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[Mikan in Otaru] Jun-Sumi Style Miso Broth Ramen Aims for Perfect Step by Step

March 1st, 2017

CONTENTS

Mikan
- OTARU
- Ramen of Hokkaido
Miso Broth Ramen

Mikan

Ramen Mikan (らーめんみかん) is a popular ramen restraunt nearby Nantaru Market (南樽市場) in Shintomi-cho, Otaru city, and is relatively near Minami-otaru Station. An owner trained his cooking skill at Sumire (すみれ), a famous ramen restraunt, and became independent in 2004. The Mikan was named after Mikansei (未完成 * the uncompleted way of ramen) because he has not mastered the way of the ramen perfectly, and has been improving it step by step. The Mikan means "A mandarin orange" in Japanese, and I imagined it, But it is not even close to the truth. Mr. Masatoshi Hamada (浜田雅功), a member of Japanese comedy duo Downtown, mistook the Mikan for Orange, so the ramen restraunt became more popular.

The ramen restraunt on the 1st floor of private 2 story house is not so large, and a lot of woods are used at the house, so the warmth of the woods is felt. It has a good atmosphere. Counter seats and table seats are provided, so I guess that even family customers enjoy meals. But the ramen restraunt is crowded with customers at lunchtime, so a line is expected.

OTARU

Otaru (小樽) that 120,000 people live is the 9th largest port city in Hokkaido, and is located in the located in the northwestern part of Sapporo city. It takes about 30 minutes from the Sapporo to the Otaru by a train. The Otaru is one of most popular tourist cities in the Hokkaido, and about 8 million people visit here. It is also well-known as a city with a lot of slopes, and there are 30 slopes with its name, so the Otaru has a lot of slope lands, and has a lot of narrow roads. It is famous as a city with a lot of sushi restaurants, too, and more than 100 sushi restaurants open their businesses. Fresh seafood caught in the Sea of Japan facing the Otaru or caought in various places of the Hokkaido can be enjoyed. As for a climate, the Otaru has calm climate, it is cold in a summer, and it snow hard. The Otaru was called an inaccessible land in the old days because all transportation facilities paralyzed by a heavy snow. Article is here

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. Article is here

Miso Broth Ramen

I visited here around 14:30 on a weekday. I came to avoid lunchtime at this kind of time, so tables were empty, and I sat a table seat. A menu was on a wall, and I read it, and ordered Miso Broth Ramen, the most popular ramen. The price was JPY 750. A Japanese kettle for drinking water is on the table. It caught my eye. Customers can drink it freely.

About 7 minutes later, the ramen was served. While I was waiting for the ramen, customers came in one after another, so all the tables were almost fulled. It was very popular ramen restraunt after all. Roasted pork fillets, bamboo shoots and green onions were on noodles. I ate a sip of the soup immediately. It was very rich taste, and tasted fat and ginger. The taste was just Junsumi style (純すみ系).

The noodles were egg noodles made by Kobayashi Making Noodles Facotry (小林製麺), and were chewy. Those went well with the soup. The roasted pork fillets had 2 types, a sliced roasted pork fillet and cube roasted pork fillets, and the texture was achewy like ham. Most of other customers ordered the Miso Broth Ramen with a large serving of roasted pork fillets, so I supposeed that the roasted pork fillet was one of highlights. Thanks for the tasty ramen!

Miso Broth Ramen Can Be Watched on Youtube

Movie of Miso Broth Ramen

Parking lot	A parking lot is shared with Nantaru Market.
Business hours	11:00-18:00 * Wednesday 11:00-15:00. If the soup runs out, they close a ramen restraunt.
Regular closing day	Thursday
Telephone number	+81-134-22-1221
Home page	Home page is here
Mapcode	493 631 497*81