Ramen is synonymous with Japan. But so are rules, and with the language barrier already enough of a concern for most international tourists visiting this unique country, the culture of pedantic rule-following and unwritten code is enough to keep most people on their toes, even with the excusable reason of being a foreigner.

It comes as no surprise, that with everything having its place and Japanese locals somehow knowing the Standard Operating Procedures for every day-to-day process, ramen has not escaped this treatment. A lot of visitors rely on ramen ticket machines to keep them from speaking to staff, but that doesn’t eliminate that awkwardness of not knowing what to do and where to be.

That’s where this guide comes in.

While there’s logically no right way to eat a bowl of ramen, whether you’re a true ramen aficionado, or you just want to avoid sticking out as a clueless tourist, then this will take you through how to navigate a ramen restaurant, place an order in any establishment, and also the best way to enjoy your ramen, according to the biggest voices in the ramen world. This is Ramen 120: the etiquette of ramen.

*Note: This is mostly applicable to ramen establishments in Japan, as ramen restaurants in other countries will likely follow the etiquette of the country in question.

Table of Contents

Queueing Ramen Shop Layout Ordering – Ticket Machines Customisation Setting Up Eat Up – The Slurping Ordeal – The Halfway Point Finishing Up To Summarise

Queueing

The ramen experience in Japan often starts long before you walk through the door of a ramen restaurant. Japan loves getting their hands on the next big thing, and thanks to social media there’s always a list of must-try restaurants that garners long queues at peak meal times. This draws attention, the lines get longer, and before you know it you’ll have to start lining up long before the restaurant even opens in order to secure a spot.

If a ramen shop is famous enough that a tourist knows about it, you can guarantee locals know about it, too. If you’re in the habit of visiting highly-rated ramen shops, expect to queue at some point. This comes with rules, but they’re straightforward.

1. Don’t cut in line. This one is obviously not exclusive to ramen shops.
2. Don’t let friends cut in line. If some of your party comes late, they should join the back of the queue. Whether the whole group goes with them is up to the group.
3. Don’t sit down in line, unless there are chairs or clearly-marked allocated seats. Hallways, street alleys, and other public spaces that queues occupy are often very narrow, and sitting takes up space.

Some ramen shops set up systems where diners sign up for a time slot, but this often does not remain as it’s far less predictable than first-come-first-served.

Ramen Shop Layout

Broadly speaking, ramen restaurants in Japan have 3 main layouts:

1. Counter seats, where you’re at a bar usually overlooking the kitchen
2. Table seats, as you’ll find in most restaurants
3. A combination of counter seats and table seats

The layout will likely be influenced by the size of the restaurant, with counter seats taking up less space. Ramen restaurants are often open-kitchen, to reduce the time between making ramen and serving it, for reasons we’ll discuss later.

If it’s a small restaurant without waitstaff, you’ll likely need to seat yourself. Most ramen restaurants are also self-service when it comes to water or drinks, condiments, and cutlery. These items will likely be available within reach where you’re seated, or on a communal table. Have a look around, as this will depend from shop to shop.

Ordering

In a ramen shop, you are generally expected to order at least one bowl of ramen per person. This does not include young children.

There are typically 2 ways of ordering ramen in Japan. The first is the one that most people are familiar with, where a waiter will come by your table to take your order. In this situation, the menu is usually found on the wall, or displayed within view at each table. English menus might be available; not every restaurant will have one, but it is worth asking, especially if the restaurant is very popular amongst tourists.

The second way is the one most associated with ramen shops in Japan, where tickets are ordered via a machine. This can be found outside the restaurant, or just inside the door. Tickets can be purchased before you join the queue, in which case you are committing to the meal, or right before you are seated. In the case of very popular restaurants, there might be waitstaff who co-ordinate removing people from the queue to purchase tickets and sending them back to line up in the same place – this keeps a bottleneck from happening when seats are empty.

Ticket Machines

Ticket machines are essentially vending machines for little slips of paper, each labelled with a menu item.

Digital ticket machines often have language selection. If it’s not digital, it’s usually a button with the menu items as an image, or with text. Ticket machines are usually sectioned by category, where the topmost section is ramen, often of different flavours, sizes, or toppings. Subsequent sections can include additional toppings, side dishes, and drinks.

If you find that a ticket machine is only in Japanese, don’t panic! The best way to ensure a good order every time is to pick the first item on the top left, i.e., where you would start reading a paragraph in English. This is the ramen that the chef wants you to order the most. Sometimes it’s just a standard bowl of ramen, and sometimes it’s an upgraded version, or with additional toppings or seasonings. It showcases their skill and effort, and you can expect that it’s not just a money-making order, because it would ruin a ramen restaurant in such a competitive market if people were to leave disappointed.

Sometimes, ramen restaurants may also draw your attention by adding stickers or decals to certain menu items. This may indicate anything from customer popularity to a limited-time offer. Once you have your ticket, you can pass them to the waitstaff when they come by for it.

Customisation

Some shops allow you to customise your ramen. The most famous example of this is the Ichiran chain, where you’re required to fill out a form to hand in as you pass along your order tickets. At Ichiran, you can request the strength and richness of your broth, the amount of red seasoning oil, and the toppings. Recommended options are indicated on the form, though you have no obligation to follow this. However, if you’re not sure what to order, it’s always convenient to be able to choose the standard options.

The other way you can customise your ramen is a bit of a secret. The culture is usually followed by intense ramen enthusiasts who are very knowledgeable about ramen culture, or those who are regulars at specific stores. One example of this is the chain Ramen Jiro, known for excessively large portions. The chefs will ask about garlic as you hand over your ticket, which is usually the cue to customise every aspect of the ramen, such as the amount of vegetable, backfat, and seasoning tare you want in your ramen.

