Ramen, a beloved Japanese dish, entices locals and foreigners alike with its spicy, steaming bowls of noodles. In Tokyo, lines winding around corners are common.
Spicy, steaming, slurpy ramen might be everyone’s favorite Japanese food. In Tokyo, long lines circle around blocks, and waiting an hour for your ramen is normal. What awaits might be just a dive, but a hot bowl of ramen rarely fails to hit the spot. Often cooked right before your eyes behind dingy counters, the noodle dish starts here at around $6.50, and comes in various flavors and local versions. There's salty, soy-based 'shoyu' or 'miso' paste.
The curly noodles are lighter than the darker buckwheat 'soba,' or 'udon,' which are also usually flatter or thicker. Ramen has also surged in popularity in the U.S., South Korea and other countries. Retail sales in the United States have risen 72% since 2000, according to NielsenIQ, a sales tracker. In the 52 weeks ending April 13, Americans bought more than $1.6 billion worth of ramen. In restaurants, versions beyond the traditional soup are appearing, said Technomic, a research and consulting company for the restaurant industry.
While ramen has never been more popular in Japan, ramen places have struggled because of the pandemic, the weakening Japanese yen, and the higher cost of wheat imports and energy, according to a study by Tokyo Shoko Research. One beneficiary of the pandemic is a home delivery service for frozen, professionally cooked ramen. Called takumen.com, it boasts some 500,000 subscribers in Japan.
Besides the different soup stocks and flavors, onions, grated garlic, ginger or sesame oil can be added for extra punch. Toppings can include bean sprouts, barbecued pork, boiled or raw eggs, seaweed, fermented bamboo shoots called 'menma,' chopped green onions, cooked cabbage, snow peas or corn. Some insist a bowl of ramen is not complete without a slice of narutomaki, a whitefish cake with a pink spiral pattern.
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