You might be aware that many ramen restaurants have their own focus/strength such as special broth, “melt-in-the-mouth” chashu, etc. Each part of Japan also has different Ramen style. So, how can I miss out one of the most popular ramen in Yokohama? The queue was quite long when I reached there (it was just slightly after the lunch peak hour). Without thinking much, I just queued for it.
As the queue was moving, I noticed some of the customers holding some colored plastic tags. Then, I realized you need to purchase the colored tags from the vending machine before queueing. Since I was alone, I couldn’t leave the queue and I didn’t want to queue all the way from the back again if I left the queue to buy the tags. So, I decided to buy the tags only when I reached the front of the restaurant.
There were very little English words on the vending machine. And none of the staffs can speak English. I was certainly having a hard time here.
After looking at other customers, I realized the vending machine was easy to use. Just put the money into the machine and push the button of the food you want. Every button you pressed will dispense one colored plastic tag. So, the more buttons you press, the more tags you have. Hold on to these colored tags until you are seated in the restaurant. From the English words, I guess there only have one type of ramen which is tonkotsu (pork stock) ramen.
I ordered the tonkotsu ramen and added seaweed as my sides for JPY860. I wanted to add an egg into my ramen as well but sadly the egg button couldn’t be pressed. The waiter tried his best to explain to me why I couldn’t press the egg button but I couldn’t understand a thing he said. Probably, they were out of eggs.
Once seated, the chef collected the colored tags from me. He even asked me something in Japanese which I suspected to be the ramen texture. I just nodded my head and hope that he doesn’t serve me something that I wouldn’t eat. Complimentary cold water is available but you need to get them yourself from the water dispenser.
Look at the chashu! I love the chashu of this restaurant as it was the “melt-in-your-mouth” type. It was so tender, juicy and had balance proportion of lean meat and fat. The chashu was definitely braised and marinated well. The thick noodle texture was just nice as it wasn’t too soft or too hard. The soup base was also rich but and creamy with a little salty aftertaste. I also noticed a customer a few seats away with egg in his ramen. I have no idea how he managed to order the egg.
The ramen was quite delicious but I would prefer it to be less salty. It was indeed challenging when none of the staffs can speak English.
Yoshimuraya (家系総本三 吉村家) @ Yokohama
Address: 〒220-0005 神奈川県横浜市西区南幸2-12-6
Operating hours: 11.00am - 10.00pm
(Closed on Mondays; closed on the next day if Monday is a public holiday)
Website: http://ieke1.com/index.html
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