Entries about imabari

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

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

Namie Yakisoba is a famous dish in Namie-cho, Fukushima prefecture. So what is the different between namie yakisoba and the mainstream yakisoba we heard of? Well, the first difference is the noodles itself. For namie yakisoba, they use a thicker kind of noodles. While stir-frying it they ad pork, beansprouts and Worcestershire sauce. Due to the different texture of the noodles and the crunch of the beansprouts adds a different kind of taste to the dish. I would recommend this dish to those who wants to try something new or wants to have something different for a change.

Namie Yakisoba

Tonpei Yaki is an Osaka classic dish. It is almost always ordered as an appetizer at any Okonomiyaki store you go to in Osaka. If you listen closely while at a Okonomiyaki restaurant in Osaka at other people ordering, they will definitely order this dish first before deciding on the Okonomiyaki. The Tonpei Yaki is a like a rolled up egg pancake with pork and Okonomiyaki sauce. Though it might not be the perfect appetizer for some people since the flavour will be the same as the main dish you will be getting (Okonomiyaki), but if you want to eat what the locals eat and experience the lives of local people then you should try it.

Tonpei yaki