[Asahi Shokudo in Kamikawa] Tasty Rare Salt Broth Ramen with Light Taste

Asahi Shokudo

Asahi Shokudo (あさひ食堂) is a long-estbalished restaurant in Kamikawa town located in the eastern direction of Asahikawa city, and is relatively near Kamikawa Station. Mr. Yasuo Kamata (鎌田 康雄), a restaurant owner, has established since 1970. They serve rice bowls, fried rice and so on, and ramen has a good reputation in particular. The Kamikawa town advocates that they serve the most tasty ramen in Japan because meltwater of Daisetsuzan Moundain Range are used in their soup and noodles, and they are proud of their ramen. Kamikawa-cho Japan's Best Ramen Association (上川町ラーメン日本一の会) has been estblished, and the owner plays a role of the vice chairman, and works to promote the Kamikawa Ramen.

The restaurant on the 1st floor of 2 story building at a residential area is large, and has an atmosphere such as a typical Japanese restraunt. An inside wall is covered with cards for autographs. Counter seats, table seats and a small separate Japanese style room are provided, so I guess that even family customers and a large number of customers may enjoy meals. But the ramen restraunt is crowded with customers at lunchtime.

Ramen of Hokkaido

Ramen is a noodle soup dish topped with ingredients. It is said that Chinese noodles is the root of the ramen, and there are various theories, for example, Mr. Mistukuni Tokugawa (徳川光圀 * Mitokomon (水戸黄門)) ate the ramen in 1697 for the first time in Japan or the first ramen was that Keitaimen noodles (経帯麺) served in 1488 was written in Biryueken Diary (蔭涼軒日録). Noodle soup dishes were spread out in Japan because Nanking noodles (南京そば) was served in various China Towns, Japan. In Hakodate with a China Town, Yowaken (養和軒) served the Nanking noodles in 1884. In Sapporo, it is a root of Sapporo Ramen that a noodle soup dish was cooked by Mr. Wang Wen Zai (王 文彩), a chief chef of Takeya Shokudo (竹家食堂), in 1922. Houran (芳蘭), a branch of the Takeya Shokudo, opened a business in 1933 in Asahikawa. Asahikawa Ramen, Sapporo Ramen and Hakodate Ramen called the 3 Major Ramen in Hokkaido were born. But current ramen do not succeed to the taste of those ramen. Read More

Rare Salt Broth Ramen

I heard from my friend that Asahi Shokudo's ramen was tasty, and I visited here around 11:30 on a weekday. 3 groups of preceding customers enjoyed their meals. Then customers entered here one after another. This restraunt was popular after all. I sat a counter seat, and read a menu. Restraunt's recommendations were Specially Made Miso Broth Ramen (特みそ) or Rare Salt Broth Ramen (幻の塩ラーメン). Since the Rare Salt Ramen was limited 20 dishes a day, I decided to order it. The price was JPY 950.

About 10 minutes later, the ramen was separately served with a dish of pine nuts, a dish of fine strips of green onions, a dish of sesame. Roasted chicken fillets, a pickled ume and chili pepper were on noodles. I thougt that a lot of soup was one of their highlights. The Rare Salt Broth Ramen used natural salt of Lake Sarama, and that was very unusual.

The owner said "First please have a sip of the soup, and you should put the pine nut, the fine strips of the green onions, the sesame on the ramen with chopsticks as you like". They would be confident of the soup. I had a sip of the soup immediately. This mouthful was shocking to me. Light taste with good flavor spread over in my mouth. It was very delicious!

I put toppings on the noodles with my chopsticks. Then I ate it all up. Because the soup was light taste, I felt a monotonous taste in the latter half, but the first mouthful was a surprising taste. I recommend that light taste lovers eat this. The noodles were whitish curly noodles, and went well with the soup. Thanks for the tasty ramen!

Rare Salt Broth Ramen and Atmosphere of Ramen Restaurant Can Be Watched on Youtube.

Movie of Rare Salt Broth Ramen

List of Accommodations

Refer to following websites for the accommodations in the Kamikawa. You can get information regarding online reviews and photos.

SOUNKYO ONSEN

Sounkaku Grand Hotel(層雲閣グランドホテル)	HP	Booking	Jalan	Rakuten
Hotel Taisetsu(ホテル大雪)	HP	Booking	Jalan	Rakuten
Sounkyo Kanko Hotel(層雲峡観光ホテル)	HP	Booking	Jalan	Rakuten
Choyotei(朝陽亭)	HP	Booking	Jalan	Rakuten
Choyo Resort Hotel(朝陽リゾートホテル)	HP	Booking	Jalan	Rakuten
Yumoto Ginsenkaku(湯元銀泉閣)	HP	Booking	Jalan	Rakuten
Minshuku Todate(民宿とだて)	HP	Booking	Jalan	Rakuten
Sounkyo Youth Hostel(層雲峡ユースホステル)	HP	Booking	Jalan	Rakuten
Hotel Kumoi(ホテル雲井)	HP	Booking	Jalan	Rakuten
Mount View Hotel(マウントビューホテル)	HP	Booking	Jalan	Rakuten
Resort Pension Yama-no-Ue(リゾートペンション 山の上)	HP	Booking	Jalan	Rakuten
Pension Ginga(ペンション銀河)	HP	Booking	Jalan	Rakuten