いらっしゃいませ!

Welcome to my ramen dream... Currently being interpreted in Ramen Burger Land... Looking for a good slurp? Email me ! - Keizo

Monday, April 20, 2009

Day 19 - Hakata Ramen...need I say more?

I bet if I took a bath and soaked my body in the tub for 12 hours, I'd end up with some pretty astonishing tonkotsu soup. Sorry about the visual, but after consuming four bowls in less than ten hours you probably know what I'm talking about. I set out to try 2 bowls max today, then I don't know what happened. There's something addictive about the ramen here. It's hypnotizing. I'm still craving it as I write this. I'm doomed, yet totally satisfied. Between the collagen and the fat, I think I'm on pace to be the prettiest heavy person alive.


When I first arrived at Hakata Station and grabbed a copy of the local ramen map, a taxi driver saw me fumbling through it and asked "Oi nani sagashitenno (What are you looking for)?" When I told him I was looking for the best ramen-ya in the area he then told me to just ride with him for the day and he'd take me to all of them. Thanks but no thanks. Sounds like fun but that would probably cost me a fortune. He then said "Ichiban ume~ no wa Ganso Nagahama da yo. Ajinomoto tappuri irete suge~ oishii." Basically, that translates to 'go to Ganso Nagahama cuz they use a lot of MSG and it's damn good!' So I went and...it was damn good! In Japan, ajinomoto is your friend. If anything, it makes you feel happier.


I had dreamt about coming to Canal City's Raumen Stadium before. So I guess you can call this a dream come true. But then again, I always dream about ramen and this whole trip has been one big dream come true. Anyway, I felt like something different but still considered Hakata. So I ordered the tsukemen from Hakata Gensuke. It definitely didn't feel like Hakata, but I guess I can now say that I've tried Hakata-style tsukemen at the Raumen Stadium 2. Sweet!


After checking into my hotel and taking a short break while watching the rain soak the street below my window, I finally decided to go get out and get wet myself. So it was back to Canal City, but this time I headed for the basement. I had heard about Ichiran and its private stalls before but never experienced it first hand. The ramen was great and the experience was one-of-a-kind. Although I did miss being able to observe the hustle-and-bustle of a ramen-ya.


I then set out to find the yatai Ichiryu in honor of a true rameniac, but it wasn't where it was supposed to be. I spent about an hour walking around Nakasu, asking just about every conbini and they all pointed me to the same direction. But I swear, it wasn't there. So after my 5th time walking by, I finally just settled with Hakata-Nagahama Ramen Yamachan. It probably wasn't the greatest ramen in the area (though it was the most crowded), but there's something about just being there that makes it special. The whole mood of sitting at a yatai at night next to a river in Hakata is unfathomable, yet very explicable. It's gonna be hard to fight this addiction.


I leave you with the rest of my pictures from my day in Hakata. As I much as I don't want to leave, I've been looking forward to tomorrow for a very long time. I hope to see you then. Oyasumi!

8 comments:

  1. welcome to my 'hood!

    ichiryu is the closest yatai to the watanabe-dori river bridge on the canal city side of the river. judging by your photo, that looks to be the spot, and that pile of wood might well be ichiryu ><. hope it was just their day off :/. they also have an actual non-yatai shop a little down 'dori, but it's just not quite the same.

    yama-chan also has a shop on the other side of town. mad lines there as well.

    congrats! the canal city ichiran you went to is their flagship ichiran... and the only one that serves ramen in the black coffin bowls.

    as for ganso nagahama, i've never been there sober hehehe...

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  2. o yea and i'll freely admit that the styles map at canal city is where it all started. unlike the map of 26 at yokohama, which is basically just a list of statistics. i do think the canal city map is kyushu-centric though, and favors the area prefectures while glossing over say, hokkaido (there's no kushiro ramen on there for example), but hey, it's a local thing! honestly i think you can probably break styles down much much further into things like neighborhoods (nagahama, ebisu). the discoveries never end...

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  3. @takeaguess: Thanks fo the info. Next time, you'll need to give me your personal ramen tour.

    @thesameguy: I agree. There's way too many styles to actually count. But it is funny how the canal city one starts from Hakata then works its way up. I also like how it gives shop recs. I think I'm gonna use them.

    @Brian: Yes.

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  4. Why's the ramen so white-gray looking at Ganso Nagahama? At first I thought it was soba.

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  5. Hi Keizo,

    Allow me to declare my pent-up feelings reading your post...

    Omedetou!!! :)

    You made it to Hakata! I remember the first time I went to Shin Sen Gumi and heard about Hakata-style Ramen. From that point I've always wanted to go there and try it out. And you tried the Raumen Stadium *and* the Yatais! That's so cool.

    So, just how big a difference is the honmono Hakata Ramen to our only choice in So Cal (Shin Sen Gumi)? (I know it's a loaded question :P)

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  6. Huge difference! I wouldn't even know where to begin. Someday you'll have to just go see for yourself.

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  7. Ugh, I miss Fukuoka...can't find a decent ramen place anywhere in SF

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