# Ramen restaurants in Japan, what is the deal? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 12, 2015, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ramen-restaurants-in-japan-what-is-the-deal/709628 "2015-01-12T15:59:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![FlightlessBird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/cdc98d/32.png) [@FlightlessBird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlightlessBird)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2015, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ramen-restaurants-in-japan-what-is-the-deal/709628/61 "2015-01-13T20:47:53Z")
More LA Ramen places: There’s also a Shin Sen Gumi at Sawtelle and Santa Monica Blvd. My goto places for ramen are Tsujita and the Tsujita Annex (on Sawtelle), and Ramen by Omae (in Sherman Oaks) Also good ones in Santa Monica: Kotoya and Tatsu When I first tried non-top ramen it was at Ramen-Ya on Pico in Santa Monica and they had a ton of options. Then the ‘classic’ varieties became popular and I found the others. Now excuse me while I go get a bowl… ---
**Author:** ![Kimballkid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b5a626/32.png) [@Kimballkid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimballkid)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2015, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ramen-restaurants-in-japan-what-is-the-deal/709628/62 "2015-01-13T22:00:55Z")
Lots of ramen places in Hawaii. I wanted to go to one when I was there, but the lines were so long I didn’t want to wait. From what I saw, it was mostly Japanese people in line. As for using instant and bringing it out, these places had an open kitchen and you could see what was being produced. ---
**Author:** ![Grestarian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grestarian/32/3227_2.png) [@Grestarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grestarian)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2015, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ramen-restaurants-in-japan-what-is-the-deal/709628/63 "2015-01-14T00:20:34Z")
My earliest childhood memories include seeing (sometimes ordering) ramen on the menu at Japanese restaurants. Then a few noodle-focussed restaurants started opening up in the mid-1980’s. Then, when I went to Japan, my mother challenged me to try “den-men” and eat it like a native: The train (densha) stations have no-name ramen shops right on the platforms, with ready-to-grab bowls available. I wasn’t able to imitate the locals, who would literally dash off a train, grab and pay for a bowl, inhale it, and dash for the next train. I had a few leisurely bowls somewhere (?!) in Shinjuku station and the broth was just as hot (i.e. full strength) as the broth at the shop near my apartment, miles away from the train station. Then, when I moved out of San Diego, I noticed a lot of ramen specialty shops all around Los Angeles and, still, the Japanese restaurants typically have at least one ramen dish available, if not udon and soba as well. I suspect you could gather 1000 ramen proprieters in a festival and they’d be able to provide at least 3000 variations of standard cha-shu -men with no two alike – plus whatever their specialty dishes are, of course. 😃 –G! ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2015, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ramen-restaurants-in-japan-what-is-the-deal/709628/64 "2015-01-14T00:33:08Z")
I’m dying for a hot bowl of good ramen soup now. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2015, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ramen-restaurants-in-japan-what-is-the-deal/709628/65 "2015-01-14T00:54:54Z")
You guys talking about the association with cheap ramen: why use the word at all? Call it a Japanese Noodle Shop. I’ve even heard them called that before. BTW, you guys talk about restaurants, but are there any places that have noodle carts? Ethnic food that is literally on the go is quite common, so I’ve always wondered. Also, grude, do you live in the U.S.? I thought you’d moved to some west Asian country. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2015, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ramen-restaurants-in-japan-what-is-the-deal/709628/66 "2015-01-14T01:00:06Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > Also, grude, do you live in the U.S.? I thought you’d moved to some west Asian country. I thought he was living in Trinidad… ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2015, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ramen-restaurants-in-japan-what-is-the-deal/709628/67 "2015-01-14T01:17:19Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > You guys talking about the association with cheap ramen: why use the word at all? Call it a Japanese Noodle Shop. I’ve even heard them called that before. > > BTW, you guys talk about restaurants, but are there any places that have noodle carts? Ethnic food that is literally on the go is quite common, so I’ve always wondered. > > Also, grude, do you live in the U.S.? I thought you’d moved to some west Asian country. China is full of street noodle carts. Delicious! ---
