ICHIRAN Sapporo Susukino — Restaurant in Sapporo

Best ramen place for antisocial people!

So you line up, then an attendant asks how many seats. Then you are told to order on a computer screen, and pay there as well. Then you line up again until seats for you and your party open up. You will likely be seated next to each other, maybe in groups of two if it's busy. Your seat is a tiny booth, like a voting booth, complete with privacy walls and your own water dispenser. Before you can Google Translate all the signs in front of you, the roll-up curtain opens, and your meal is stealthily delivered. Because of this solitary confinement, you tend to complete ingestion of your ramen in ten minutes or less, depending on how quickly you peel that boiled egg. When done, you just get up and leave.

The ramen wasn't "mind-blasting" as Russell Peters would say. I've had equally tasty, if not better tasting ramen in PDX. Broth was yummy, noodles were perfectly tender, but the pork was kinda meh. Not too bad overall, but being in Sapporo, the bowl deserved a one-star deduction.

I came with my wife and friends, so not being able to experience a meal with them meant...

Visit 1: The food at Ichiran is great. Although there is only one type of ramen (tonkotsu ramen from Hakata, Fukuoka), people can customise what flavours they want in their ramen, such as the intensity of the broth, the amount of spice, or the saltiness level. It is also a silent restaurant, meaning that staff do not interact with customers, and they will get their ramen through a closed curtain wall. The only downside to Ichiran is that there are no sides to enjoy with the ramen such as gyozas. However, I still think Ichiran is a great place to eat ramen.

Visit 2/3: Although there is a lack of sides, the ramen and the flavour makes up for it. The ability to select different options of the ramen (e.g. the intensity of the broth, the addition of pork chashu, green onions and spiciness as well as the thickness of the noodles) helps personalise the experience at Ichiran. There is also the ability to add extra items to the ramen (e.g. a soft-boiled egg). The addition of 替え玉 (kaedama/extra noodles) makes up for the lack of sides, as it will fill you up. Therefore, I highly recommend people...

While the food at Ichiran Ramen is undeniably delicious, the service leaves much to be desired. My experience was ruined by how the staff handled a simple situation. I was filming myself eating for personal memories, but a staff member interrupted me, showing a sign saying YouTube filming is prohibited. I explained in simple English that it wasn’t for YouTube, yet they returned with another staff member and continued to harass me, insisting I was filming for YouTube.

To make matters worse, they couldn’t even speak basic English and kept throwing out confusing words like "store information" and "initiatives," none of which made sense in the context. Instead of leaving me in peace, they persisted until my wife intervened by writing the explanation down. Only then did they seem to give up or finally understand.

This unpleasant interaction completely overshadowed the quality of the food. If you're looking for good ramen but also want to enjoy your meal without being unnecessarily bothered, I’d recommend...