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At every tourist attraction, people will get hungry, so there is always a restaurant somewhere, usually something quick and cheap, so families can get on with sightseeing and save their money for the gifts they need to take back to friends, family and workmates back home. Here at Yoshimi Hyakettsu (Yoshimi "100 caves"), there was a small family run restaurant which had run out of everything on this chilly spring day except hiyashi udon - cold udon noodles. Udon are a thick white noodle made from wheat flour. They are normally served in a hot soup, but in summer they can also be eaten cold with a soy based dipping sauce on the side. Here you see the noodles, sauce and wasabi, chilli and ginger to be optionally added to the sauce.

Udon are not the only noodles eaten cold. Zaru soba (buckwheat noodles on a bamboo mat) is another popular dish, as is hiyashi chuka (cold ramen noodles). Harusame (rice or bean vermicelli) is another noodle that is commonly eaten cold in Japan and elsewhere.

There are many types of noodle in Japan. Fat, thin, white, yellow, brown, served in hot soup, with cold sauce or fried. Kishimen is a flat semi-transparent white noodle from Aichi, in this case served in a hot soup with mochi (rice cakes), fish balls and nori (seaweed). The restaurant was conveyer-belt style, only instead of a conveyer belt, there was a narrow moat with a continuous stream of bowls floating around with customers' orders on them.

Ramen is a popular noodle dish in Japan. The soups vary greatly, and are the chefs' closely guarded secrets. This particular ramen shop in Omiya had been opened as part of a TV competition to find the region's best ramen chef.

First prize in the competition was the restaurant, and a points board outside keeps track of who is selling the most ramen. Each chef was responsible for one flavour of soup. As there were four of us, we tried one of each. Each bowl of ramen cost ¥630, or ¥730 with egg added.

ラーメン屋サーチ

醤油ラーメン - Shoyu Ramen

Originating in Yokohama's Chinatown as "Tang Mein", Shoyu (Soya Sauce) Ramen became popular in Tokyo when the first dedicated ramen restaurant was opened in Asakusa in 1911. It caught on quickly, and within a few years ramen chefs around the country were experimenting with their own variations, swapping the pork soup stock for chicken or fish. The classic ramen remains pork stock based, with a slice or two of Chasiu (Chinese Roast Pork) floating on top.

Shoyu Ramen Recipe

味噌ラーメン - Miso Ramen

Sapporo, 1954. Ramen Chef Morita Omiya sought to create a unique taste, different than the shoyu ramen everyone else was serving, but familiar and appealing to Japanese tastebuds. Thus was born Miso (soyabean paste) Ramen, originally associated with Sapporo, now popular worldwide.

塩ラーメン - Shio Ramen

Originating in Hakodate, Shio (salt) Ramen is the simplest and lightest of the popular variations. It's recent popularity is associated with its repuation as a healthy alternative to the other flavours, especially if the Chasiu is left out.

とんこつラーメン - Tonkotsu Ramen

Tonkotsu (pork bone) Ramen is said to have been invented by accident in 1937, when a chef in Kurume city, Fukuoka left the soup simmering too long, and the pork bones disintegrated becoming part of the soup. Luckily he tasted it before tipping it out, and a new flavour of Ramen was born. Other areas of Kyushu adapted the Tonkotsu soup in their own way, nearby Hakata (across the river from downtown Fukuoka city) becoming famous for its unique blend of thin Taiwanese noodles and Tonkotsu soup.

Although the shop in Omiya served Tonkotsu Ramen, our JR Railpass also took us as far as Hakata station one lunchtime to try the real thing at this shop recommended by a friend from Fukuoka. The ramen here cost just ǂ for plain tonkotsu ramen, or Ͱ with Chasiu (roast pork).

Tonkotsu Ramen Recipe