To learn more about the difference between Nagahama and Hakata ramen, as well as its history, background, and components, refer to the post Ramen 240: The Origins of Ichiran’s Ramen Style. This post will cover the who, what, why, how, and how much of 3 Nagahama / Hakata restaurants in Fukuoka City that we visited: one for the history, one for the curiosity, and one for supposedly the best.

Table of Contents

Ganso Nagahamaya 元祖 長浜屋 . Ordering . Eating Ichiran 一蘭 . Price . Ordering . Eating Hakata Issou 博多一双 . Ordering . Eating

Ganso Nagahamaya 元祖 長浜屋

For Nagahama ramen, we headed to Nagahama, located on the coast of Fukuoka City. Home to the fish market, many of the ramen restaurants in the area open at unusual hours to compete with other restaurants and accommodate the working times of the local workforce. Many Nagahama ramen shops are open exceptionally early, and close very late. Some are even open 24 hours.

There’s a road that runs through the whole Nagahama area, and at the western end of the road is a restaurant called Ganso Nagahamake (元祖 長浜家). The kanji has been selected such that it can be misread as Ganso NagahamaYA, which is likely intentional. Allegedly, the story goes that back in 2009, one of the staff who worked at Ya (屋) went on to open their own store that they called KE (家), to which an employee of Ke (家) then went on to open another NagahamaKE (家) restaurant, 100 metres (100 yards) down the road. At one point, these 3 stores operating in the Nagahama neighbourhood seemed to have the same name, signage, colour scheme, ramen bowls, and tabletops – essentially copies of each other. In 2016, Ke #2 (家2) relocated closer to Hakata Station. None of these shops have any affiliation with the other. At least, not any more.

They aren’t the only copycats. Just a few metres along the main road is a shop called Ganso Nagahama Yatai (元祖 長浜屋台), essentially the same name as the original restaurant with an additional character. Across the road from Yatai is Nagahama Number 1. Both of these stores are open 24 hours.

Ganso NagahamaYA, affectionately called Gannaga by the ramen community, is located just a little further down this curious little cluster of ramen shops. Its name translates to “The Original Nagahama Shop”, befitting of its history. It opens at 6am and closes at 1.45am the next morning every day. Ordering is done by a ticket machine located outside – a simple menu, consisting of plain ramen at ¥550 (~US$3.90) a bowl, extra meat, extra noodles, and a couple of alcoholic beverages.

The restaurant is simple, with tables, seats, and enough of an indoor waiting area that we suspect is to allow queueing diners to wait away from the elements. It’s not a huge restaurant, but it doesn’t have to be, because of how quickly one is expected to eat and leave.

Ordering Gannaga

Nagahama ramen also has a secret ordering method. If you’re not privy to this, you’ll just be served a standard bowl of ramen. If you’re interested in blending in with the locals, you can shout out your modifications, in the order of the guide below, as you enter the store and take a seat. The ticket is not collected when you enter the store or place the order, but rather when the ramen is served.

We opted to order one normal ramen, though with extra firm noodles as we have to film and photograph the ramen before eating. Ordering firm noodles is simply done by shouting “Nama men de (ナマ麺で)”. To sate our curiosity, we also ordered a very typical local order, “Betanama negi o-me (ベタナマねぎ多め)”, or, if you’re following along, super fatty, extra firm noodles, and extra spring onions. The list below has examples of how one might order:

• Betanama (ベタナマ), extra fatty, extra firm noodles – a very common local order
• Betanama negi nashi (ベタナマ ネギナシ), extra fatty, extra firm noodles, no green onion
• Nashikata negi o-me (ナシカタ ネギ多め), no oil, extra firm noodles, extra green onion

Eating Gannaga

While there are photographs of spoons on Google, we found we were not given any, and we could not find them at the table. No matter. We were used to not being in our element, especially in the case of ramen restaurants, where our proclivity to older shops means we’re often the only people in our demographic to be dining there – young, women, and non-Japanese. Everyone is friendly, staff and diners alike, patient with our clumsy attempts to hand them our tickets before taking our seats, and reminding us that the jug at the table labelled tare (タレ) is seasoning sauce – not tea or water. Bowls are served in record time, and despite our expectations that it was going to be a small meal, Gannaga seemed to not have gotten the memo that they’re supposed to be serving smaller portions of noodles, because this was definitely not the case.

