My Ramen Progress

I remember my first ever bowl of ramen in Japan. It was the Summer of 2023, and I just arrived in Kyoto. Walking through the alley ways, I walked into the first random ramen shop I saw and got their Shoyu Ramen. The broth was chicken-based per their outdoor sign that had limited English. This shop was called Ichiryu Manbai (photo 9/9).

This bowl would change my perspective forever on ramen. I'm from Minnesota, the Midwest of the USA. Although we do have ramen shops, in my opinion, only a small handful were decent.They all also specialized more in America's favorite, tonkotsu ramen. But boy, this Shoyu Ramen at Ichiryu Manbai was on another level. Savory in chicken flavor, umami, yet complex (I'm thinking from their shoyu tare). Although I've had ten more amazing bowls on this trip, this bowl (and a few others) stayed with me.

After this 2023 Japan trip, I did my best research online to gain some kind of knowledge on how to make a decent shoyu ramen. Big thanks to Way Of Ramen on YouTube and other random resources I could find online, I made my first ramen (photo 1/10). At this time, I didn't stumble upon Ramen Lord's online ramen book yet. The noodles were store bought, but everything else I made from scratch. My bowls I made around these times for sure was not there yet. I knew many things were missing. I knew there were ingredients and ramen knowledge I did not know of. So I told myself, I have to go back to Japan!

Fall of 2024, I went back to Japan. I told myself I wanted to bring something back with me, something more than just souvenirs. So I partaked in Miyajima Ramen School's 3 day course in Osaka. This three day course was short yet tough, and gave me everything I wanted. It exposed me to the genuine ramen ingredients and process. I learned how to make a Shoyu and Kyushu Tonkotsu ramen, everything from scratch (photos 2,3/9).

Japan was so hot that I wasn't really in the mood for ramen, so I only ate a few bowls on this 2024 trip (which I regret). Once I got home, I reviewed my notes from my classes. The hardest thing was trying to get ingredients, I had to buy bags of the thicker katsuobushi from Japanese vendors on ebay. Thankfully we have a legit Japanese grocery store in the Twin Cities that I can go to for super basic ingredients. And my ramen making continued (photos 4,5,6,7,8/9). The more bowls I make, the more I realized how much I sucked, and the more I realized techniques. Right now I am trying to expand and learn more on ramen. I then found Ramen Lord's online book, bought Ivan Orkin's ramen book (and other ramen books), listen to ramen podcasts, and more. I'm definitely still a noob, but the learning and passion continues!

Thanks for reading! I hope you all also achieve whatever it is you want with ramen! Happy slurping!❤️ 🍜