Hachiya Ramen — Restaurant in Asahikawa

Chill place, way more spacious than your average ramen place, no line at 5:15pm on a late-Dec Sunday. No English (I spoke Japanese) but if you can read hiragana you’ll be fine ordering from the machine (or just press the BIG top/first button, it’s their signature shoyu ramen). Once you’re seated they also ask (very quickly) if you want more oil (abura), just say “normaru” or something.

On the controversial ramen itself: I liked the broth, it tastes like those browned near-burnt bits at the bottom of a roast pig tray, and I loved that. The chashu was very basic (thin and dry, maybe because they extract the fat/umami into the broth?) and the bowl had A TON of noodles that were ok but nothing to write home about, so I actually drank all the soup and left most of the noodles/chashu in (which I’d never done before). Can’t fault them much for it since it’s unnecessary to excel at absolutely everything, and bland noodles/chashu are arguably a good fit for such an overpowering broth. Would recommend to any ramen/cooking enthusiasts who can take oily stuff minimally well, it’s a unique take on ramen broth and using browned pig fat in soup like this is a good...

We were able to enter without lining up, but the inside of the store was full. There were no counter seats, only table seats. I ordered the Shio ramen (800 yen) with the Hachiya original Kogashi lard. Spicy black soup bite!! Kogara lard mixed with soup has a creamy mouthfeel, entwined well with thin noodles, char siu is thinly sliced ​​but chewy, and the more you chew it, the more delicious it tastes today When I drank soup, the thank you letter was written on the bottom...

I'm a big fan of ramen and I got a tip from a local that Hachiya Ramen's shoyu ramen is a must try. I have to confirm... it's true.

However, the architecture of the restaurant needs to go along with the "traditional" look of the street where it is tucked in to. It simply looks too modern while as the yakiniku restaurants around it all has that wooden facade that gives it the Showa feel.

Regardless, I highly recommend this restaurant if you are on a food trip...