The bowl is deep and wide, holding such a large amount of noodles it virtually comes up to the surface of the soup. The green onion is plentiful, even without the request of additional, and there is a marked difference visually between the soup stock of the standard order compared to that of extra fat, but it’s not so noticeable in the eating, perhaps unless one decides to completely drain the soup, which was not something we managed, considering the sheer volume of food, and that we were eating at 6 in the morning. It’s surprisingly light; the shaved meat is salty but the soup isn’t, and while not as aggressive as Kurume ramen or as strongly savoury as more modern ramen, it’s still a very hearty and enjoyable soup that likely tastes even better with nostalgia.

We wouldn’t say that Gannaga is a must-try for tourists looking for unforgettable ramen experiences, because, as we say, it’s the connection to the store, the appreciation of its history, or the absolute ravenous hunger of finishing a tough day at work that makes this ramen taste so delicious. But if you have a meal to spare and you want to try a bit of preserved history, this is a very cheap way of doing it.

Ichiran (Nanokawa location) 一蘭 那の川店

If you’ve even marginally stepped foot into the world of Japan travel content on social media, it’s almost inevitable that you’ll encounter Ichiran. This global phenomenon became famous from the novelty of the ticket and form ordering system, the individual dining booths, the fact that you don’t have to interact with any staff whatsoever, and the supposedly table-slapping good ramen. Not too many people know that the chain is based on Hakata-style noodles and started in Fukuoka City, and its original location in the neighbourhood of Nanokawa is still in operation today.

Ichiran Nanokawa is definitely not a convenient location, because it’s far from Hakata Station and Tenjin Station, two major transport hubs in the city centre. You’re closer to 5 other Ichiran locations from Hakata Station, including to the famous 12-storey, 24/7 branch, so considering this is a chain where the menu of each restaurant is the same and the soup stock likely all comes out of one factory, we wouldn’t even recommend making the journey all the way to this specific location. Besides, Ichiran Nanokawa only has 15 seats, so it likely gets packed out during peak meal times.

Despite this being our third trip to Japan, this was our first experience with Ichiran ramen. We were sceptical at how good a chain could be compared to independent, family-run restaurants, but considering the hype it receives on social media, we decided that this would be a good addition to our Kyushu ramen journey.

Prices

Influencers, especially from the USA, continue to rave about how cheap Ichiran ramen is, but they put this in the context of ramen prices in their home country. ¥980 (~US$6.90) for a bowl of ramen would be a steal in the USA, UK, or Australia, where US$15-20 is closer to normal. However, few standard ramen in Japan exceeds ¥1,000, so this is well within the price range of a standard bowl of ramen. There are, however, two things that make Ichiran ramen expensive: first is the stinginess of the offering, because with ¥980 bordering on a more expensive bowl of ramen, a thin shave of chashu pork and a mere sprinkle of green onion is hardly enough to warrant that price. Second is that the overall noodle portion for Hakata ramen is, as discussed, much smaller than pretty much any other variation, and with the expectation that you should be ordering kaedama extra noodles in Ichiran ramen, the costs start adding up.

Ichiran has also been investigated for violating antimonopoly laws when they had allegedly threatened retailers who sold their instant noodle bowls to keep prices at ¥490 (~US$3.50) to maintain its perception as a premium product, despite only containing noodles and soup, with no other toppings. Even instant versions of (previously) Michelin-starred ramen restaurants did not reach close to this price, with those instant noodles also offering dehydrated toppings ranging from spring onions to wontons and a slice of meat. For Ichiran, it’s a case of paying for the name and for the experience, though it’s hard to even say you’re recreating the experience at home for less when the instant version doesn’t even taste the same as the real one.

Ordering Ichiran

Ichiran has a YouTube video explaining the ordering system, and a sample of their order form on their website, which is in English and Japanese on one side, and Korean and Chinese on the other. The ordering process is as follows.

• Purchase meal tickets at the vending machine at the entrance of the Ichiran location.
• Order forms might be available at the entrance, or at your seat.
• Check the display screens, which indicate which dining booths are available, then seat yourself.
• Using the pen provided, fill out your form to suit your taste. The recommended selections, which are aligned with typical Hakata ramen, are indicated on your form, but there is no obligation to follow this.
• Press the button to call the attendant, handing in your completed form and the tickets. You don’t have to hand in all tickets at this point; you can exchange them at any point during your meal.
• Your attendant will serve you your ramen.

The sample form is as below. Dashi refers to how salty your soup is – how much tare is used. Richness refers to how much fat is in your soup. The rest is explanatory.

We’ve seen so many Ichiran reels on Instagram that by the time we went to one ourselves, the experience was diluted by being able to anticipate most aspects of it – the ticket machines, the booths that can be folded into pairs, the forms, the self-service tea at every station. Some pieces of info were new, such as the hooks located behind each seat to hang up your bags, but for the most part, the most novel part was just being there and repeating the same experience we’d played in our heads dozens of times before.

