Totemo Ramen — Restaurant in Stockholm

The food is actually a 4/5 but I give them a 5 because it's the best available in Stockholm, before there was one other ramen place that was ok but it is no longer ok. If you want ramen in Stockholm this is your only option as far as I am concerned. Also they say they use organic ingredients and that also deserves extra points.

As for food quality it's like a average to decent ramen place in Tokyo, nothing special but miles better that whatever other places in Stockholm call ramen on their menu. If you want authentic tasting ramen this place delivers, if you want something else I can't help you.

The place is crammed and seating not so comfortable but there is a hook under the bar where you can hang your stuff (at least that is authentic too) and it takes a long time to get your food so better come when they open if you want to avoid lines, if you are not first: don't be in a hurry there is one guy making all the food and he makes it slowly, I kinda like that he takes his good time and make each bowl as well as he can but can be infuriating if you are in a hurry, don't go here if you are in a hurry. Quite remarkable since in Tokyo there is often a team making ramen if you go to a decent spot.

Observe they have strange opening hours, check if they are even open the day you want to go there.

I think they only take card payment for some reason and it's a bit expensive, but everything is expensive in Stockholm and they don't really have a competition so there is that. You will want to add an egg to your ramen, that costs extra. They are not authentic in the way that a Tokyo ramen place will ask you how well done you want your noodles and how salty they broth should be... These guys won't ask you just give you a average cooked level and a average salt level.

The ramen is quite average, tried both spicy miso and tokyo ramen, tokyo ramen is the most authentic but the spicy miso tastes better to me, and dont worry its also authentic tasting and spicy according to japan-levels (not spicy at all).

If you need/want to try ramen in Stockholm for some reason, this is your only option as far as I have tasted. But it is a average ramen if you compare to say, a Tokyo experience. It tastes authentic and that is remarkable since it is in Sweden and I never seen a Japanese person work there, but that doesn't matter they know...

Ramen done right!

Having made a return trip to Japan earlier this year, one of the best experiences I had was going into a restaurant and enjoying a great bowl of ramen. When I got back to Stockholm, I had looked around for good ramen places, but what I would were only a few restaurants all with varying degrees of quality. Some places had a decent focus on ramen (and the quality was only okay), and other treated ramen as an afterthought alongside dozens of other menu items. None of these options ever brought back that feeling of getting through a huge bowl of ramen and then delightfully slurping up the broth in the bowl.

Enter Totemo Ramen.

I had the pleasure to visit Totemo yesterday for a Sunday lunch of ramen. I arrived 5 minutes early and I was already the third in line (important because they can only really seat 12 people at a time). I had the Niboshi Ramen with an marinated egg and extra pork. The noodles, made by hand, were excellently prepared and held up against the broth (not becoming too soggy). The pork was perfectly cooked and seasoned. And for me, it was the marinated egg that took me back to the memories of the ramem shop in Japan earlier this year.

It wasn't just good, it was delicious. It wasn't just ramen, it was ramen done right.

Unlike in the ramen shops I have eaten at when in Japan, the place is too small to have private booths to enjoy your ramen. So being too polite to slurp my broth in front everyone else, they luckily provide a soup-style spoon...

I ordered the spicy miso ramen with extra noodles, and I can not recommend you do the same. The noodles and pork were fine, from a consistency standpoint. Toppings were fine and the presentation of the bowl was nice.

So, the broth. It’s smooth and fat, which is fine by me. Some of my favorite bowls in Japan have been incredibly fat. But this broth was simply completely flavorless. Adding insult to injury, the pork lacked flavor as well.

It’s surprising to me because according to Totemo’s Instagram account; the owners seem to have eaten the incredibly tasty spicy miso ramen at Ryu Shanghai Honten in the Yokohama Ramen Museum. So they definitely know what an incredible bowl of miso ramen tastes like, but this is not it. I’m not judging the bowl by the expectations of a great bowl in Japan. It’s simply not good, and I believe non-aficionados will not find it very notable either.

I’m not under the illusion that I’ll deter anyone from patronizing this place. The restaurant does have the equipment necessary to prepare great ramen, so who knows, they may improve. Supposedly, their shoyu is better. But as they say,...