Santōka Biei-ten — Restaurant in Biei

Our day trip to Shirogane Blue Pond brought us here, courtesy of our private tour guide. I’m familiar with this Hokkaido-born chain as I tried them in Honolulu in 2016.

ATMOSPHERE: The a/c was broken or not on, so it was toasty inside. All-booth seating surrounds the open-view kitchen.

MENU: Ramen in four broths (shio, shoyu, miso, tonkotsu), typical sides & rice bowls.

FOOD: Shio Ramen - $6.48 Shio, or salt broth, always sounded boring to me, but when it’s recommended and is the house’s specialty, I had to try it. Salt is sprinkled in the bowl, followed by their signature broth trifecta of chicken, pork & vegetable. Opaque in color, it reminded me of tonkotsu, which I don’t care for, but the taste was outstanding! Slightly creamy, savory and not heavy. I added a deliciously gooey tamago. Included toppings were bamboo, wood ear mushrooms, tender chashu, fishcake and an ume, which was a nice touch.

SERVICE: All were friendly and the piping hot bowls for our party of 9 came out lickety-split.

OVERALL: The wonderful world of ramen will never...

I came from Canada and while I've had Santouka there it just does not compare to the real deal in biei, Hokkaido. The chasiu was just mind blowing, and was perhaps one of the best during my 2 week stay in Hokkaido. The tenderness was matched only by the perfect marbling of this piece of pork. I should've gotten the...

Ramen restaurant in Biei central. Because Santoga ”山頭火” is spreading to overseas these days, you would have this ramen even in north America. But it is very good for you to have the ramen in original area, in Hokkaido. This restaurant faces R237, and has enough...