Outside of Japan, the most popular styles of ramen are Tokyo’s clear soy sauce ramen, Sapporo’s thick, rich, miso-based ramen, and the iconic, milky-white, creamy, pork bone-based broth known as tonkotsu (豚骨), with thin, pin-straight noodles and a slice of rolled chashu pork. Those who are in the know often refer to it as Hakata-style tonkotsu ramen – but many don’t realise that Hakata’s globally-loved ramen style has a precursor, hailing from a neighbouring suburb. While the tonkotsu style was created in the city of Kurume, the iconic components of tonkotsu ramen that appears on menus worldwide actually started in the fishing neighbourhood of Nagahama.
History of “Hakata” Ramen
Fukuoka Prefecture is a powerhouse for the tonkotsu ramen style, seeing as it’s home to both the original tonkotsu ramen from Kurume City in 1940. Prior to this, ramen used exclusively clear ramen soups, as per more traditional Chinese soup noodle styles. Umauma (うま馬), an izakaya restaurant near Hakata Station in Fukuoka City, claims to still make the original “Hakata” style of ramen, characterised by a clear, soy sauce pork bone soup, and flat, thin noodles similar to linguine. However, since the explosion in popularity of the opaque style, the entire island of Kyushu came to favour the thick, creamy version of tonkotsu over the lighter, clear soups, eventually overtaking it as the recognised regional variation.
Still, tonkotsu ramen originally had a reasonably wide, flat noodle. To some extent, the thicker noodle is more closely aligned with what should best suit a heavy, rich soup. To understand the progression of how the noodles turned into the ultra-thin version of current tonkotsu ramen, we turn to the original “Hakata” style: Nagahama ramen.
Nagahama Ramen
Cue Ganso Nagahamaya (元祖長浜屋). The owner originally opened up in 1952 as a failing tonkotsu ramen stand outside of Hakata Station, before finally finding more success in front of the fish market. There, hungry market workers sought out cheap, fast, filling food that ramen was able to fulfil. Eventually, the owner found enough success to open up a brick-and-mortar store in 1955 when the fish market moved to its new location in the suburb of Nagahama, where Ganso Nagahamaya became an institution, feeding the masses for exceptionally low prices.
During this process, the store had to adapt to keep up with the demand for fast-paced food, and the rate-limiting factor for a bowl of noodles is the cooking of the noodles itself. In order to reduce the cooking time of the noodles, the restaurant developed thinner noodles, lowering the water content to keep the raw noodles from clumping, adjusting again and again until the restaurant eventually settled on an ultra-thin, dry noodle that took less than a minute to cook.
However, the ultra-thin noodles resulted in a different issue, especially because of its low water content. As it sits in a bowl of hot soup, it has a tendency to absorb the liquid and become bloated and soggy before the diner reaches the end of the bowl. The solution was surprisingly simple: Reduce the portion of noodles in the ramen, from 140-150g (~5oz) to about 100g (~3.5oz), and allow customers to order additional half-portion of noodles to be added to the remaining soup if they needed.
This concept of ordering just noodles is called kaedama (替え玉). While it’s most common with Hakata and Nagahama ramen, you may find it in other ramen restaurants, though not all. It’s likely more normal outside of Japan, as a means to upsell to hungry diners. For the most part, you’re more likely to see oomori (大盛り), meaning a large serving, which scales up the portion of noodles and maybe the toppings of the ramen, and is served all at once.
In any case, Nagahama ramen is as basic as it gets, consisting of a tonkotsu pork bone broth, thin, straight noodles, some pork, and green onion. The neighbourhing Hakata area eventually adopted this extremely popular ramen style with some small adjustments, until in 1977 when ramen shop Shibaraku (しばらく) labelled their version as “Hakata ramen”, identifying it as its own unique regional variation of ramen.
