ラーメン路地 (Ramen Alley)

I’m in Sapporo!

Like every city in Japan, Sapporo has many culinary specialties.  Because it’s so far north, Sapporo produces some of the world’s most delicious cold-water seafood – such as uni (sea urchin), ikura (salmon roe), and kani (crab).  And keep in mind that these are not your puny blue crabs – (Doug, they’re not that great).  No, these are more like Alaskan king crab (because Alaska and Hokkaido have similar climates), with legs sometimes reaching 6 feet in length.

But one of Sapporo’s most delectable specialties has nothing to do with seafood –  RAMEN (ラーメン).  Let me clarify something for a minute – ramen is a soup, with broth made from natural products (usually salt, soy sauce, miso, or pork) with fresh Chinese-style noodles made from eggs.  A bowl of ramen is usually topped with any or all of the following; a slice of pork belly, menma (fermented bamboo shoots), scallions, a soft-boiled egg, kameboko (fishcake) and seaweed.  All these flavors sing together in a beautiful harmony that dazzles the taste buds.

(By the way, instant ramen is not real ramen – please keep them categorized by “instant ramen” and “ramen”.)

Each region in Japan has their own local ramen specialty.  For example, Fukuoka favors a pork-based broth while Tokyo prefers a broth crafted from soy sauce and chicken stock.  Sapporo’s ramen is a miso broth, often topped with butter and sweet corn.  And one of the most famous places to get this ramen is a place known as “Ramen Alley” or ラーメン路地 .

Although this is a tourist attraction, it still is (in every sense of the word) an alley.  Housing about a dozen tiny shops, the alley is crowded, dark, and dank.  And thankfully the delicious smell of ramen wafting out of the shops overpowers the disgusting smell of urine courtesy of the wasted late night patrons.

We easily selected our ramen place out of tiny dozen places that are crammed together in this little alley.  We decided on  味の華龍 (Aji No Karyu Ramen) because as discussed in my previous post Anthony Bourdain “came to the here” and so must I.

The restaurant was packed with about fifteen seats in all, most of them bar stools clustered around the counter.  I did my best to stuff my long gangly gaijin legs under the counter.  Neither of the two chefs spoke a lick of English, so I ordered in Japanese – two bowls of miso ramen (one for me and one for Jo and Maya to split).

The ramen was some of the best I’ve ever had.  The broth was salty, but it didn’t overwhelm the other subtle flavors.  The slice of pork belly on top was fatty and delicious.  The fresh hand-made noodles were the perfect texture – not mushy at all.  Unfortunately, photos weren’t allowed in the tiny shop, so I didn’t get any pics.

As of right now, there are three of us – Jo, Maya and me.  But in a few days, two more will join our numbers – Doug and my cousin Leo.  When the rest of our party arrives, we will surely take a trip back to 味の華龍.  And when we do, we will feast upon what you see below: