[i ate] Ichiran Ramen

by Sea_Lemon3233

17 Comments

  1. Psychophysics

    I love Ichiran ramen! If only I could soft boil eggs as well as they do! 🤤

  2. Paterakis518

    Love the presentation – I’m sure it tasted just as good!

  3. Rakumei

    Meh. Tourist trap. But tourists will FIGHT you over it online.

    Ramen is alright but far from the best you can get. It’s more about the whole “you don’t need to interface with anyone” loner experience.

  4. Forwhomamifloating

    Just wish I could reverse engineer their chili paste

  5. discretelandscapes

    So I’ve worked at Ichiran in Japan.

    This is how it’s supposed to look. Good presentation. For those that wonder, yes, the noodles HAVE to “lie” wrapped like this. That’s an integral part of the preparation. Every staff is trained to do this until it looks right.

    Looks like OP ordered (besides the ramen) kikurage, nori, egg, and some extra chashu. Not sure why there’s no chashu in the actual bowl because it *is* included in the basic package, or did it sink in the north-east corner? If not, you missed out on two slices of chashu on the order sheet, OP.

    What I love about Ichiran is the total consistency of their bowls. Providing you make the same selections, the bowl will always taste and look the same. Ichiran is focused on simplicity. The ramen isn’t overloaded with toppings like in other places; by default it’s only green onions, chashu, that’s it. The red drop is the “hiden no tare”, an original spicy sauce that you can adjust (2x, 3x doesn’t mean it’s a hotter sauce; it’s just double/triple the amount).

    What’s unusual is that they don’t offer gyoza, karaage or any other side dish that you usually see in ramen shops. They’re so convinced of their system (the manual would have me say we’re so convinced of our product) that they basically only have one main menu item.

    Reddit likes to dunk on it sometimes because it’s a chain, and that’s understandable. Ichiran generally has a *pretty* good image among Japanese people, I believe, but not everyone prefers tonkotsu and/or spicy ramen, or they’re just looking for a more traditional experience in a privately run shop where you can actually see and maybe converse with people. Personally I kind of see it as its own category tbh. There’s days I want to eat ramen, and then there’s days I want Ichiran.

    My recommendation would be strong dashi, extra rich, 1 clove of garlic, **both** green and white/green onions (lots of people don’t know that you can circle both), obviously *with* chashu, 3x spicy — with the noodles being at least firm if not extra firm. Extra firm noodles don’t go well with some peoples’ stomachs. Personally I really love the bite of the firmer noodles and richness of the broth. It’s not something you can’t get elsewhere, but with Ichiran you always know what you get.

    As for the spicy sauce: it’s a kind of chili oil (a bit like rayu 辣油) mixed with togarashi. Why choose “3x”? I think it’s just the right spot between noticeably-but-comfortably spicy and breaking-into-a-sweat hot. But obviously that differs from person to person. Also (this is a bit of a secret, but) above 3x you don’t get extra proper sauce anymore. It’s just spoonfuls of togarashi that gets added at that point.

  6. -Revolution-

    Bro I thought you said Ichiraku Ramen at first and I was like that’s genius!

  7. DangOlCoreMan

    I got recommended this sub, what is up with all the ramen purists (hipsters if you will)

    OP never once (that i saw) said that it was the best ramen ever, they just simply said they ate it and enjoyed it. And here comes the armies of ramen snobs to tell you otherwise. Its really weird tbh

  8. thereader17

    I always go for Icbiran when I’m in Japan

  9. Comfortable-Class569

    Ichiran ramen looks amazing! Can’t beat that rich, flavorful broth.

  10. RavishLure

    I could eat a bow like this faster than Naruto LoL

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