We could not resist the temptation to have big bowls of ramen the moment we stepped out of Meiji Jingu. If you are in Tokyo, you got to have ramen, a bit like an initiation into all things Japanese...
We saw an outlet of Ramen Tomirai a short walk away from Meiji Jingu, in the Yoyogi area of Shibuya, and we stepped in...
Neat and everything meticulously laid out - that's what characterizes a Japanese restaurant...
The addiction to cellphones is big here...
Condiments...
Fresh ginger and peppers...
And then came our bowls of ramen...
For the uninitiated, ramen is a hearty noodle-broth - the broth is a meat or fish-based broth, flavored with soya sauce or miso, and with toppings of sliced pork, dried seaweed, bamboo shots, bean sprouts, boiled eggs with congealed yolk and green onions. Every region in Japan has its own variation of ramen. The typical variants of ramen are shoyu (soya), miso, shio (salt) and curry.
It is believed that ramen originated in China and made its way over to Japan in 1859. The word ramen is a Japanese transcription of the Chinese lamian (a Chinese noodle). In 1910, a Chinese restaurant started serving ramen in at Yokohama's Chinatown received public praise in Japan. And gradually, it gained popularity through the country, reaching a crescendo after the end of the Second World War.
Cheap flour imported from the United States swept the Japanese market, making noodles cheap. At the same time, millions of Japanese troops had returned from China and South East Asia. They had become familiar with Chinese cuisine and set up ramen restaurants across Japan.
In 1958, instant ramen were invented by a Taiwanese-Japanese, Momofuku Ando, the founder and chairman of Nissin Foods. And this got named as the greatest Japanese invention of the 20th century in a Japanese poll. And soon, ramen became a Japanese cultural icon around the world. You may not believe it - there is a ramen museum that opened in Yokohama in 1994.
And there is our hearty bowl of miso ramen with chashu - barbecued pork...
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