japanese ramen delicious Cheap Eats in Japan - Ramen Noodle Shops

Cheap Eats in Japan - Ramen Noodle Shops

Guest Author - Taisha Turner

The budget traveler and expatriate can get an inexpensive and plentiful meal in Ramen noodle shops. They offer the visitor a delicious meal. Ramen noodles are cheap eats in Japan.

The Ramen noodle shops are easy to negotiate. Outside the noodle shop are vending machines. Look and find the picture representing the dish of choice. Pay for the meal and take the ticket. Enter and sit in a booth.

A member of the wait staff will take your ticket and return with your Japanese food selection. Some Ramen noodle shops will ask how do you prefer the noodles, al dente or mushy. How spicy do you want the broth? Hot, medium or mild. What toppings do you want? Vegetables, meats (beef, veal, pork, etc.) and seafood are the ususal toppings. As you can guess, the former Ramen noodle shop is the cheapest type. You pay more for the interaction.

Note that some Ramen noodle shops have individual booths. They are like the study booths in college. The people on both sides are blocked from view by partitions giving a sense privacy. This is bothersome when there are two or more in a party. Maybe this is a by-product of living on a small island with so many people.

Adventure out and try a Ramen noodle shop. It is a good experience even for the traveler or expatriate not on a budget. Remember you are there to experience Japan!

Post anything you think might be useful for fellow travelers. Do you have a travel inquiry? Post your question

 

from - http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art33118.asp

japanese ramen delicious Muku Japanese Ramen

For a different type of Japanese cuisine, Muku offers a good variety of ramen soups. With a few other options on their menu, the ramen is probably the best reason to visit.

Ramen may be unfamiliar to many people as it's not really served in the mainstream restaurants very often. So if you want to experience why it's a popular dish in Japan, Muku is a good bet.

The wonton tonkotsu ramen I ordered had a great broth that had a good pork flavour to it. There's a lot of seasoning in it, so for some palates it may be overwhelming, but take it slow and savour the broth and it can be more enjoyable. That is until the end when all the sediment gets pretty concentrated at the bottom of the bowl - remember to constantly stir.

The noodles and pork are well prepared. Imagine a thicker, heavier textured type of ichiban noodles and it still doesn't do Muku's noodles justice. The pork slice is a nice addition to the soup for flavour and body. The wontons may have been too much for me, but they are delicious with their hand wrapped quality.

As mentioned there are other menu items and the Unagi Don was good, but nothing that made it stand out from other Japanese restaurants. It was a pretty large bowl with plenty of rice providing good value.

Located next to Globefish on Kensington both restaurants share a parking lot, so be prepared to park on the street or in the adjacent neighbourhood during busy hours

Miso Ramen delicious

Tadashi and I took a detour from our regional hot pot hunt to check out a famed local dish: the city's signature miso ramen. This is a city that boasts countless ramen joints, two ramen yokocho (old and new) -- narrow alleys chock-a-block with tiny ramen shops, counter service only -- and the "Ramen Republic," a ramen theme park occupying the entire floor of a shopping mall. Why all the hoopla? Let's start with the broth, thick, complex and rich as gravy, slow cooked from pork,



 ground pork and kombu, maybe also with dried scallops and niboshi, and finally mixed with miso. Then consider the fresh egg noodles, thin like spaghetti but squiggly, lemon-yellow from all the yolks, and satisfyingly toothsome. Now add the toppings: sautéed cabbage and bean sprouts, thinly sliced negi, pickled bamboo shoots (menma) and thick -- in one joint, 1/2 inch thick -- slices of roasted pork. Sprinkle dried, sliced tongrashi (red chilies) and you're set. It ain't light -- we're talking a load of pork fat -- but it's ain't overpowering either. All the flavors were balanced and absolutely delicious. On a bone-chilling Sapporo winter day I can't imagine anything more satisfying. Find the ramen shops Tetsuya and Keiyaki the next time you're in town.

