In Japan, there are approximately 32,000 ramen shops across the country. Most of them serve ramen you may think of: a bowl of noodles with the soup flavored with either tonkotsu, soy sauce, salt, or miso, and toppings including chashu (soft pork belly), boiled eggs, green onions, and so on.
However, some ramen shops invented unusual ramen that blows your mind. Blue-colored soup, flavored with coffee, adding a shot of tequila...etc. It looks weird at a glance, but surely tastes good! That’s why those unique ramen shops have been popular!
Let’s go into an extraordinary journey of cool ramen!
1.Kipposhi
The stylish cafe-like ramen shop “Kipposhi” serves unusual ramen that you may have never seen. That’s the signature of this shop, “Clear Chicken Soup Blue.” It literally has the blue-colored soup based on chicken, topped with chicken chashu and a boiled egg.
It doesn’t look tasty at all, but has a rich flavor of chicken in the broth and goes well with thin, straight noodles. This blue ramen won’t make you regret!
Address: 3-1-17, Azumabashi, Sumida-ku, Tokyo
2.Linsuzu Shokudo
Linsuzu Shokudo is renowned for the lemon ramen and widely covered by the media. Sliced lemon covers the surface and underneath there awaits thin noodles and delicious soup. The soup is made by blending soy sauce-based broth, chicken-based broth, and vegetable-based broth, creating a distinctive flavor. The sour taste of lemon perfectly matches the soup!
Their another specialty is the chicken tempura. It is served freshly-fried and hot, having a crispy texture on the outside and juicy texture on the inside. It goes very well with the ramen, so be sure to order the chicken tempura along with lemon ramen!
Address: 5-7-3, Oshima, Toshima-ku, Tokyo
3.Due Italian
What do you think would happen when Italian food is incorporated into ramen?
Well, it creates an elegant food that consists of shio ramen decorated with mozzarella cheese, prosciutto, and a boiled egg. The noodles have a spaghetti-like texture and taste perfect when eaten with melted mozzarella cheese. It will never go wrong with the combination of noodles, creamy cheese, and salty soup, won’t it?
Due Italian is the first ramen shop that appeared on the Tokyo Michelin Guide Book. That shows how much this ramen shop is unique and special!
Address:4-5-11, Kudanshita-minami, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo
4.Kachi Kachi Yama
Kachi Kachi Yama’s specialty is “Yukimi ramen,” which comes with a mountainous decoration of melange atop the noodles with fried Chinese dumplings. It may take you a minute to think of how to tackle with it.
Address: 3-10-2, Maruyama cho, Toyota-shi, Aichi
5.Aroma
Aroma is actually a cafe situated in Tokyo, but it offers unique ramen that uses coffee for the soup and noodles. The ramen is served either hot or chilled topped with unusual ingredients including fish cake, sausage, kiwi, bacon, smoked cheese, boiled eggs, ice cream, and coffee beans. Each topping is placed so it looks like a face.
What does it taste like? Is it delicious?
It depends on the person. Some people like it, but others don’t. How about you?
2-19-16, Takara cho, Katsushika-ku, Tokyo
6.Men Baka Ichidai
Whoaaaa! Look at this fire!
Men Baka Ichidai is a ramen shop in Kyoto that is famous for its crazy performance. Surprisingly, most customers are tourists from overseas!
The only menu it offers is “Negi (green onions) ramen,” which contains light soy sauce-based soup and noodles loaded with green onions and chashu. What’s special about this ramen is a performance which is done right before served to the customers.
After putting all the toppings, the customers are told to put the water glass under the table and remain seated with both hands folded at the back. Then… you will see it!
This performance will definitely be the unforgettable experience. Make sure to have this ramen shop in your plans when traveling in Japan!
Address: 757-2, Minami-iseya cho, Kamigyo-ku, Kyoto-shi, Kyoto
7.Soranoiro
If you would like a healthy option, Soranoiro is the best choice. This ramen shop has five locations in total, four of which are in Tokyo and one of which is in Nagoya. Aside from regular ramen, it offers vegetarian and vegan options, which are called “Veggie-soba” and “Vegan veggie-soba,” respectively.
The soup is based on the vegetable broth using cabbage, carrots and other vegetables and red bell peppers are mixed with the noodle, adding the red color to them. On the top, it has loads of vegetables including cabbage, carrots, broccoli, and so on. Different shops serve different menus, so it will be fun to try several locations!
Address (Hirakawa cho store): Blue Bld. 1B, 1-3-10, Hirakawa cho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo
8.Toroke no Daidokoro (Kitchen Troquet)
Toroke no Daidokoro is a bistro that serves Teishoku-style menus and tomato ramen. It has more than 15 kinds of tomato ramen including regular menus and seasonal specialties.
Tomato ramen looks like a mix of ramen and pasta, consisting of tomato-based soup and straight, thin noodles, topped with meat, cheese, and basil sauce. As the soup contains three whole tomatoes, you can get beauty benefits from this ramen!
Address: Excel Nakameguro, 1-4-3, Kami-meguro, Meguro-ku, Tokyo
9.Yaki-Ramen Tsurugi
“Yaki” means “fried,” “grilled,” and “baked” in Japanese. Literally, Yaki-ramen tsurugi serves ramen whose noodles are fried on the pan, served with the rich,thick soup made with pork and vegetable broth, chashu, and sunny-side up.
The noodles are crispy on the outside, and makes a good combination with the soup. When you mix the egg with the soup and noodles, it tastes even milder and richer. You can also add the fish powder that comes with ramen.
Address: 2-6-10, Takada-no-baba, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo
10.Ramen Horiuchi
Do you know the food “natto”?
