Bento Boxes

Grocery Stores and konbini (convenience store) usually have a selection of pre-made bento boxes that average around US$5 or less.  A large portion of rice and a selection of seafood and/or meat are usually available or you could try a refreshing zaru soba (cold soba noodles) bento in the summer.

How about a tasty selection of assorted sushi or sashimi for less that US$6?

Noodles

Hanamaru Udon (English on signs read ‘Manmaru’) is a fast food Udon (thick wheat based noodle ) chain that operates 187 restaurants throughout Japan and  serves over 2.5 millions customers each month.

Hanamaru offers an English menu, but the picture menu will suffice if you are an adventurous eater that is not afraid of a mystery ingredient or two.  If that’s not you then try the kake udon (plain, pictured above) starting around US$2 or bukake udon (with lemon) for approximately US$3 and supplement it with a selection of ala carte tempura or onigiri (rice balls) many sstarting at under US $1 per piece  The Curry Rice Set of the Beef Bowl  both include a small bowl of udon in broth and will satisfy heartier appetites for under US$6.

A tasty and filling lunch or dinner for two can be had for between US$10-15 at Hanamaru Udon.

For those who prefer ramen noodles, pop into a local shop or Ippudo Ramen and join the salarymen and women for a similar experience – this time with a pork based broth and thinner noodles all for around US$8.

Donburi

Donburi is a one bowl meal where a large portion of rice is topped with vegetables, sashimi, meat or tempura and drizzled with a savoury sauce.  My favorite is the ebi-tempura don which usually sells for around US$8.

Top it all off with a One Cup Sake that can be purchased for around US$2 and you’re all set to eat like a samurai for under US$10!

Image Credit:  Personal Collection Flickr, Cheap dinner, Ramen Museum, Yokohama, DSC_2665 & Sake, single serving.

R eally tasty food from Japan,

A vailable almost everywhere,

M eaty broth that will tantalize your taste buds,

E veryone can afford it, and it’s

N ot the same as the dried stuff you had as a kid!

When most of us think about ramen the first thing that comes to mind is the dried fast food version available in most supermarkets, even those in Japan, but the difference between the compressed dried ramen squares and ‘real’ ramen is as vast as the ocean separating Japan from the United States.

Ramen was brought to Japan from China over 300 years ago and has been personalized and perfected by chefs across Japan.  Shigemi Kawahara perfected his version of ramen in Fukuoka, specifically Hakata, and it has become famous throughout Japan, so much so that he earned the title of Ramen King  in 2005 when he was named Japan’s top Ramen Chef.

Shigemi Kawahara’s created Ippudo Ramen to share his particular brand of ramen with Japan.  Ippudo Ramen restaurants feature casual, family style dining with an open kitchen and employees that are cheerful, very enthusiastic and helpful.

Ippodo Ramen serves Hakata Style Ramen in a rich and hearty home made broth served with noodles that can be ordered firm, medium or soft.  Topped with a generous slice of yakibuta (roast pork) and personalized with your choice of toppings served ala carte at your table.

Combination meals include savory bite-sized gyoza or rice.  Additional noodles can be ordered as can other sides like fried or steamed rice.  My favorite bowl of ramen is the traditional Shiromaru Mote-aji and my husband always orders the Kiwami Shin-aji.  Click the image below to see a larger version of the Ippudo Ramen Menu.

Ippudo Ramen in Chiba (closest to my home) is not as well know as Ippudo in Ebisu and keeps much shorter hours.  It’s only open for lunch in Chiba (11AM -3PM) while the Ebisu branch stays open until 4AM.   With over 30 locations around Japan (hover over the Kanji on the map to see the area name) there is one bound to be one near you!  If you aren’t in Japan be sure to check out Ippudo New York to get yourself a super bowl of Japanese ramen.

This is my entry into this month’s Japan Blog Matsuri, hosted by Deas at Rocking in Hakata.

Image Credit:  Personal Collection & Flickr, best ramen in town!

Oscar winning animator, Hayao Miyazaki, of “Ponyo On the Cliff by the Sea” fame, spoke at a rare press conference in Tokyo at the Foreign Correspondent’s Club of Japan on November 20th.  Tony McNicol took some great photos and The Japan Times reports on the event in an article titled “An audience with Miyazaki, Japan’s animation king”

Japanese is home to 4 of the top 10 spots in a survey by London-based ECA International ranking the most expensive places for expatriates to live.  Tokyo comes in at #2 followed by Yokohama, Nagoya and Kobe.

Visit the Universal Citywalk Osaka, the shopping and entertainment complex adjacent to Universal Studios Japan to check out Japanese robot guides in action.

The Japanese are fascinated by blood types – what does your blood type say about you?  I’m apparently a strong-willed samurai.

An American chef, Ivan Orkin from New York, served delicious homemade Ramen out of his restaurant, Ivan Ramen, in Tokyo’s Setagaya ward.  I wonder if he will ever make and serve Ramen burgers?   Enjoy this video from Reuters:

To find more great articles about Japan consider joining me at JapanSoc.  If it’s about Japan and it’s being read or talked about on the internet you will find it at JapanSoc.

But exactly what is a Ramen Burger?  The bun consists of boiled ramen noodles that are baked into rounds and the restaurant then uses traditional ramen ingredients such as char siu roasted pork, menma, a condiment made from dried bamboo, and naruto sliced fish cake to make a patty that that is sandwiched between the ramen noodle bun after being topped with a shoyu (soy sauce) based sauce.

Furusato-tei, located within the Kita no Sato roadside service area in Kitakata, started selling ramen burgers on October 25th for Y350 each.  They are only able to make 20-30 burgers a day because the process of making the ramen buns is quite time consuming but so far Ramen Burgers are a big hit!  If you don’t get there early there is a good chance that Furusato-tei will have sold out!

“While the first bite of the baked noodles can be crunchy, you soon begin to feel like you are slurping up ramen noodles”

Source:  Asahi Shimbum, Ramen burger features tasty buns

Traditional ramen is one of the good things about Japan but Ramen Burgers are just a little bit different – would you like to try one?   I can’t imagine a more unusual use for ramen…can you?

Read about more cheap eats in Japan or browse for other regional foods from Japan.

Image credit:  Wikimedia, Fresh ramen noodle