While Nagahama ramen and Hakata ramen are now often synonymously referred to as “Hakata ramen”, Nagahama continues to hold onto its pride as a distinct variation, with Ganso Nagahamaya being recognised by ramen fanatics and ramen researchers to be an intangible cultural heritage due to its contributions to the tonkotsu ramen we know it as today.
Components of Hakata Ramen
Not all ramen found in Hakata and Nagahama are Hakata/Nagahama ramen, and they will differ from shop to shop. The following is a general guidance of what is common for this style.
Soup
Hakata ramen soup is characterised by a very typical tonkotsu style broth – opaque and often milky-white in colour, though also ranging from murky brown to grey tinges. All natural, of course, though it depends on how the pork is cooked. The tare will depend from store to store, but for the most part uses a base of salt and/or light soy sauce. It’s not referred to as a tonkotsu shoyu, which is its own distinct style, such as in the case of Wakayama ramen or Yokohama’s ie-kei ramen. This is because for Hakata, soy sauce isn’t the star flavour of the dish like for shoyu ramen, but instead plays a supporting role by adding the salt necessary to bring out the rich, savoury flavours of the pork broth.
Noodles
Hakata and Nagahama ramen have exceptionally thin noodles so it can cook quickly. The noodles are typically about 1-1.25 mm (1/25 inch) wide, as compared to something like spaghetti, which is typically 2 mm (2/25 inch) wide. Because it needs to be thin, the noodles are made using very low hydration – about 26%, compared to a more typical 30-35%. This allows it to hold its shape when raw and prevents clumping.
Noodles at such low hydration can be tough and dense, and absorb moisture quickly to become soggy and bloated in the soup. To combat this, the Fukuoka prefecture cultivated a type of wheat that is grown in small quantities and used exclusively for ramen making. Known as Ra-Mugi (ラー麦), a portmanteau of ramen and mugi (麦), meaning wheat, it is supposed to have a good chewy elasticity, doesn’t get soggy, and has a subtle sweetness to its flavour. A few select stores use this particular wheat, including three Premium Ichiran Ramen locations in Japan. You can also check out other restaurants in Fukuoka that use Ra-Mugi noodles here.
It’s typical for Hakata ramen noodles to be served firm – firmer than al dente. Ramen shops recognise that not everyone prefers or is capable of eating firm noodles, so they often allow customers the option of choosing the firmness of the noodles when placing an order. A typical table is as below:
| Bariyawa | バリやわ | Very soft |
| Yawa | やわ | Soft |
| Futsuu / Nami | 普通 / 並 | Normal |
| Kata | かた | Firm |
| Barikata | バリかた | Very firm |
Most people order kata, and even if you order normal firmness, it’s likely to be firmer than standard thicker ramen noodles because of the Hakata style. If you’re a super serious fanatic, some shops offer harigane (針金), literally, “wire”, and even firmer still, kona otoshi (粉落とし), literally “removing the powder”, where noodles are dipped for a few seconds just to rid them of the flour coating it.
Even more extreme again is a chart taken by X (formerly Twitter) user @gomutaro at a ramen restaurant, captioned in Japanese, “Firm noodles finally enter a forbidden realm”. One step firmer than kona otoshi is nama men (生麺), literally, “raw noodles”, where noodles are dunked into hot water for only a second before be added to ramen soup.
To keep it safe, it’s best to stick with the masses and order kata for the original experience. Then, if you’re still hungry, order the kaedama, the additional half-portion of noodles that was mentioned before. If you’re doing this, you can also add some extra tare seasoning, usually kept at the table, to ensure the additional noodles don’t dilute the flavour of the soup.
Toppings
Toppings for Nagahama ramen is very basic – green onions sliced into rings and some pork, often shaved very thinly as compared to a round of rolled chashu. Hakata ramen may have more toppings such as kikurage wood ear mushrooms and nori seaweed. It’s more typical to be able to request additional toppings like boiled eggs. Both styles usually offer toasted sesame seeds and pickled ginger as a condiment.
