Japanese Ramen

I finally had a chance to taste authentic Japanese Ramen after a 10 year break! Although ramen is available at Japanese restaurants here, but most of the time, the taste simply couldn't meet those in Japan.

As recommended by a travel guide book, we had ramen at this interesting restaurant, Ichiran.


We liked the ramen so much that we went back to the same place three times during our 1-week trip in Tokyo recently. This restaurant is very popular as there's always a queue outside the outlet.

At many small eateries in Tokyo, you will need to purchase meal coupons from vending machines usually located just outside the restaurants. The staff will then collect the tickets from you and your meals will be served shortly. I thought this is really a very efficient method to run an eatery, as you don't need manpower to take orders and payment. Here's an example of a vending machine:



Examples of meal coupons:



It was indeed a "fun" dinning experience for us when we first went to Ichiran. After spending a few minutes figuring out how to use the vending machine, we bought our meal tickets and waited for empty seats. There's an electronic signboard which will indicate where the empty seats are located once the previous diners have left.



Inside the restaurant, each seat was divided into a small cubicle... with dividing boards separating each diner. There were only 2 tables which could seat four persons together. The rest were all cubicles.


There was a curtain in each seat which would separate you from the staff, so that you could enjoy your ramen in complete privacy! The staff would only lower the bamboo curtain when your ramen was served.


Once we settled down to our small cubical like seats, we got to fill up an order sheet to personalise how we wanted our ramen to be done. We could choose whether to have a stronger flavour of the soup, the tenderness of the noodles, whether to add spring onions, etc.


When we were done with the order sheet, we have to place it together with the meal coupons on the table and press the red button which was fixed at the front of the table. The staff came promptly to collect our orders.


We didn't have to wait very long before a yummy, pipping hot bowl of ramen was served.





In case you are feeling very hungry (or greedy as in our case), you can purchase a meal coupon to have additional noodles added. The interesting thing is, the additional portion will not be added to the bowl of ramen right away. You will be given a metal plate when you give the staff your coupon for the additional portion. When you are ready for the additional noodles, you got to put the metal plate on the button in front of the table. A ring tone will buzz, and one of the staff will come to collect the plate. Shortly, the staff will come with a bowl of noodles (without the soup) for you to top up your bowl. Thus, the trick is to make sure you don't finish up your soup before you order for your additional noodles. I only managed to figure out the entire ordering system after my second visit!

By the way, the kids love the tune of the ring tone (do re mi, mi re do, do re mi re do re) and have been singing it through out our trip! I was pleased to hear the ring tone myself as I first heard it while watching a VCD of Chibi Maroko-chan, one of my many favourite cartoon characters :)



The tenderness of the noodles was just perfect and the soup was really delicious!


We have yet to find out what the Japenese words meant inside the empty bowl. Will probably do so, if I have the chance to visit Tokyo again :p