Asahikawa Ramen Baikōken Asahikawa-honten — Restaurant in Asahikawa

We were excited to try Baikoken’s award-winning ramen, having read that they had won first prize in the Asahikawa Ramen Awards.

We went for the shoryu ramen. The soup was rich and flavorful, with a bold shoryu base that I could clearly taste. However, after a few more sips, it became a bit too salty for my taste. It also started to feel a bit repetitive, or perhaps predictable. There were no surprises in terms of the broth’s taste, and that, to me, was rather disappointing.

The chashu was tender and soft, which was great. However, the seasoning was too strong and sophisticated for my liking. It’s a shame that the chashu felt slightly overseasoned, but otherwise it was excellent.

On the positive side, the noodles were perfect. They were smooth, bouncy, and chewy.

In my opinion, Baikoken didn’t quite live up to the hype. I wouldn’t award them first prize in the Asahikawa Ramen Awards! However, I still found their ramen to be a solid bowl. It was way above average, and I can see why it’s popular. Perhaps I’m just not a fan of shoryu ramen! If you’re in Asahikawa, I’d recommend visiting Baikoken. They’re quite popular and have a reputation as the...

Baikohken Ramen

The ramen shop is tucked away at the basement of a building which can be easily missed if you’re not paying attention to the signboard.

It’s a simple cosy shop where the walls are decorated with autographs of celebrities who had graced the shop.

We were very eager to try Baikouken’s ramen as they were awarded first place in the Asahikawa Ramen Award.

We had the shoyu ramen, of course. The soup was taste upon first sip, with a deep bold flavour imparted by the shoyu. However, after several more sips, the soup became too salty for my liking.

Despite the wonderful soft and tender texture of the char siew, it was overly seasoned with salt, and weirdly tasted like corned beef, which just ruined the dish.

The only thing I liked was the noodle as it didn’t reek of ammonia and had a better texture than the rest I’ve tried so far.

Even though they had gotten top prize for the award, the bowl of ramen I had wasn’t top quality, which is why I’m only awarding...

Very very good ramen! I got the shouyu ramen which is the soy sauce based one. The flavor of the stock is great! The soy sauce doesn't overcome not even a bit the pork flavor in the stock.

I usually prefer thick noodles but in this case even with thin ones the dish was great, totally recommended.

I tried a bit of the miso one and it is also quite good but for me, the miso kind of hides the richness of the pork flavor in the stock.

First time I go there but it is already on my top 5! And I have...