I LOVE RAMEN!!!

As I've said before, and I'll definitely say it many more times for the foreseeable future, Japan does food absolutely right. And one of the dishes they completely own is Ramen. One of the joys in my life is tucking into a nice, big bowl of tasty, porky, oily bowl of noodles. I know that may sound unappealing, but it's not. Despite its Chinese origins, once the Japanese got their hands on it, they totally made it their own and now, food wise, it's synonymous with the name Japan. It baffles me that some Americans still think of ramen as just a brittle block of pre-fried noodles only available in a little plastic bag bought at a local grocery store for pennies.

Why would I go out and pay 7 bucks for what I can buy for 30¢ and prepare myself? Enjoy your pricy ramen, loser!

2012 was a pretty big ramen year for me. While I traveled to Tokyo over the summer every chance I got I went for a big bowl of ramen.

Pictures of all the ramen I ate in Japan. I swear I did other things while I was there.... I think. 

Living in L.A., it used to be near impossible to find a good ramen place. There were always a lot open, but few, if any, were something that could have been considered anything near good. But over the last couple pf years, L.A. has stepped up their game and we're currently in something of a ramen revolution. Some times they get it quite right:

They may look similar, but trust me, they're different. Look at the egg in the first one and compare it to the last one. See? Different.

And sometimes they get it horribly wrong:

Okay, I know what you're thinking, it's indistinguishable from all the others, but... oh screw it. They all look the same.

The name of this place was... whatever, it's closed down now anyway. Which has proven to me that if I find a bowl of ramen unsatisfactory, that shop closes down. That's right, this town's ramen shops  live or die on my taste buds!

Ramen comes in many types of soup bases like Tonkotsu (豚骨 pork bone broth), Shoyu (醤油 soy sauce), Miso (みそ) and Shio (塩 salt). I've recently read of strawberry milk ramen, pineapple ramen and milk flavored broth ramen. And a while back on a Japanese television program I even saw ramen lined with lemons. My personal favorite is tonkotsu ramen with the noodles on the hard side. What's your favorite?

Here's a couple of links to some of my favorite ramen joints:

JAPAN:
Ippudo Ramen
Ichiran Ramen

LOS ANGELES:
Tsujita
Shinsengumi
Men Oh Tokushima Ramen

And here's a great blog all about ramen:
Rameniac