Eating Ichiran

Except for the firmest noodle texture, Noms chose the standard setting across the board, and Jos the most extreme, to mirror our experience at Gannaga. Compared to Nagahama ramen, however, Ichiran’s ramen is much thicker and richer, and significantly more salty, even at the standard seasoning level. The two ramens we ordered were noticeably different, but the flavour of the soup was somehow quite one-note. With ramen broth being made of meat, some essence of the animal is usually present in the soup, even if it’s not necessarily very strong, but in the case of Ichiran it seemed that any porkiness had been stripped from the soup to achieve a homogeneous experience across every location. It’s good, because of that winning fat-salt-protein-carbohydrate combination, but it also feels impersonal and in a sense separate from the ingredients that went into making it. Ichiran is fast food, after all, and while it is far from the fast food we likely think of, it’s still evident in the eating, especially if you’ve had the privilege of eating a wide variety of styles of ramen painstakingly made by individuals who have dedicated their life to the craft.

It is also a fairly small portion. We have small appetites, against our wishes, and while we normally struggle to finish a bowl of ramen, we could eat all the noodles and be left with some space after to eat dessert. That’s obviously where the options to add extra toppings or kaedama comes in, but we felt we’d spent enough on the lukewarm experience to justify buying more food there. We left, and then went to a convenience store for some pudding.

There are, obviously, merits to Ichiran. It would be hypocritical to villainise Ichiran ramen, and we wouldn’t be special for doing it. As a chain restaurant, it’s an excellent choice for first-time visitors to Japan who may not be confident with interacting in Japanese or conducting themselves properly in a local establishment. It’s also everywhere, and it’s consistent in price, flavour, and experience, making it a reliable place to stop if you don’t have the time to find something else, aren’t willing to risk a bad experience, or may not have the budget for something more expensive. It’s just probably not worth queueing up for.

Hakata Issou 博多一双

The third shop we visited in Fukuoka is Hakata Issou (博多一双), one of the highest-rated ramen restaurants in Fukuoka for Hakata ramen on both the Ramen Database and Tabelog. We were tossing up between one of the the three locations of this restaurant group and Genki Ippai!! (博多元気一杯!!), known for kaedama noodles that come with a curry sauce, but the reviews for Genki Ippai!! were so mixed we decided on Issou instead. Genki Ippai!! is still very popular, so please don’t hesitate to pay them a visit.

We went to the main location for Hakata Issou, east of the Hakata Station by about 5 minutes on foot. They open until midnight, or whenever their soup is finished, and you can expect lines even outside of mealtimes. The line does move quickly, so despite it going down the block, you can expect 20-30 minutes of queueing.

How to Order

Ordering is done by a ticket machine, though their highly efficient staff will probably pull you out of line just before you go through the doors to purchase your tickets, which they then collect before they seat your party. They seat about 20-30 people, a mix of counter seats and tables, with a simple menu of 1 type of ramen with the option of a larger size and additional toppings, rice, gyoza dumplings, and some drinks.

We each ordered one normal ramen (¥850, or about US$6 as of October 2024, and a side of 5 gyoza to share (¥280, ~US$2). Each ramen comes with two slices of pork, green onion, kikurage woodear mushrooms, and a sheet of nori seaweed. The soup is super thick, with a foamy layer on top that they refer to as their “cappuccino”. This is part of a trendy sub-type of ramen called awa-kei (泡系), or “bubble style”.

Eating Issou

Perhaps it was because we tried Kurume ramen before we tried this one, but everyone’s comments that this ramen style is very rich and a little stinky is hardly comparable to a sexagenerian ramen soup. It’s thick, sure, with a suspicious grey-ish tinge to the soup which is probably quite normal for a pork product, and while we found it quite savoury we also thought it was reasonably gentle. It’s rich, but it’s not greasy, and the soup is quite salty. It’s great with a little bit of crushed garlic, which you can do yourself at the table. Most people order kaedama noodles at only about ¥150 (~US$1). The gyoza is forgettable.

It’s an interesting, somewhat modern take on the Hakata ramen soup, but we wonder if it’s one of those must-try places. We haven’t eaten enough Hakata ramen in Fukuoka City to definitively say where it ranks, and while it’s very central and close to the train station and overnight bus terminal (the only reason we paid a visit at 9pm!), it’s a good place to stop but the queues are an understandable deterrent. It’s really up to the individual to decide what their taste in ramen is, and whether it’s worth going.

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