from - http://www.japanesefoodreport.com

Asakusa Sensoji Temple | Delicious Ramen (Japanese Noodle) and Gyoza

Asakusa Sensoji Temple | Delicious Ramen (Japanese Noodle) and Gyoza

Written by Shirley T

Saturday, 10 April 2010 00:00 People said the best way to know a country is through their food. I was in Tokyo early spring this year, guess nothing else is better than a taste for adventure! Since our first day was spent at the vibrant Asakusa neighborhood, or precisely close to the precinct of Sensoji Temple, we opted for a lunch break nearby. Without much clue and obviously illiterate (Japanese illiterate!), our instinct brought us to an alley that lies perpendicular to the colorful Nakamise Shopping Street. One of the fabulous things I love about Tokyo is the plastic food display. For this restaurant we had eyed on, it clearly showed their specialty is 'Ramen'. And this Japanese noodles look delicious. The long queue outside this restaurant came in next and served as our second clue that we should be heading into a good restaurant. Price ranges between 700 to 1000 yen. The facade is perhaps measuring between 4 to 5 m width with a tiny sliding door and there is no space to even queue inside. However, a friendly waitstaff would come out and hand to the diners their menu (while waiting) so that we place an order in advance. When it was our turn to decide, we asked for an English menu (their menu is also prepared in a few other languages e.g. Chinese, brilliant!) and just pointed to what we would love to eat. Easy and fool-proof Land or space is considered a luxurious in Tokyo so do not expect a roomy restaurant. We were ushered to a bar counter ahead. Behind us was a long mirror which is also the wall and the limit of one end of this restaurant. Right in front of us, a rectangular area with a width less than 2 m is the space where 4 chefs stood to prepare the delectable ramen. Besides this bar counter, they also have upstairs to cater for a large group of diners. Our two bowls of ramen were served pretty fast. After taking a few photographs, I grabbed my spoon and tried the soup. It was fantastic! Without hesitant, I continued with the soft and tasty savory noodles. 'This is what an authentic ramen supposed to be!' I mumbled to myself. Of Chinese origin, somehow Ramen or pronounced as 'Pulled Noodle' in Chinese is a popular Japanese noodle dish and available in several variations based on broth's ingredient or geographical region. Our ramen was served in clear broth, adorned with a few sliced pork, seaweed (nori), fish cakes (kamaboko) and bamboo shoots (menma). We also tried a plate of gyoza or the Japanese version of 'Jiaozi'. Gyoza is a typical side dish served with ramen. The filling is prepared from a minced pork, garlic and vegetables, then wrapped with a thinly-rolled dough skins then pan-fried to perfection. All of all, our first ramen experience in the heart of Asakusa, Tokyo was awesome. We paid 1900 yen for everything. We didn't order additional drinks but ice water was served on the house. Getting there? A perpendicular alley between KaminariMon and HozoMon. If one is facing HozoMon, the alley is on the right, only a few yards from Nakamise Street from - http://www.mywisewife.com/asakusa-sensoji-temple-delicious-ramen-japanese-noodle-and-gyoza.html link http://meganfoxstar.blogspot.com/ http://elishasexycool.blogspot.com/ http://junkfoodtoday.blogspot.com/ http://japanesefoodyum.blogspot.com/

Noodles and ramen in Japan

Buckwheat has an ancient history, first grown thousands of years ago in China and Japan

The word ‘soba’  is the Japanese word used to describe not only the buckwheat plant (Fagopyrum esculenhum) but all noodles made from the grain of the plant. Contrary to its name buckwheat is not actually a wheat. The name evolved because the fruit of the plant is three-sided with sharp angles, resembling the triangular Beech-nut. The name Buckwheat comes from the Dutch name Boek-weit meaning ‘Beech-wheat’.  Buckwheat is also closely related to rhubarb and the fragrant flowers make it attractive to bees to produce a special, strongly flavoured, dark honey.





Soba or buckwheat noodles are a staple food in Japan, with various grades available, from dark brown to grey on colour. Buckwheat noodles have a firmer texture with a distinct, slightly nutty flavour. Although they can be made solely with buckwheat, the mixture can be very crumbly and hard to manage, so wheat flour is often added. Powdered tea is sometimes added to make cha soba, a green noodle with a distinct flavour.
The word Hakubaku can be translated as "white wheat"(buckwheat) and Hakubaku specialises in buckwheat based Soba noodles (as well as the wheat based Soma, Udon and Ramen).
There is much to learn about Noodles in Japan including their History, Varieties and the Noodle Maker

Ramen Shops in Tokyo Worth Visiting

Kyushu Jangara – Harajuku Branch

Kyushu Jangara is a chain shop hailing from the island Kyushu (hence the name). Jangara is one of the most tourist friendly ramen shops in all of Tokyo, located just a one minute walk from Harajuku station. It also has an English menu, making ordering easy for first-timers.
On most weekends a member of the staff can be seen just outside the entrance, trying to usher shoppers inside and control customers in waiting if the line gets long.
The soup stock here is tonkotsu (pork bone) based, made from slow roasting pork bones for hours, sometimes even days. You can usually pick up a strange smell in the air that is characteristic of the tonkotsu stock making process.
The noodles here are quite good, and I would definitely recommend the shop due to its convenience and proximity to the shopping Mecca of Harajuku

from - http://matadornetwork.com

History of Ramen

Ramen is a Japanese food serve in broth. It served in a meat-based broth, and uses toppings such as sliced pork, seaweed, green onion and sometimes corn.

According to historian, noodles originated from China over 4000 years ago and reached the Japanese culture much later on. In fact, we had to wait up to 19th century, in the Meiji period, for ramen to become widely known in Japan. Salt ramen originated in Hokkaido in the Taisho era. The Japanese dish was originally called “Lamen”, but will be later referred to as “Ramen”, since there is no distinction between the 'L' and 'R' sounds in the Japanese language and it was a more popular way to express the word.

After the Second World War came an intense food shortage in Japan, a turning point in the history of noodles. Ramen were perfect and greatly helped Japan, they were cheap and a great source of needed calories. This due to cheap flour imported from United States. A bit later, in 1958, Momofuku Ando, founder and chairman of Nissin Foods, invented the instant noodles, which are a lot closer to what the people eat today. It named the greatest “made in Japan” invention of the 20th century. In 1970, Nissin Foods introduced the ramen to the United States. In 1972, ramen was produced in United States. 4000 years after the origin of the first noodles, ramen are known worldwide and are part of over 85 billions meals every year. Today, ramen are everywhere in Japan and across the world, and each province has it unique flavor and closely-guarded secret ingredient

from - http://www.world-foodhistory.com