If you’re not familiar with this culture, sometimes you won’t be asked, and you’ll just end up with a standard bowl of ramen. No biggie. But if you’re keen to dive deep into ramen culture, then we’ll be here to outline some of these occasions where customisation is normal.

Setting Up

Once you’ve placed an order, get yourself comfortable. It only takes a couple of minutes for your ramen to reach you, so if you aren’t being served, fetch yourself a drink, some chopsticks, and a spoon. When your ramen arrives, you’ll be ready! If you’re at a counter seat, you can expect that they’ll put the bowl on the ledge in front of you. You can then take the bowl and bring it down to the table yourself. If you’re at a table, then it will be served to you.

Eat Up

Take all of the following with a grain of salt (though there’ll be plenty of that in your ramen). As we mentioned before, there’s no logically correct way to eat a bowl of ramen, but amongst the people who are deeply ingrained in the ramen culture, these are little habits that have been picked up and informally retained as the optimal way to respect and enjoy the hard work of the chefs that made their meals.

Try the soup first.

This is little-known outside of Japan. Ramen chefs have essentially dedicated their lives to this craft, and as we covered in Ramen 101, the noodles are what makes the dish ramen, but the soup is where the skills are best observed. To fully appreciate a bowl of ramen, try the soup first: Scoop it into your spoon, blow to cool but not too cold, or the fat will begin to congeal. Then, take a sip, slurping quickly and sharply. Once you’ve tasted the soup, loosen up the noodles with your chopsticks, then dig in.

The Slurping Ordeal

You may have heard that slurping noodles is not considered rude in Japan. This is especially true for ramen. It’s encouraged, and, in fact, expected that you slurp your noodles when eating ramen, such that global ramen chain Ippudo even started a campaign to teach customers about the culture of slurping. Slurping, like in the case of cupping coffee or tasting wine, does mainly 2 things:

1. It cools the noodles. This minimises the time between taking the noodle out of the hot soup and getting it into the mouth, which maximises the eating experience. The soup will still be clinging to the noodles, the result of carefully formulated soup and noodles.
2. It aerates the soup. A lot of flavour is determined by smell, so by circulating air through the oronasal passages, it carries aromatic compounds with it, to help you taste flavours that your tongue may not pick up.

Slurping noodles can be a bit tricky, and is different to how children slurp spaghetti, leaving all of the sauce around their mouths. It takes practise, and the best way we can describe it is to suck up the noodles like you’re sipping a hot drink in the most obnoxious way possible. Everything is done through the lips, and not through the nose.

Slurping noodles is often easier from the spoon, which can also reduce splashing. Pull your noodles out of the soup and rest the ends in your soup spoon. Bring the spoon close to your mouth and slurp the noodles up like you’re sipping it straight from the spoon.

The Halfway Point

There seems to be a pretty common concept in Japan of changing up a meal in the second half. This is usually reserved for dishes that are meant to be served in larger portions at cheaper prices, such as curry, udon noodles, or ramen. The point is to first enjoy the meal as it was first intended before adding any flavour-altering condiments. This keeps you from becoming tired of the taste of the meal and allows you to change up the flavour of the dish without feeling as if you might insult the chef.

Usually, condiments are within reach of every seat. This may include things such as minced garlic, chilli oil, toasted sesame seeds, pickled ginger, tare seasoning sauce, vinegar, or pepper, to name just a few. You’re free to add whatever you like, as the condiments have been chosen by the chef for you to enhance your ramen experience. Add chilli if you’re looking to kick up the heat, or vinegar if the soup is beginning to feel too rich. It’s entirely up to you.

Finishing Up

A portion of ramen is designed to be finished off in one go. It’s normal to eat all of the toppings and noodles, and to leave behind any soup that you can’t drink, as it contains a lot of salt and can be very filling.

Rice is offered at some ramen restaurants for you to add to the last bit of ramen soup to eat like it’s a porridge if you feel that the ramen portion wasn’t filling. This can be a bit vulgar and divisive, like dipping your pizza in ranch, so it’s not offered at every ramen restaurant, but it’s not uncommon for restaurants with very rich, thick, salty styles like Sapporo miso ramen restaurants, or in regions like Kansai.

There’s also the concept of finishing off your ramen, soup and all. This is called kanshoku (完食), where the ramen is completely finished to show appreciation to the chef, or to indicate that you loved the ramen. Don’t feel obliged to do this, but absolutely feel free to if you want to indicate that you enjoyed your meal.

When you’re done with your ramen, it’s common courtesy to do a general clean of your area after you’ve eaten. If you’re at a counter seat, place your bowl back on the ledge so the kitchen staff can take it away easily. Place used napkins to the side of the bowl (not inside!), or look around for a rubbish bin to discard it yourself. If you’re at a table, the staff will clear it away for you.

We can’t stress enough that in Japan, ramen isn’t the specialty dish that it’s often made out to be overseas. Rather, it’s a working-class fast food, and it’s expected that you finish your meal quickly and move on, especially during peak dining hours and if there’s a queue forming.

If you’re done with your meal, make way for the next person.

To Summarise

While this seems like a lot of rules, international tourists aren’t expected to be aware of everything, and even some locals don’t know everything, either! The most important thing is to be courteous and mindful, but also to enjoy your ramen, as that’s the focus of the experience.

All the rules can be summarised into the following:

• Be courteous when queueing
• If no one helps you out, take a seat and assume the restaurant is self-serve
• If you aren’t sure which ramen to order, get the first one on the menu or the ticket machine
• Try the soup first
• Try the ramen without condiments first, then dress it up as you please
• You don’t have to finish the soup, but if you do, it shows the chef that you really enjoyed your meal
• Move on if it’s busy

Let us know if there’s anything that surprised you! All of the information above is viewable on our YouTube video at the top of the page.

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