Bon no Kaze 凡の風

Shio, salt ramen, as a concept is usually overlooked. It is the simplest flavor of ramen, usually just a chicken broth with nice noodles. It's easy to see how this could be boring to the palate in contrast to strong, pungent miso or creamy pork bone. Shio isn't about smacking you in the face with flavor, it's simple, clean and light. Indeed, Shio is by far the healthiest ramen you can eat, as it contains far less fat or calories than the others.

Naturally, shio's dragging popularity has obvious reasons; to the newer generation of rich fatty flavor loving teens, the old world style of shio doesn't hold up.

But there's a restaurant keeping Shio in the culinary spotlight, and that's Bon no Kaze, 凡の風.

"Wind of Mediocrity". I am not making this up.

Bon no Kaze is a ramen restaurant who was recently discovered by Yashoku, the legendary Sapporo ramen shipping company that sells top quality newcomer ramen shop product across Japan. They specialize in Shio ramen.

We can infer then, that this is a relatively new restaurant. It's got a remarkably good rating on Tabelog, around 3.6/5.

The outside exterior is kind of... strange. The shop is contemporary, but looks imbedded into the side of an apartment building. It's almost like a mix between super old school ramen shacks, and new world ramen emporiums.

The interior is more fitting. Warm, dark wood, glass sculpture, and the kitchen is surrounded on almost all sides by chairs. It really shows off the ramen making process, which was certainly time consuming.

Again, something about old world meets new here. I like it though. A pretty nice look thus far.

But let's take a look at the namesake dish; shio ramen. Yashoku claims it will look like this.

My photo, by the way, does not do this dish justice in terms of looks.

This thing is incredible looking. The soup is a shocking, bright gold color, but absolutely clear, which plays well with the curly, semi-thick noodles. The small droplets of fat on the surface glimmer like gold flakes, and all the toppings compliment the bright, intense color of the soup. This is honestly a gorgeous bowl of noodles

The taste, on the other hand, is confounding. Initially it's kind of simple, a basic, strong chicken stock, with classic onion notes. But then it starts to get more complex as you continue to eat. Hints of garlic oil and ginger pass on the nose, a bit of shitake earthiness, maybe a little bonito smoke, all the while mantaining a sort of "grandma's chicken noodle soup" feel.

I don't totally get it, because on one hand it's deceptively simple feeling, noodles and chicken broth really, but at the same time, I feel like the dish is based on incredible restraint and skill. Just hinting enough complexity in each variable to make the soup interesting. You keep drinking it because, "wait, did I just taste garlic? Was that a bit of carrot?" sits in your brain after each sip. Making the soup so ridiculously pigmented and crystal clear, but holding back on obtrusive levels of herbs or spices.

The noodles are surprisingly Sapporo style, classic wavy yellow, perfectly cooked of course. Chashu is good. Egg was good. Nori was a nice touch, and looked incredible. Bamboo shoots were thick and substantial. No problems on Gu.

I suppose then, that this restaurant really is like a combination of old and new world ramen. It has the classic, simple, filling ideas of old world, while also showing incredible technique and craft.

I loved this ramen. It was eye opening, especially for a bowl of Shio Ramen.

This may be one of the best bowls of Shio Ramen you can find. Shio is easily the healthiest ramen out there, so for those who are a bit conscious of the diet, this would be a good choice.

It's a little hard to get to for the tourist; you'll need to take a train and then a tram, but... well... it's really good.

Seriously.


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凡の風
Hours:
11:00 am - 8:00 pm, or until soup runs out.
Closed on Wednesday, and national holidays.

麺 eiji, Men eiji

There is one Ramen Shop doing things so very differently from everyone else to the greatest recognition. Number 4 on Tabelog in all of Japan, the best ramen shop in Hokkaido. It has the guidebook love, the reviews, even a deal with Yashoku.

The NAME, is 麺 eiji. Men Eiji. Noodle Infant... er... yeah.

This tinsy tiny shop is located in the Toyohira "Ramen Warzone" district of Sapporo, which makes sense considering its wild popularity.

Currently the shop has a 4.02/5 rating, which just barely scrapes by other fan favorite "Menya Saimi".  However, it doesn't seem very fair to compare the two, one specializes in Miso, the other in something called "Seafood Pork bone Broth", a combination of fish stock and pork stock.

There's one thing you notice as soon as you walk in though. Not the small size (about 8 seats), or how the shop was completely full just 10 minutes into service. Nope, none of those things.

Everything is pink. Everything. The counter wood is a light shade of pink, the walls, the seats. Everything is in a shade of pink. (Pardon my less than wonderful camera)

Even the chopstick holders and napkin boxes.

