Entries about ehime

Yaki Ramen is a specialty dish where you can only eat at the yatai stands in Hakata city of Fukuoka prefecture. The majority of the yatai stands you will find nearby the river of Nakasu. This dish is basically ramen stir-fried and then transferred to an iron plat. They then top it with chashu pork and scallions and finishing off with a drizzle of the famous Hakata tonkotsu soup. I'd strongly suggest you to try this dish because I know some like soup noodles while others like it stir-fried. I basically like the stir-fried version more because the tonkotsu aroma is a lot less intense than the regular Hakata tonkotsu ramen. If you like ramen or noodles then this specialty dish is a must try!

Yaki Ramen I had at one of the Yatai stands in Hakata

Before I talk about Karamen, can you take the heat? Are you a spicy food lover like me? If you are then this is a great dish for you! If you're not, they have a level system so doesn't matter if you can take a little heat to nothing at all they cater to everyone's taste. So what is this Karamen? If you directly transliterate the word, "Kara" means spicy and "men" means noodles. This isn't just an ordinary bowl of spicy noodles but a special one since you can choose the spiciness from level 0 all the way 25. Along with the hot and spicy soup they use eggs, garlic and green onions to enhance the flavour. The egg is put into the soup with the egg drop style so it helps out a little bit to bring down the spice level. The noodles which they use isn't just some Chinese ramen noodles where you can find anywhere in Japan but a special konyaku like noodles. This type of noodle gives you that soft crunchiness which balances well with the hot and spicy broth. The garlic and green onions are soft from being simmered in that amazing broth which enhances their flavour. If you like noodles and find yourself traveling to this region of Japan then I would really recommend trying this dish! Of course you might find it in other parts of Japan but eating it where it originates from is a whole different kind of experience!

I have been to Miyazaki prefecture before but the last time around I didn't really eat lot. In order to make up for it I tried to eat more this trip to share some new local specialty dishes I've found. In this blog post I will be talking about a dish called the "hiyajiru", which basically means cold soup if you transliterated it directly from Japanese to English. The dish is separated into a bowl of cold soup and a bowl of hot steaming white rice. The cold soup is made from white sesame paste, miso paste, tofu and green onions. It was my first time ever trying the dish and didn't know what to expect but the waitress there was really helpful and she taught me how to eat it. The way you're suppose to eat is to pour some of the cold soup over the rice and eat it. The taste is a little bit sweet and salty with a very deep sesame flavour to it. If you're not allergic to sesame then I would recommednd trying this dish because those who like it will love it! There are many restaurants around Miyazaki city which serves this dish and the procedure of making the soup and the ingredients might also be different. Since I only had 2 days in Miyazaki prefecture and the first day I've spent in in Nobeoka city I could only try the "hiyajiru" at one shop. If you have the time I do recommend maybe trying a few more to see which shops' "hiyajiru" suits your tastebuds more!

I have come back to bring you guys another blog post about ramen. Today I will be talking about a special type of ramen called the "Tokushima ramen". As some of you might have already known, Tokushima is one of the 4 prefectures located in Shikoku island and is the one closest to the Kansai region. So what is so different about this ramen? Well, the broth is made with tonkotsu and shoyu and then you have your chinese-style noodles. The soup is thicker than usual ramen broth and the flavor is salty with a strong pork taste. As for the toppings, you might be expecting very Japanese-ish ones like Cha-shu pork, bamboo-shoots and so on but you won't be finding things like that on this ramen. The toppings are usually green onions, sukiyaki beef and a raw egg. Many local people like to order rice along with this bowl or ramen because to them the ramen is like a side dish. Some locals like to eat it like sukiyaki style where they will beat the yolk in a separate bowl and dip the sukiyaki meat in it and have it with some rice. There are others who like to just break the yolk within the bowl of noodles and dip it from there and slurp it along with the ramen. After finishing the ramen, some locals like to dump rice into the soup and devour everything up until the last drop. No matter which way you pick on how to eat your bowl of Tokushima ramen, it will still taste good. If you are a ramen fan and love to try local ramen then this is for you to try. Even if you are not that interested in eating ramen I still highly recommend this dish because it is really different from all the ramens you might have tried in your life!

Amazing Tokushima ramen and rice (egg on the side instead of in the ramen)

As many of you might know, curry is one of the soul food in Japan. Japanese curry is quite different from those of India and Thailand since it is much more sweeter. The reason for it being sweeter is because most Japanese people cannot eat spicy food so they have made their curry to suit their taste. In Osaka, there is a famous curry shop called Jiyuu Ken and their curry rice is a must try.

The curry rice at Jiyu Ken is nothing like the other curries you have had in Japan. The rice is all smothered in a soup like spicy curry gravy with a raw egg on top. You are suppose to mix the raw egg into the curry and rice before eating it. This a very popular place to chow in Osaka and is almost always full with a long lineup outside the shop. This shop was also feature in one of the episodes of Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations TV show. If you want to try something other than the obvious Takoyaki and Okonomiyaki, this is the place to visit. But beware for a spicy but good tasting curry adventure.

Jiyu Ken curry rice @Jiyu Ken Namba shop

• http://www.jiyuken.co.jp/dictionary/osaka.html