**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2015, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ramen-restaurants-in-japan-what-is-the-deal/709628/68 "2015-01-14T01:19:42Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > You guys talking about the association with cheap ramen: why use the word at all? Call it a Japanese Noodle Shop. I’ve even heard them called that before. > . Because there are several different kinds of Japanese “noodles” restaurants that only serve one kind of noodles. Soba, ramen, udon, plus some Korean and Chinese types. ---
**Author:** ![jovan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/0ea827/32.png) [@jovan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jovan)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2015, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ramen-restaurants-in-japan-what-is-the-deal/709628/69 "2015-01-14T02:12:37Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > BTW, you guys talk about restaurants, but are there any places that have noodle carts? In Japan? Absolutely. A typical example: [![](https://livedoor.blogimg.jp/next_step_to/imgs/9/0/905e46b8.jpg) ](https://livedoor.blogimg.jp/next_step_to/imgs/9/0/905e46b8.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2015, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ramen-restaurants-in-japan-what-is-the-deal/709628/70 "2015-01-14T02:18:49Z")
> [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > I thought he was living in Trinidad… That sounds more familiar. For some reason, I had him somewhere around the UAE, thinking he’s mentioned something about Dubai, and that his wife was from India. Still, that’s not Texas. > [@Isamu](#): > > Because there are several different kinds of Japanese “noodles” restaurants that only serve one kind of noodles. Soba, ramen, udon, plus some Korean and Chinese types. Fair enough. I’d heard about about Soba and vaguely remember udon, but I thought ramen was the big one, As for noodle carts, I knew they were in Japan. I was wondering about in the U.S. The idea of getting food from a cart appeals to me: I’ve never been anywhere where they do the mobile food thing. ---
**Author:** ![bmoak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9dc877/32.png) [@bmoak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bmoak)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2015, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ramen-restaurants-in-japan-what-is-the-deal/709628/71 "2015-01-14T03:28:29Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > You guys talking about the association with cheap ramen: why use the word at all? Call it a Japanese Noodle Shop. I’ve even heard them called that before. A Japanese person seeing a sign that said “Japanese Noodle Shop” would expect to get soba or udon there, not ramen. As popular as ramen is in Japan, it is still considered a foreign import and ramen is written in the katakana characters used to transcribe foreign words into Japanese. The earliest restaurants serving ramen in Japan were in Chinatowns and in the first half of the 20th century, ramen was commonly called shina soba (“Chinese noodles”). ---
**Author:** ![jovan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/0ea827/32.png) [@jovan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jovan)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2015, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ramen-restaurants-in-japan-what-is-the-deal/709628/72 "2015-01-14T04:23:15Z")
> [@bmoak](#): > > As popular as ramen is in Japan, it is still considered a foreign import This is true. As popular as it is, it’s still technically considered “Chinese” food. “_Ramen_” comes from the Mandarin _lamian_, and in China ramen is known as Japanese lamian (日本拉面). While you can find restaurants that serve both ramen and sushi in Japan (a major conveyer-belt sushi chain started serving ramen not too long ago), it’s still an unusual pairing. If a ramen restaurant serves anything other than ramen, it’s going to be Chinese dishes. Many of them serve grilled _gyoza_, but fried rice and stir-fry dishes are also common. ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2015, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ramen-restaurants-in-japan-what-is-the-deal/709628/73 "2015-01-14T06:48:26Z")
Oh shit, **grude** ’s discovered ramen. [Time for the hipsters to move on](http://luckypeach.com/the-state-of-ramen-david-chang/)! ---
**Author:** ![Saturn\_Dreams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@Saturn\_Dreams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saturn_Dreams)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2015, 7:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ramen-restaurants-in-japan-what-is-the-deal/709628/74 "2015-01-14T07:16:35Z")
> [@bmoak](#): > > As popular as ramen is in Japan, it is still considered a foreign import… I wouldn’t say foreign import, but rather foreign (Chinese) influenced. Many Japanese (including myself) consider ramen to be a Japanese creation. The etymology of the dish comes from a type of noodles used in China but that alone does not make it Chinese, just as doria (a Japanese take on rice-based gratin) couldn’t be considered an Italian import. Although it’s in Japanese, there is more info [here](http://www.uraken.net/zatsugaku/zatsugaku_21.html) on the history of ramen. Ramen is Chinese food created in Japan but in China, it’s considered Japanese food. There, it’s served with Japanese dishes such as yakitori or tempura, (another Japanese creation with foreign influence). ---