Natto is fermented soybeans with sticky, slimy texture. It looks disgusting and smells awful, but it tastes delicious once you put it in your mouth (though some people hate it).
Ramen Horiuchi offers ramen adorned with natto. The ramen has soy sauce-based soup using chicken and pork broth, noodles, and toppings including chashu, leafy vegetables, nori seaweed, and natto.
You may think natto wouldn’t go well with ramen, but in fact, natto and the soup make a delicious combination! Even if you are not natto-lover, this natto ramen is worth a try!
Address: 1-4-7, Nishi-shinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo
11.Ayu Ramen
Ayu is a type of fish known as “sweet fish” in English. This ramen shop serves ramen with salt-based soup made with chicken, ayu, and vegetable broth, thin noodles, and ayu. The scent goes to the soup from the grilled ayu, which makes the ramen much more flavorful.
Address: 3-15-12, Tamagawa, Setagaya-ku, Tokyo
12.Ramen Manpuku
Ramen Manpuku’s specialty is “Milk ramen,” which literally uses milk for the soup, giving it a snowy white appearance.
The soup tastes milky and rich just like cream stew, but still it has flavors of the broth. It is a new invention of ramen soup!
Address: 3-23-19, Koenji-minami, Suginami-ku, Tokyo
13.UMA TSUKEMEN
UMA TSUKEMEN offers unique tsukemen called “pot pie tsukemen.” The soup is covered with a pie crust topped with cheese and small shrimps, giving off the savory, delicious aroma. You are told to eat the top part of the pie crust by itself to taste the cheese and shrimps. It feels like you are eating pizza!
When you ate the top part, it’s time to dip the noodles in the soup. The noodles and the soup based on shrimp broth go along very well.
Another way to enjoy this menu is putting the pie crust in the soup. Just remove the pie crust and dip it in the soup. It tastes amazing!
Address: 1-3-15, Nishisuna-cho, Tachikawa-shi, Tokyo
14.Menya Kono
Sorry, this ramen cannot be enjoyed by those who are under legal age.
Why? Because it is “tequila ramen”; using one-shot tequila per bowl of soup.
It has clear soup and flat noodles, topped with chashu, cilantro, chili powder, and lime. The toppings add a nice accent to the mild-taste soup, and the one shot of tequila balances out everything.
Address: 3-13-10, Nakamura, Nerima-ku, Tokyo
15.Menya Shono Gotsubo
Menya Shono Gotsubo invented a beautiful tsukemen called “veggie tsukemen.” The noodles and vegetables are served on a plate with a stylish presentation, looking like a starter of Italian food. The soup can be chosen from two kinds; shrimp and tomato flavor or ginger flavor, both are based on chicken broth.
After finishing the noodles, there is one thing to do; Order a bowl of rice.
The staff prepares risotto with rice and the soup left in your bowl. You can finish up the delicious soup with this incredible idea!
1-32-15, Shinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo
16.Tsukumo Ramen
Dear cheese lovers! This ramen shop is just for you.
A mountain of powdered cheese is topped on miso ramen. When you have a bite, amazing flavor of cheese fills your mouth. However, despite this amount of cheese, it doesn’t ruin the flavor of the soup, rather, it goes well with the miso soup.
As the cheese melts, the soup gets more creamy and rich. How could it taste bad?!
Address: 1-1-36, Hiroo, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo
17.Rin
You can enjoy the combination of ramen and curry at this ramen shop. It comes in a large portion of noodles with tonkotsu soup and chashu, curry sauce added.
Address: 6-13, Utagawa-cho, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo
18.Yamate Ramen Hongo Anan
What do you think is used for this green soup?
That’s euglena!
Euglena, a microbe that is known to be highly nutritious is used in the soup. Don’t worry, it doesn’t have odd flavor at all but does have a nice aroma of basil that is also used in the soup. The basil goes very well with the salt-based soup!
The soup also contains wasabi and green tea. A little bit of bitter flavor follows after you taste the elegant basil flavor.
Address: 5-23-11, Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo
19.Soryu Togyokudo
This hot ramen definitely gives you a shock...only the smell knocks you out. A mountain of chili peppers is floating on the extremely red soup.
You feel the sweat running down from the forehead right after you have the first bite. It is so spicy that you would feel pain on your tongue, but it does have rich flavors of the broth.
For those who would never ever like to try this ramen, don’t worry. Togyokudo offers various menus that aren’t spicy at all. A Hollywood movie star, Keanu Reeves has come to this ramen shop a couple of times, and he loves its tan-tan men!
Address:7-17-16, Roppongi, Minato-ku, Tokyo
20.Nikujiru Ramen Kimi
We bet you’ll say “Oh my gosh, what is it?” when your ramen arrives. The thickly sliced chashu are lined up along the edge of the bowl with loads of vegetables. The pork is well-flavored and soft enough to be easily broken down into pieces when you bite into it. It weighs about 400g only by the chashu. Don’t you want to tackle this ramen with mountainous meat?
Address: 2-25-10, Kita-shinagawa, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo
How did you like the unusual ramen journey?
We hope you enjoyed it!
If you had a chance, which ramen would you try?
Please share your favorite with us!
We also introduce best ramen shops in Japan in this page.
We hope you will find delicious ramen here!
Bonus: One more unusual ramen
Why is this unusual ramen? There is nothing unusual here.
In fact, this is not ramen. This is “Ramen Cake” !! It doesn’t taste like ramen at all, but it does taste sweet!
Everything is made of sweet things:
Noodles->chestnuts cream
Naruto fish cake->milk bavarois
Menma (pickled bamboo shoots)->apple compote
Nori seaweed-> chocolate cookie
Green onions->pistachio
Chashu->pie crust
Soup->jelly
Swipe the Instagram photo to find it is really a cake!