Hakata Daruma — Restaurant in Fukuoka

We were in Fukuoka and obviously had to try the local flavour of ramen - Hakata style. While reviewing a few stalls online, we found Hakata Daruma closer to where we stayed and it had decent reviews too. While we were queueing up, we could smell the aroma of the broth, yummy!

Since we were quite late after lunch time, we were seated in less than 10 minutes. We bought tickets at the machine and you could inform the staff of the texture of the noodles, I just went with normal firmness. Ramen was served in about 5 minutes and you could smell the garlic, the overall flavour and smell was quite strong. I liked the fact that the bowl was full to the brim and the plate it was served in was stainless steel, that gave me a homely feel :)

Chashu pieces were huge but was a bit hard texture for my liking, but I was told this was the way it's prepared here. Ramen in Japan obviously has a lot of salt in it, so if you're averse, inform the staff beforehand to go easy with the salt. I didn't, and I was drinking water every 15 minutes for the rest of the day! The noodles were thin and firm, I really liked the texture, it paired very well with the broth. As mentioned earlier, the broth was a bit thick and extremely flavourful - I could feel the taste for the next few hours. Being a ramen fanatic, I obviously didn't leave a drop in the bowl - as evident from the picture of the empty bowl :)

So overall, perhaps not the best ramen I've had, but a decent introduction to Hakata...

Was tired after walking the whole day and wanted something hot and soupy and easy to digest after the fabulous sashimi semi buffet we had in the afternoon. Decided on hakata aka tonkatsu ramen place near our hotel.

Took awhile to get the hang of the self-service ordering machine but it was quite intuitive. Only complaint was that it didn't give much time for me to decide what else to order as side dish and I only had time to order an additional raw egg before it booted me out and gave me the change.

The comments that it was strongly porky was spot on though we didn't find it overly strong. Excellent soup stock although Noddles could perhaps be abit firmer but that's just me while my partner found it perfectly al dente.

Quite value for money and tasty in all senses. Like that they provided cold water although it was self service.

Would definitely go back again if I have the ramen hunger.

4.5 stars with half a star deducted because it didn't have many other side dishes to...

博多だるまの二代目大将河原秀人さんのSNSで告知されていた博多だるまの59周年祭。 限定ラーメンが二種類ある上にフリードランク、更に盛沢山なイベントがあって二千円ポッキリな還元イベントとくれば、それは早めに仕事終わらせて駆けつけるしかないと12月6日17時半頃に博多だるま総本店に伺いました。 この日は夜はこのイベントの為に通常営業は休みで貸し切り状態。

中に入って先にお金を支払って会場を拝見すると、いくつか席はあるけど基本的には立食形式でDJブースもあり、枝豆と唐揚げ、おつまみ系のお菓子が置いてあります。 そして参加してる面子が流石というかラーメン屋さん、インフルエンサーが多い！ 知っている方にはご挨拶しつつ基本的には端の方にいて眺めていたら、まずは河原秀人さんからのご挨拶、そして今回博多だるまがFUKUOKA...