Japan Trip: The Ramen Affair

I was never big on ramen until I visited Japan. I've mentioned before how I had a bad first experience and never bothered with it again. It was quite a disappointment because I had such high expectations for it. Naruto, a character from the manga of the same name absolutely loves this dish. But now I can say that I LOVE RAMEN after having the actual good stuff in Japan.

The thing I love about ordering food in Japan is that everything is in pictorial form. So it does not matter if you're helpless in the local language because you can just point at the picture or the plastic models that look real enough to eat. 

Ramen traditionally consist of wheat noodles served in a pipping hot pork broth, topped with thinly sliced pork and bamboo shoots. Details vary from region to region but the porky broth remains the common factor. 

It taste so good, a perfect candidate for comfort foods on a rainy day. This particular joint is located just outside our hotel. Restaurants in Japan tend to be small and run by a minimum number of staff. People are constantly coming in and going out so business is brisk. Looking around I spotted quite a number of local people so it's probably a good indicator on the quality of the restaurant.

The restaurant employed the bar concept where you sit on stools around the open kitchen where you can see them preparing your food. This kick started the whole 'ramen affair' and it has been one of my staple go-to-foods ever since. I need to find a good ramen place here in Edinburgh pronto. Good Chinese food here is hard to come by because the ones I've tried so far tend to use lots of MSG when cooking, which makes you really thirsty after dinner. You'll probably get better ones as you move up the price range.