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[Takaraya in Wakkanai] Traditional Salt Broth Ramen with Hard Time

September 8th, 2015

CONTENTS

Takaraya
Salt Broth Ramen

Takaraya

Ramen Takaraya (ラーメンたからや) is a long-established ramen restraunt founded in 1966 in Wakkanai city, and is near Wakkanai Station. They got the Bib Gourmand in MICHELIN GUIDE Hokkaido 2012 Special Edition and 2017 Special Edition. The ramen restraunt on the 1st floor of 2 story private house with an atmosphere of a typical ramen restraunt is not so large, and a warmth of woods is felt. 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.

List of Means of Transportation

Refer to following the means of the transportation in the Wakkanai. As for car rental comparison websites, you can compare vehicle rental prices on Tabi-Plaza Rental Car Reservation (旅ぷらざレンタカー予約), Jalan Rental Car (じゃらんレンタカー) and Rakutem Travel Rental Car (楽天トラベルレンタカー).

Hokuto Kotsu(北都交通)	From Wakkanai to Sapporo	HP	Jalan	Rakuten
Hokuto Kotsu(北都交通)	From Sapporo to Wakkanai	HP	Jalan	Rakuten
Nippon Rent-a-car(ニッポンレンタカー)	Their offices are near Wakkanai Station and Wakkanai Airport.	HP	Jalan	Rakuten
Times Car Rental(タイムズカーレンタル)	Their offices are near the Wakkanai Station and Wakkanai Airport.	HP	Jalan	Rakuten
Toyota Rental Lease(トヨタレンタリース)	Their offices are near the Wakkanai Station and Wakkanai Airport.	HP	Jalan	Rakuten
Nissan Rent-a-car(日産レンタカー)	Their offices are near the Wakkanai Station and Wakkanai Airport.	HP	Jalan	Rakuten
Orix Rent-a-car(オリックスレンタカー)	Their offices are near the Wakkanai Station and Wakkanai Airport.	HP	Jalan	Rakuten
Chiseki Sekiyu Choinori Rent-a-car(チセキ石油・ちょいのりレンタカー)	Their offices are near the Minami-wakkanai Station and Toyotomi Onsen.	HP	Jalan	Rakuten

WAKKANAI

Wakkanai (稚内) that about 35,000 people live is the 21th largest fishery city in Hokkaido, and was named after Yamuwakkanai that means "A river with cold water" in Ainu language. It is one of regional hub cities of the North Hokkaido area, and is the northernmost port town in Japan. A catch of Octopus Dofleini (ミズダコ) is the largest in the Japan. In addition, a lot of people run a dairy farm, and the Wakkanai is one of tasty milk‐producing distlict in the Hokkaido. My grandmother was from Keihoku (恵北) in the Wakkanai, and I remember that the milk was very tasty when I visited parents' house of my grandmother in the old days. As for climate, the Wakkanai faces the Sea of Japan and the Sea of Okhotsk, so a wind blows hard. Average annual temperature is 7 degrees, and it is chilly in a summer, and it does not relatively snow hard in a winter. Wakkanai Peninsula (稚内半島) is in the west side of the city, and Soya Peninsula (宗谷半島) is in the east side of the city, and the downtown is in the west side of the city. Various things is the northernmost in the Japan, for example, Japane's Northernmost Railway Monument (日本最北端の線路の碑) is built beside the Wakkanai Station, too. 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

Salt Broth Ramen

I visited here around 16:00 on a weekday. No customers enjoyed thier meals at such a late hour. I sat at a counter seat, and read a menu, so only 2 types of ramen, Soy Sauce Broth Ramen (醤油ラーメン) and Salt Broth Ramen (塩ラーメン) were wrote on a menu. I thought that an owner was confident of his ramen. Because I heard that the Salt Broth Ramen was famous, I ordered it. The price was JPY 700.

About 7 minutes later, the ramen was served. Roasted pork fillets, bamboo shoots, a Japanese dry baked wheat gluten and green onions were on noodles. Large soup was one of highlights. The clear soup was very beautiful. I ate a sip of the soup immediately. The taste of the soup made from pork bone soup stock and vegetable soup stock was light, but it had very good flavor. The soup was tasty! The whitish noodles made by Hokkaiya Making-noodles Factory (北海屋製麺所) in the Wakkanai went well with the soup. Those were also tasty!

The owner told me that his hobby was photography when I took a photograph of the ramen. He showed me his photographed Wakkanai and Mt. Rishirifuji. In addition, he told me his recommended photography place, Yuhigaoka Parking (夕日が丘パーキング), in the Wakkanai. Originally the owner used to be an office worker about 10 years ago, and succeeded to his mother's ramen restraunt. Customers complained about the taste of soup at that time, so he had a hard time, too. But his hard work definitely paid off because his ramen was evaluated by Michelin Guide. I am glad that his efforts were to good purpose. Thanks for the tasty ramen!

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

Movie of Salt Broth Ramen

Parking lot	Free parking is provided (5 Cars)
Business hours	11:00-18:00
Regular closing day	Wednesday
Telephone number	+81-162-23-7200
Home page	Home page is here
Mapcode	353 876 799*77