Yoshimuraya — Restaurant in Yokohama

While living in Yokohama, I had numerous chances to dine around and discover the depth the "ie-kei" Yokohama ramen style - Yoshimuraya is hands down the best I had the chance at.

"Ie-kei" itself is a pork broth/soy sauce mixture served with straight noodles, seaweed, green onion, slow-braised and spiced pork, and hard-boiled egg. At Yoshmuraya, you purchase a token outside from the vending machine (whether it is bilingual at this point, I do not honestly know) outside and then join the line. If you want additional anything, it will be listed on the machine as well - eggs, pork, extra noodles, and more.

When you are waved to enter, you tell the staff member who is working the front how many are in your party (if you don't speak Japanese, you can use your hand and hold up fingers). You will be directed where to sit. Do not sit elsewhere, and do not complain about where you are seated - no one is will be idle enough to listen to you complain. There will be a water station near the entrance, which you can grab a glass from once you've situated yourself.

Place your tags from the machine in a visible place and someone will collect them to get your order started in the kitchen, that is, right in your view. You can specify how you would like your noodles (soft, regular, firm) and how much broth or oil to add as well. There are also extra toppings at your seat, such as ginger, soy sauce, or shichimi.

You will see everything, going on in the kitchen but more importantly, you will see the absolute seriousness being put on display by all members of the staff. Once you are seated, it shouldn't be more than ten minutes (usually less) before you have food.

Before you do anything else, try the broth as is first. Ie-kei is a broth-forward ramen, choosing to put the simple ingredients as accouterments to the soup. It is honestly a fine choice to just leave it unadultered, but a bit of shichimi or even some extra oil might be to your liking.

When you finish, leave your bowl at your place and walk out, it will be collected for you.

Mind, this is not a restaurant to hang around when your group is finished. You won't really hear much of the buzz of chatter alongside you and the turnover for customers is rapid. If you have pressing business to attend to over a meal, maybe an izakaya might be a better fit. If you want impressive ramen however, Yoshimuraya will...

Well, for some reason, I can't drop a video here, but let me tell you about Yoshimuraya. This place had the longest line I've ever seen—starting at the shop and snaking all the way around the building. Two and a half hours of waiting, no fancy digital waiting lists, just pure, old-school, stand-in-line suffering. We checked back three times, and finally, around 5 PM, the wait shrank to a mere 40 minutes. Practically instant ramen speed at that point.

Yoshimuraya? Different beast entirely. Before we even get to the ramen, let’s talk about the ordering process—because it’s not your standard "point and slurp" situation. Do yourself a favor: Google it, YouTube it, consult the ramen elders. Trying to explain their system and the army of garnishes on the counter? That’s an odyssey. Also, when they say "no photos," they mean it. Six chefs behind the counter, watching your every move like ramen bouncers. Go ahead, try sneaking a pic—I dare you.

Now, let’s talk about the ramen. Their Iekei ramen? Life-changing. It doesn’t just take you to Japan—it takes you to another Japan, one where ramen is holy and the broth flows like divine nectar. Normally, I’m not big on seaweed in ramen, but here? The noodles practically beg for that big, black seaweed hug, and who am I to deny them? They belong together. Easily the best bowl of ramen on my trip—though there is another contender for the crown, but that’s a story for another day.

As a teenager, I used to watch Mr. Yoshimura’s show in Japan. You should look it up on YouTube—it’s just as legendary as his ramen. Making a pilgrimage to Yokohama for a bowl of noodles invented by a loud, angry ramen king? Absolutely worth it. Now, I can finally cross that off my bucket list and move on to, I don’t know, saving whales or something...

As supposedly the originator of Yokohama-style ramen, I had to give this place a try. And I was very happily pleased.

I ordered the medium size chashu ramen, at 950¥. It would definitely be considered the large size at almost any other ramen shop (save for maybe Jiro). What an amazing bowl of delicious tonkotsu ramen, that was extremely rich with flavor and not significantly fatty. The staff run like a well-oiled machine, moving along at a solid pace, each doing their specific task. It's a great sight to see the open kitchen work and deliver you your specific order in a timely manner. The smell, the atmosphere.. I was already hungry for my meal before it even came, though I already had a small meal beforehand! Perhaps giving even more credence to the meal; it was not hunger that clouded this review.

Things I had issue with, but I opted not to ding them a star for: 1) the chashu was a bit firmer than I wanted 2) while I am usually a fast eater, the patrons around me finished quicker than I did, and I could really sense they wanted my space. To be fair, it was past their official close time and they still had a line. 3) while they usually ask for options to customize the ramen, they only asked for noodle firmness. As mentioned, it was already past closing by the time I moved to the front of the line. So those three points really I can't blame them for.

All in all, an excellent choice for a hearty,...