Now I'm fully aware that there are ramen places in the States, but before I moved to Japan my experience with ramen was the 4 for $1 packages at the grocery store. The stuff all college students live off of. Never ever had I experienced the deliciousness that is Sapporo ramen. The above bowl was eaten at Ramen Shin, a little place around the corner from our apartment. I'm not exactly sure what the name of this is, as the menu is completely in Japanese, but I do know that it's a little spicey and super delicious! I don't know if the contents of a bowl of ramen change regionally in Japan, but here in Sapporo, ramen comes in a HUGE bowl that consists of a piece of pork, an egg, bean sprouts, bamboo, and ramen noodles. It's considered rude not to finish the entire bowl, so we usually eat ramen when we're really hungry. It's also perfectly acceptable to slurp your noodles, which has taken some getting used to on my part.
I have to admit, eating a huge steaming bowl of ramen on these hot summer days has been a challenge, but it's just so good! I'm sure it's going to be even better during the snowy months!
Yep, flavors do change! Actually in Hokkaido you can go to different cities and taste different soup bases as well as different ingredients. For example, here in Muroran, we are the only place that has curry ramen. Sapporo is known for miso ramen, Asahikawa is famous for shoyu ramen (soy sauce) and you will find different variations of these wherever you go. Apparently ramen in China (where it originates) only has one flavor. Many Japanese people don't like Chinese ramen because it's not flavorful enough!
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