

Menya Jūbei, Fukuchiyama — tori paitan with red shiso chilli paste. I picked Fukuchiyama almost randomly off a map and I still think about this ramen all the time. (pictured)

Ramen House Mitsuba, Nara — foamy awa-kei paitan. This is largely responsible for my current chicken-paitan problem.

Tonjinchi, Himi — Michelin Bib Gourmand. Their niboshi was sold out when I visited and somehow the white shoyu was still absurdly good.

Kuishinbō Senryō, Onomichi — seared-backfat Onomichi ramen. The original bowl. The staff also started calling me “Google sensei”, which was probably encouragement I didn't need.

The site is free. No ads, no tracking, no accounts. It's literally just my ramen opinions, photos and a map of Japan.

The About page also analyses my own data and makes fun of me, which seems appropriate.

I'm back in Japan for about a month this December. I've got a few deliberate repeats planned but you can expect a few updates as well.