Ichiran Ramen Dotonbori - Main Building — Restaurant in Osaka

In the more traditional sense of Japanese culture, you – as a guest or a customer – are so honourable that wait-staff should be able to understand what you want, without you having to speak a word. Perhaps that’s why interaction is kept to a minimum when it comes to dining preferences in Tokyo. However, the origin of Ichiran Ramen was that, when the restaurant owner was a young student, he noticed his female school-mates being conscious about eating and slurping ramen in public. Hence, he came up with this concept for ramen booths – to offer privacy for people to eat ramen.

At Ichiran Ramen, you place orders via machines and paper forms. It might seem a bit overwhelming at first, but there was actually a host waitress at the entrance during our visit. She was ready to guide us with orders, and to advise our seating.

Ichiran Ramen only serves one choice of tonkatsu-based soup, but you can customize your preferred bowl of ramen to some extent. You get to choose the richness of the soup, some of the ingredients like garlic and onions, firmness of the noodles, and how spicy you want it to be.

Ichiran Ramen’s prices are on par or slightly higher than many ramen eateries you’ll find in Tokyo, but way cheaper than any established ramen restaurants in Singapore. For 890yen (S$11, USD$8), you get the basic bowl, while adding a soft-boiled egg will cost your order to total 1020yen (S$12+, USD$9+).

Other than the unique dining experience, Ichiran Ramen is also well-received because of its spicy red sauce. It’s made of 30 different kinds of ingredients – so much work goes into the sauce! The ramen was tasty and authentic. If you order with the egg, peel the shell off then add it to your soup. The egg, unfortunately, lacked the excellent Japanese standard of a...

Ichiran was one of my favorite Ramen experiences during my vacation in Japan. Interesting and the Ramen is as good as it gets!

Ichiran Service & Ambiance: After informing the host of our party size, we were escorted through a back entrance, up a flight of steep stairs to arrive at a kiosk. At the Kiosk, you'll pay and customize your Ramen order, add any extras and your beverages. The staff was there to help if you required assistance. After your meal and tickets are disbursed, you are lead to the dining area. The servers that bring your ramen and drinks are friendly and extremely polite. You'll sit in your own personal cubicle dining area that has hot water dispenser for tea. There's a bamboo screen in front of you. This lifts up when the server brings your Ramen and drinks. My favorite part is when you put a dish on the pressure pad for extra noodles, horns blow, screen goes up and soon you're reloaded with more fresh noodles. There's only 20 seats per room, which makes this unique dining experience very intimate.

Ichiran Ramen: This is one of the best Ramen bowls I've had in awhile. The noodles were fresh and tasty, so I had to put it an extra order. The broth was delicious and the consistency was perfect. Add the egg, it works with ramen in my opinion. Great times

We knew that Ichiran is popular and lines were inevitable at popular dining times. We went at 2:30 PM and we didn't encounter any lines at all. The experience but especially the Ramen will get me back here on my next Japan visit. This is definitely a Ramen experience to check...

Very good ramen here. Soup is creamy, garlicky and spicy while the pork is tasty and tender. They usually have a long line most of the time.

While in line they give you two pieces of paper so you can personalize your ramen by encircling how spicy you want the soup, how the noodles are cooked (firm, medium, soft, etc). You can also indicate extea orders of porl slices, soft boiled eggs, etc.

Then they lead you up to the door of the restaurant where you will need to insert money and then punch in your order in a machine. For example, punch in ramen, and the extra orders. The machine will give you a meal ticket and your change. You are then escorted up another floor to the dining area: rows of cubicles where you can eat in solitude (although you can remove the side panel of the cubicles if you are with someone. The spaces at the back allows you to hang jackets and place your bags.

Once seated the blinds in front will open and a waiting staff will take the ticket and the papers which you encircled. On the left is a faucet where you can get water. There is a buzzer in front in case you need the server. Once the ramen is...