The third installment of our Gourmet Series is Kobe Ramen. Japanese people love ramen, but these days, it’s becoming increasingly popular among foreign visitors as well.
Hyogo prefecture is known for delicious ramen. Route 2 between Sannomiya and Shukugawa is also known as the Ramen Road
I visited one of the most popular restaurants in Kobe
Before we continue, let’s talk little bit about ramen itself.
Many people in Japan
Ramen uses wheat noodles and the soup is made from stock based on chicken or pork, and different flavored sauce. The toppings usually consist of char-siu pork, green onions, kamaboko (steamed fish paste), bamboo shoots, and egg. Some of the most popular flavors include soy-sauce, miso (bean paste), salt, and tonkotsu (thick broth made from pork).
Tonkotsu Ramen
In Hyogo, there are many ramen restaurants with distinct characteristics, but the one I visited was called Ramen Taro, and it’s located about a 5 minute walk north of Sannomiya Station. The popular menu from this restaurant is Tomato Ramen. I’ve never tried it before, so I was very excited.
Tomato Ramen A bucket of Free Kim chee
This is the famous Tomato Ramen! It even came with free Kim-chee (Korean style spicy pickled vegetables and cabbage).
The tomato flavor made it almost like pasta, but the flavor from the stock matched with the slight sourness of the tomato very well. The char-siu pork was VERY soft.
There are many other unique and delicious types of ramen all over the prefecture.
Hopefully you’ll find your favorite on your visit!
Ramen Road
http://eonet.jp/gourmet/sp/meets20/ramen/02.html (Japanese)
Ramen restaruants in Hyogo
http://r.tabelog.com/ramen/hyogo/rank/ (Japanese)
http://eonet.jp/gourmet/sp/meets20/ramen/02.html (Japanese)
Ramen restaruants in Hyogo
http://r.tabelog.com/ramen/hyogo/rank/ (Japanese)
Hyogo's Gourmet
Next up on our Gourmet series is “Japanese Sake of Nada.” Nada is known to produce one of the best Japanese sake in Japan
See you on the next issue!!
Shark (Tourism Information Desk)