**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2015, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ramen-restaurants-in-japan-what-is-the-deal/709628/75 "2015-01-14T13:51:37Z")
> [@Shalmanese](#): > > Oh shit, **grude** ’s discovered ramen. [Time for the hipsters to move on](http://luckypeach.com/the-state-of-ramen-david-chang/)! I love David Chang, but that may be the douchiest and most nonsensical article I’ve read in 2015. ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2015, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ramen-restaurants-in-japan-what-is-the-deal/709628/76 "2015-01-15T02:22:01Z")
> [@Labrador\_Deceiver](#): > > I love David Chang, but that may be the douchiest and most nonsensical article I’ve read in 2015. I dont agree. Japanese culture relishes in making simple things as perfectly as possible. Lots of this ramen improvisation is antithetical to the core values of the cuisine. You might not agree with him but you cant say that his arguments are nonsensical. ---
**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2015, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ramen-restaurants-in-japan-what-is-the-deal/709628/77 "2015-01-15T02:30:46Z")
> [@madsircool](#): > > I dont agree. Japanese culture relishes in making simple things as perfectly as possible. Lots of this ramen improvisation is antithetical to the core values of the cuisine. You might not agree with him but you cant say that his arguments are nonsensical. You just said the _exact opposite_ of what Chang wrote in the article. He relishes the new and the improv, but thinks it’s all been done. He’s lamenting the death of innovation, and says so in those words. And the fact that he’s blaming that on the Internet is nonsensical. The fact that he thinks the Internet wasn’t already in force in 2004 is nonsensical. ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2015, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ramen-restaurants-in-japan-what-is-the-deal/709628/78 "2015-01-15T03:09:50Z")
> [@Labrador\_Deceiver](#): > > You just said the _exact opposite_ of what Chang wrote in the article. He relishes the new and the improv, but thinks it’s all been done. He’s lamenting the death of innovation, and says so in those words. > > And the fact that he’s blaming that on the Internet is nonsensical. The fact that he thinks the Internet wasn’t already in force in 2004 is nonsensical. He is saying that ramen wasnt trendy back in 2004. That he had to go onto CraigsList to hire Japanese speakers to translate ramen recipes because there werent any around in English. He is also saying that Instagram and FB have made the foodie world more homogenous. Thus there arent isolated cells of chefs slowly developing their unique cuisine. Its the old argument that the internet has made the world smaller but also more the same. He misses the uniqueness of regional ramen. ---
**Author:** ![rogerbox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/76d3ee/32.png) [@rogerbox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rogerbox)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2015, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ramen-restaurants-in-japan-what-is-the-deal/709628/79 "2015-01-15T05:38:47Z")
I’m not sure why there are only two binary responses to something getting more popular: It sucked and used to be better when it was underground, or “It’s ONLY better now that more people can enjoy something, there are NO downsides to something increasing in popularity!” There is a middleground I have fallen into many times, where something I liked that was obscure became more popular, and it was cool to have more people into it, but that thing also lost something and got watered down to become more mainstream, and thus was less interesting to me. It seems like noobs to something always INSIST that more people=better without ANY shortcomings (which is paradoxical, because if you are a noob, how would you know?) Also I don’t think Chang was being a “douche” in that article, if you read the last line: > [@](#): > > I’ve heard tell of a ramen burrito—that’s the fucking end of everything. David Chang invented Korean/Ramen burritos which bombed hard, so he was being self-deprecating. Hard to be a “douche” when you’re making fun of yourself IMO. ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2015, 7:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ramen-restaurants-in-japan-what-is-the-deal/709628/80 "2015-01-15T07:44:07Z")
> [@Airk](#): > > Y’know, looking at the OP again, I wonder. **grude** - if you’ve seen these places, why not just try one and find out what the deal is? Get whatever the most standard menu offering is. Those are often the best, especially if you don’t know what you particularly like. When I say I have seen it I meant in Japanese movies/documentary footage/anime 🙂 That was what had me curious in the first place, I’d love to try one given the chance. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ramen-restaurants-in-japan-what-is-the-deal/709628.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ramen-restaurants-in-japan-what-is-the-deal/709628.md?page=5)