Ramen Shops in Fukuoka – The Chains
The rise of tonkotsu ramen in Kyushu led to the proliferation of ramen shops opening up all over the Fukuoka Prefecture, and subsequently ramen chains around the world, so it would be important to look into these.
Ichiran Ramen
If you’ve consumed enough Japan content, you’ll likely have come across Ichiran Ramen. As a chain, they also have a line of instant ramens that you can find in convenience stores, discount supermarkets, and souvenir stores, such as the likes of Don Quijote. Ichiran is famous for the ramen booths where you don’t have to interact with any staff or other diners. According to the creator of Ichiran, he wanted to expand his patrons to include women, and decided that putting up booths would allow them to feel more comfortable to slurp ramen without judgement.
Called “ramen focus booths”, they’re allegedly a way to also help you focus on your mean and eat it within the recommended time of 10 minutes. While this sounds like a foodie way to think about food, it also sounds like a marketing story to cover up the fact that no socialisation means no lingering, and gets customers in and out of the restaurant faster. The reality is up to you to decide.
Ichiran is also famous for a ticket ordering system where you can customise your order without talking to any staff, and for the spicy red sauce that served on its ramen. You can also order a number of side dishes and extra toppings. Ichiran branches are found all over Japan, as well as in the USA and Asia.
Ippudo Ramen
Ippudo may not be as famous as Ichiran, but it’s in the same vein, conquering the world with 130 stores in Japan and dozens more spread throughout Australia, New Zealand, Europe, and Asia. Unlike Ichiran Ramen, which focuses on just one ramen style, Ippudo also sells red and spicy versions of their tonkotsu ramen, possibility to imitate the success of Ichiran’s special red sauce. They also have their own line of instant noodles that you can find in discount supermarkets and souvenir stores.
Ramen Danbo
Ramen Danbo is another chain that has managed to spread throughout Japan, North America, Australia, and Vietnam. They offer a number of flavours to choose from as well as side dishes. You can also customise your bowl of Danbo Ramen, and much like Ippudo, offers a spicy red sauce on their standard ramen, atypical of Hakata ramen but quite standard for Hakata ramen chains.
Other Ramen Shops
There are countless ramen restaurants in Fukuoka, and even Japan, that sell good Hakata ramen. It’s one of those things that should eat in Fukuoka because it’s easy to find, cheap, filling, delicious, and it’s a local specialty.
A few of these lesser known chains and shops include:
- Hakata Issou 博多一双
- Genki Ippai 博多元気一杯!!
- Ganso Hakata Daruma 元祖博多だるま 博多デイトス店
- ShinShin 博多らーめんShinShin – very foreigner-friendly
- Hakata Ikkosha 博多一幸舎
You’re also spoilt for choice with Nagahama ramen stores, which include:
- Ganso Nagahamaya Oyafuko Ramen Laboratory 長浜ラーメン ラーメンらぼ 親不孝通り
- Nagahama Number 1 長浜ナンバーワン
- Ganso Akanoren 元祖 赤のれん
- Ganso Nagahamake 元祖ラーメン 長浜家
- Ganso Nagahamake 元祖ラーメン長浜家, but the other one (see below)
Where We Ate
We visited three stores, for three separate experiences, starting first with the precursor to all Hakata ramen, then one of the most popular restaurants throughout world, and finally one of the supposedly best to get Hakata ramen in Fukuoka City. For more details on these restaurants, including what and how to order, what our thoughts were, and all details for if you’d like to visit them yourself, refer to the post 3 Spots to eat Hakata / Nagahama Ramen in Fukuoka. There’s too much to detail for this post!
Final Thoughts
Tonkotsu doesn’t end at the Hakata style. With this beloved soup style taking over pretty much the entire ramen scene on the island of Kyushu, the variations continue, with a garlicky upgrade.
The information in this post is also viewable as a YouTube video at the top of the page.
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