So... pink huh? I assume this is because the word "Eiji" can mean infant, though I really have no idea. Yes I translated it that earlier, but the word "Eiji" on the sign is written in Roman characters, so the meaning is truly unknown. But the place is pink. Certainly a unique characteristic by any regard.

Like many Ramen shops, both popular and not, you order with a vending machine style device. Insert your money, push the appropriate button for the type of ramen you want, and a ticket comes out. You hand said ticket to the cooks, they make your food, and you're good to go. Slurp your noodles, enjoy your meal, and no tip or extra cash to pay.

Eiji is currently known for one of two things, it's tsukemen (dipping noddles) and its Seafood Pork bone broth Ramen. Today we will focus on the Ramen of course. It goes for 850 yen. This is what came.

There's a lot of good to say about this bowl of noodles. It comes with raw diced onions, long onions, hand made noodles, slow roasted pork, and that dark orange jelly like stuff, which is collagen. The broth is rich but not overly thick. The noodles are house hand made, which like any restaurant that sells noodles, is rare, and they are perfect, slightly eggy, just cooked right. The pork is tender, but not totally fall apart mushy like some, it's maintained it's texture. The raw onions are sharp, kind of a nice bite in comparison to the smooth mellow soup, which brings thoughts of gravy to be honest. It's complex and deep, and very satisfying.

That dark collagen, which tastes like pork essence, slowly melts into the soup, making it even richer and delivering a crazy mouth feel.

In a word, it's a very very good bowl of noodles. I can easily see why it has the #1 spot. Everything about this is surprisingly unique and quite lovely. I would refrain from saying however, that it is the best shop in Sapporo, this is a title very hard to merely give away after all. But make no mistake, Eiji will not disappoint.

For the tourist then, this may certainly be worth a look. However, the unique flavor profile might not match up with some of the less adventurous eaters; to them, classics like miso may be easier. But this is clearly top grade culinary stuff. 


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Men Eiji:
Hours:
11:00am-3:00pm, 6:00pm-8:30pm
Closed 3 Tuesdays a month, Closed Wednesday.

Links:
http://r.tabelog.com/hokkaido/A0103/A010303/1005146/

ラーメン札幌 一粒庵 Sapporo Ramen Ichi Ryuu An

Ichi Ryuu An: "A Single Grain Shack". A generation 3 Sapporo restaurant, cooperating with Yashoku Ramen.

They're popular, they're hip, they're new. And worth an entry in the guide.

Ichi Ryuu An began in 2007, setting up in the basement food hall of an office building down the street from Sapporo Station. As such, getting to the place is extremely easy for the tourist, and since it's near the station which is filled with places for shopping and such, the incentive to be in the area is high. In terms of location, Ichi Ryuu An is a winner for sure.

However, the shop is somewhat hard to find, being in the basement level of an office building. Please look for a sign that looks like this:

Note: the colors will actually be in reverse, black lettering and a white background. But the script looks like this.

This shop specializes in miso ramen, particularly in something they call 元気のでるみそラーメン Genki no Deru Miso Ramen, which roughly translates to "Uplifting Miso Ramen".

It's called that because it includes extremely high end ingredients like 7 year aged miso, which includes special wild garlic found only in Hokkaido. These ingredients are supposedly good at giving you energy, and being medically beneficial. The concept is using high quality, healthy ingredients to make a high quality meal. The chef went to so far as to consult doctors on what foods were good for this task, in which he discovered not only this high quality Garlic, but also how to maximize its use.

This shows in the price; one bowl is a whopping 1000 yen.

At first this may seem to be a large negative point, but particularly, this shop has a lot of praise for it's food, especially that Uplifting Miso Ramen. As if this writing it has appeared on several TV shows including Tvh, STV, HTB, and HBC. Furthermore, it has a full page section in the Ramen 1000 book, and its average rating on Tabelog is 3.67/5, substantially high for a ramen restaurant. Tabelog has even been advertising the restaurant; if you search ramen in Hokkaido on that website, this shop appears first regardless of actual search results.


So let's take a look.

Despite not having any windows, being underground and all, the show is rather inviting. Nice dim mood lighting makes the place feel relaxed, comfortable, and contemporary. Warm wood counter tops and shades of brown on the walls further add to a very high end atmosphere. Still, the place is small, only 16 seats or so, which plays nicely on the overall feel of the shop.

Also it's a good example of Rule Three

Sit down, and order a bowl of Genki no Deru Miso Ramen, that Uplifting Miso Ramen. This is what Yashoku claims it looks like.

And this is what came when I ordered:

You can choose "futomen" (thick noodles) or "hosomen" (thin noodles). Thick noodles are a concept developed to pair well with Miso, they're Sapporo characteristic, and the chef recommended I go this way, so I chose thick.

