Foods
Meal
CentralArea

[Ichigen Head Office in Sapporo] Shrimp Ramen with Tasty Umami of Shrimp

April 21st, 2014

CONTENTS

Ichigen
- SAPPORO
- Ramen of Hokkaido
Shrimp Ramen

Ichigen

Ebisoba Ichigen (えびそば一幻) is a popular ramen restaurant based in Susukino, Chuo ward, Sapporo city. Mr. Naoki Hayashi (林直樹) established it in 2009, and Ichigen Food Company corp. (株式会社一幻フードカンパニー) runs it at present. The Ichigen is famous for serving Shrimp Ramen (えびそば) using rich shrimp soup stock. The head office near Higashi-honganji Branch Temple (東本願寺別院会館) is in the Sapporo, and branch restraunts open a business in New Chitose Airport, Shinjuku, Yaesu and Roppongi. In addition, they also have overseas ramen restaurant as well as the Japan, and some branch ramen restaurants open a business in Hong Kong and Taiwan.

My visited place is the head office. The ramen restaurant is not large, and the warmth of woods is felt. Inside walls are covered with cards for autographs. All seats are counter seats, so I guess that family customers and a large number of customers can hardly enjoy their meals in busy hour.

Movie of Ichigen

SAPPORO

Sapporo (札幌) that about 1,960,000 people live is the largest city in Hokkaido. Although there are various theories, its origin of the name is "Dry Big River (乾いた大きな川)" in Ainu language. A population of the Sapporo is the 4th largest city after Yokohama, Osaka and Nagoya in japan, and the population accounts for 36 % of Hokkaido's population! So the Sapporo has been flourished as the center of the Hokkaido. The area of the Sapporo is 1,121.26 km2, and is about as big as Hong Kong, and is the 7th largest city in the Hokkaido. The Sapporo is also famous as a tourist city, and about 15 million people come. As for a climate, it is hot that temperature rises to nearly 25 degrees in a summer, but it is easy to live without moisture. I always feel a little cool. It is cold that temperature falls to nearly -10 degrees in a winter, and amount of snowfall sometimes has more than 1 m. 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

Shrimp Ramen

They started a business at 11:00, so I visited here at that hour. 6 groups of customer already sat at counter seats. Visitors sat clockwisely at counter seats in the order of arrival. I also sat at a counter seat, and asked a waiter about ramen restraunt's recommendation. He replied me "For one liking light taste, it is recommended to choose 'Soup As It Is (そのまま)' and 'Salt Broth (しお)'. And for one liking rich taste, it is recommended to choose 'Rich Taste (あじわい)' and 'Miso Broth (みそ)'". By the way, the following is how to order. Customers choose one soup among 3 types of soup (soup as it is (そのまま), moderate (ほどほど) and rich taste (あじわい)). Then they choose one seasoning among 3 types of seasonings (Miso Broth (みそ), Salt Broth (しお) and Soy Sauce Broth (しょうゆ)). Finally they choose a kind of noodles (Thin Noodles (太麺) or Thick Noodles (細麺)). I ordered "Soup As It Is", "Salt Broth" and "Thin Noodles". The price was JPY 780.

About 5 minutes later, the Shrimp Ramen was served. A roasted pork fillet, a soft-boiled egg marinated in soy and mirin, green onions and deep fried red pickled ginger dough were on noodles. The fried dough of red color, the green onions of green color and the yolk of orange color stood out. I had a sip of the soup immediately. Umami of shrimps was felt. The soup was made from a large quantity of sweet shrimp heads, so they provided ramen of the original taste utilized the flavor of the shrimp. It was light taste, but was rich shrimp flavor. The soup was tasty!. The noodles made by Morizumi Noodles Factory (森住製麺) went well with the soup. Thanks for the tasty ramen!

Shrimp Ramen and Atmosphere of Ramen Restaurant Can Be Watched on Youtube.

Movie of Shrimp Ramen

Parking lot	Free parking is provided (11 Cars)
Business hours	11:00-03:00 * They close a shop if soup runs out
Regular closing day	Wednesday
Telephone number	+81-11-513-0098
Home page	home page is here
Mapcode	9 461 777*28