Ramen Noodles Guide

Despite the fact that I lived almost all my life in a country with a bit less than 11 million inhabitants and with no food or ethnic diversity, I adjusted very well to different ingredients, palates and textures.
You learn a lot about a country through the cuisine: tasting, respecting and adjusting.

Ren's Ramen. DC area

I was introduced to ramen in Chicago by a Japanese friend (thanks, Eisuke!). He took us to a restaurant called Santouka in a Japanese mall. I felt in love at first scoop. It was a fascinating moment for me, an incredible tasty and fatty broth with slices of pork meat. I was tasting something that became one of my favorite dishes.

Kokutei, Kumamoto

Along the years I tasted different types of ramen in different places in the world and I learned more about it.

There are 4 different types of broth: shio (salty), tonkotsu (pork bones cooked for average 12 to 15h), shoyu (soy sauce) and miso (miso paste).

Tokyo

Regions across Japan present variations on the way they prepare ramen. In Sapporo, miso broth is the  speciality. Kitakata has an unique shoyu soup made out from pork broth mixed with dashi created from dried anchovies. Tokyo's tradicional ramen is served with soba in a dash soup, that changed a bit and nowadays they use chicken stock and shoyu mixed with dashi which creates a unique flavor. Yokohama broth tends to be heavy, it's made with shoyu and traditionally is paired with chicken, pork or beef based broths. In Wakayama there are 2 types of broth, the shoyu and the tonkotsu shoyu. Hakata is known for tonkotsu and it's my favorite broth.

Toki Underground, DC

The internationally famous ramen chain, Ippudo is specialized in Hakata ramen. I already had ramen   in 3 different locations: NYC, Singapore and Hakata, Japan. The quality is very consistent. 

Ippudo, Sinagapore

I've been trying several ramen shops in Washington DC. Toki Underground is an adaptation of Taiwanese ramen, it's good but it is not worth the hype (although, you should try their pork buns). Sakuramen and Daikaya (I love their avocado ice cream) are just OK, low quality. So far my favorite ramen shop in this area is Ren's Ramen. It's legit and it serves Sapporo style ramen.

Ren's Ramen, DC

In Chicago my favorites were Santouka and Wasabi.