FUKUOKA: Ichiran Original/Main store 一蘭本社総本店（九州)

I'm 3 days behind my blogging schedule already! Ohno! And it's really stressful when you have a manager ( Nick lol) breathing down your Neck going " Eh, you haven't blogged for a long time already ah? " 

Wah, but you know how travelling and eating can be quite tiring? By the time I retreat back to the hotel I was just relax on the bed and then I fall asleep hahahaha. okay excuses. I shall aim to blog during every shinkansen ride instead of falling asleep. 

I've never really been a tonkatsu ramen fan, I believe my first encounter with ramen was Ippudo, and while it was REALLY tasty the first few bites, after drinking more than half the soup, I was like urghhhh okay feels very rich, I feel unwell. 

Then everybody was raving about Ichiran, and so I decided to give it a try, and goodness, the broth was richer than Ippudo and indigestion was induced almost instantly after I ended the meal. 

And that ended my adventures with Tonkatsu ramen UNTIL I was introduced to Mutekiya Ramen in Ikebukero Tokyo ( click to read)  - In summary, Mutekiya served a very oishi broth that was not too rich and didn't induce any indigestion symptoms at all ! :D My favourite Tonkatsu ramen of all time. 

But given that we are in Fukuoka, and it's the birth place of Ichiran, it would be a waste if we didn't try ramen from the original store itself? Perhaps the experience will be different? I mean, we have all heard of stalls that franchises themselves out and the franchise just tastes really bad and then you go to the original store and it's like WOW 100% improvement! A good example would be Tim Ho Wan in Hongkong.

So we made our way to the multi storey Ichiran main shop. 

There's 2 kinds of Ichiran experience you can find here 

1) Yatai ( Roadside store ) - where you'll be on the ground floor and it's just replicating famous roadside store feel

2) Original single cubicle eating space like as though you are being punished for being hungry. lol  can you imagine the teacher going " Why are you playing during lesson time? GO. GO TO THE NAUGHTY CORNER. NO, not facing the wall, I meant, go to the single cubicle and stuff your face with ramen and may you grow so fat you have no more energy to play " 

We decided to go with the original single cubicle eating which is on level 2. 

As usual, order from the vending machine outside the shop first. 

We recommend ordering the special Ichiran 5. 

Hungry Nicholas waiting for his food. He was sent to the naughty corner for being too cute :p 

In front of the cubicle is this Japanese writing

And Finally our bowl of ramen arrives

What is this Ichiran 5 that we ordered? Essentially it's Ichiran ramen with extra sides - 1) egg 2) extra pork 3) seaweed, 4) black fungus

I think they named it Ichiran 5 because it's these 4 sides + a bowl of noodles. Total 5 items.

Ichiran is fully customisable, you can choose how rich you want your broth, how spicy, how hard your noodles. I believe a restaurant knows it's food best, So I always go with the recommended. 

Verdict: This Ichiran shop did not disappoint! I wouldn't say Ichiran has suddenly jumped to become the top of my scoreboard because the other branches really is torturing for me to visit. But just for experimentation, I drank up half the soup, and I felt alright all night! I even had the appetite to stop by a Yatai afterwards for some other snacks. 

This broth was really tasty with just a right amount of richness. I enjoyed myself here. And the best part is... THERE WAS NO QUEUE TO GET INTO THE SHOP :D 

Ichiran Main store 一蘭本社総本店（九州)

〒810-0801
5-3-2 Nakasu Hakata-ku Fukuoka-shi Fukuoka-ken

24 hours