Bannai Shokudo — Restaurant in Kitakata

This is one of the most famous Kitakata-style ramen shops with long lines even before the shop’s opening at 10am. I waited about an hour in the summer heat to order from their simple menu, all focusing on the local specialty. I opted for their large Negi Chashu at 1200￥.

The noodles were indeed the local style and were soft, wavy, and really scooped broth into my eager mouth. The medium-light broth was salty and had a bit of savory meaty taste which really distinguishes it from other simple shio soups. (It actually reminds me of some Chinese noodle soups in a way.) The chashu portion was good, each slice were super soft and thin, complementing the lighter profile broth.

I could definitely see why this local establishment is so famous...

Pretty much the best ramen I had in my 21 days in Japan. The charsiew ramen was about 1100 yen for 10 succulent pieces of charsiew. The kind you press against the roof of your mouth and it just disintegrates into flavour. I still can't describe the taste because I've never had anything like it

The porky broth may be too light for some hardcore ramen fans but for me it was perfect. Service was great and it was an open kitchen so seeing your ramen get put together and served to you enhanced the experience.

You can add chili flakes, chili oil, black and white pepper and vinegar to...

Very simple but surprisingly delicious Ramen. It is said that this restaurant is the first Kitakata Ramen (need to verify) in Japan.

The queue is long, but Ramen is prepared quickly and no one is going to stay long in a Ramen shop, so most likely people may wait no more than 30 min. But depends on the day I guess.

(If you don’t want to wait for too long, the ramen shop side by side with them...