Shin Shin — Restaurant in Fukuoka

Fantastic ramen! One of the better places I've been to in Japan. The ramen has finer noodles than most places; the basic variation comes with tonkatsu and green onions. There menu has options for "Ramen with Grilled pork fillet" and "Ramen with Green onions", this just means extra pork slices and extra green onions. I also opted for a soft boiled egg for ¥100 extra.

The ramen was delicious and very flavorful. It's not too rich because the last bite is as tasty as the first. The pork tonkatsu slices were meaty and of good quality, if your hungry definitely opt for the extra slices!!

We ordered the gyoza, or "handmade bite size dumplings" as they list it on the menu, for an appetizer. They were good, but nothing out of the ordinary.

When I finished my ramen I was still hungry and ordered the Champon. This is a soup dish with thicker noodles, lots of vegetables, some seafood, and thin pork slices. The broth is the same as the ramen dish. They also have a variation where they add miso. I might try that one next time. If you only have one visit to shin-shin, get the ramen, but the Champon is very good to try on another visit.

The restaurant has four or five tables that can sit up to five people max and then about ten bar stool seats, so it seats a lot of people. There is often a line up, but the line moved quite quickly. The staff was super friendly and our waiter spoke pretty good English. Definitely give this place a try if you...

I can see why people comment on long waiting times. This place is so 'covered' by youtubers and such, that it is a must-visit place for tourists. So if you go with more that 2 people, get ready to wait... Not a problem for us, as a 2 we only waited 10 mins or so at prime-time. And it was worth the wait. This was the real deal, super-porky tonkotsu broth, with a thin noodle (choose your firmness), and a pile of melt in your mouth Charsiu. Add a couple aji-tama and some kikurage to complete the package. Very satisfying, you can't help but finish every bite and sip. I denied myself the Kaedama (extra serving of noodles), but if you are really hungry, go for it, maybe try a different noodle firmness. As for most ramen shops, this is not a place to linger after your meal. Eat and get the hell out! Which is what we did. So the whole experience was about 20 mins. Would do it again in a heartbeat. Thankfully no smoking in this...

The beauty of striking the right balance.

I arrived at the restaurant on a Saturday morning around 11:30 am, and the wait was approximately 40 minutes. Despite the long queue, the customer turnover was quick. They even rented sunshades to shield people from the strong sunshine while waiting.

The ramen I ordered was a traditional Tonkotsu (pork broth) ramen with extra thin noodles, scallions, eggs, and slices of chashu. The soup had a perfect balance, neither too heavy nor lacking in flavor. The thin noodles carried the soup's flavors beautifully. The eggs and chashu were cooked to perfection and complemented each other wonderfully.

The gyoza was well-seasoned, so dipping it into gyoza sauce wasn't necessary. However, I added some chili from the counter they provided to give it an extra kick.

Overall, it was a satisfying ramen experience where everything was...