Just based on looks, this ramen is amazingly appealing. Wonderful color contrasts, with the deep greens from the leafy arugula, the hint of red and bright yellow from the stir fried chili egg. The earthenware bowl is colorful but subtle, modern yet ancient. The color play is nice.

The key characteristic of this Uplifting Miso Ramen that makes it different from the normal Miso ramen on the menu is  this sort of egg/pork stir fry delight on top. I don't particularly know how to describe it, but the pork is tender and flavorful, and the egg is an interesting contemporary play on the soft boiled egg people frequently see on ramen. And it has chili slices for a bit of heat and color.

Overall, this is an extremely good bowl of Ramen. The noodles are well cooked, a wonderful dark golden color, the soup has interesting notes of garlic and onion along with the miso, and it's not overbearingly rich, but has just the right amount of fat content to be fulfilling. No crazy lard cap or anything. The toppings pair well with the noodles, and the portion is very good considering the price. With the chili's in the egg, I was expecting a bigger explosion of flavor in the soup, like a crash of garlic, herbs, spices, and miso, but the quality taste is still superb. The soup is quite complex and extremely interesting. The mellow garlic contrast is at times nice with the sharp arugula. It's certainly unique for miso ramen, and quite delicious.

For those hanging around the Sapporo Station, this is easily the best ramen shop in the area. I recommend this shop without question.



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Ramen Ichi Ryuu An
Hours:
Monday- Saturday:
11:30 am - 3:00 pm. 5:00 pm - 9:00 pm.
Closed Sunday

http://r.tabelog.com/hokkaido/A0101/A010101/1001190/
http://ichiryuan.com/index.html
http://yashoku-ramen.jp/detail/detail.aspx?id=18811

Ramen Today

So, we have discussed at this point three generations of Ramen in Sapporo.

Aji no Sanpei is the origin, the first generation that defined Sapporo as a culinary epicenter, where food ners could finally gaze upon this city for culinary reasons.

Sumire and Junren and number two, responsible for the evolution and addition of depth and character to Miso Ramen. Consider them the second pioneers, as they created the concept of Ramen being lavish in Sapporo. In fact, ramen is widely considered a "B class gourmet" meal today, because of its complexity and versatility, while maintaining a lower price point. Most meals don't cross 1000 yen.

But what about a third generation? Sumire and Junren are at least 40 years old. Who became the current generation? There has to be one.

Well. Yes and no.

Many would argue that there is no defined third store to spearhead the ramen expansion we see today. No shining Knight on Armor so to speak. However, there are certainly loved newcomer restaurants, who push the boundaries of food in Sapporo.

Enter Yashoku. Yashoku Ramen is your friend if looking for extremely popular, modern shops. That generation 3.

Yashoku Ramen is a cooperative company that works with local Sapporo ramen shops to send said shops' noodles, soup, and ingredients to customers so that they can make it at home. It allows, say, a person living in Tokyo to make ramen from a shop in Sapporo. Yashoku packages and delivers the ingredients straight from the shop.

They claim to distribute "3rd Generation Sapporo Ramen" to the masses. I have absolutely no problem with this. I love the idea of showing the culinary prowess of local restaurants.

Unfortunately, their roster of shops you can purchase from constantly changes. Attempting to use it as a source solely would be fairly difficult.

But it is kind of a symbol of what's popular besides some of the internet rating websites. I like it because their criteria for which restaurants they will sell from specifically includes "newer" restaurants. Despite the term itself being fairly... open ended (how new is new?), for those looking for the "ramen newcomers" as I like to call them, feel free to use the website.

Perhaps the most important trend to notice then, about modern Sapporo ramen, is... well... the types.

Miso ramen is only ONE of the popular varieties now. Sapporo ramen today is no longer limited to miso, but to all varieties and styles. Rich, smooth, thick, thin, chewy, soft, all sorts can be classified as Sapporo Ramen. What makes one ask... what is Sapporo Ramen then?

The truth is that, there isn't really a definition now. Perhaps that is the greatest achievement these restaurants have been able to accomplish, breaking a town's own stereotype on the foods associated with the location. In fact, some suggest (such as this fellow here) that Sapporo ramen really just means any combination of the three tastes, Shoyu, Shio, and Miso. But even this is an understatement, there are plenty of shops that use other flavors in their soup, such as pork bone, shellfish, and tomato even.

It's an interesting concept none the less. I suppose part of the excitement of Yashoku is merely seeing which restaurant they will collaborate with next.

http://yashoku-ramen.jp/

From Generation Three, the sky's the limit. So let's talk about some ramen!