Happy Meal

Some weeks ago, the Yalies took a field trip to the ramen museum in Shin-Yokohama. I think the term "museum" is loosely applied here. They do have a small exhibit on the development of ramen on the ground floor but it's minimal at best. I would say it's more like a consortium of ramen shops from all across Japan put together in a building made to look like old-time Japan. Oh! With a really cool gift shop that sells all sorts of random ramen-related paraphernalia like chocolate ramen. While I found the museum itself a little disappointing, I felt well-rewarded with the chance to eat a variety of ramen.

The faux working-class neighborhood design was out of this world. It was like taking a step back in recent time (1958 to be exact)... a rare opportunity given that Japan is also all about modernization or the ancient past. For cool replicas of Japanese neighborhoods of yesteryear on a larger scale, Odaiba is also a lot of fun.

And the ramen.... OMG, amazing. We settled on a shop from Hakata, Fukuoka. It's called Hukuchan Ramen. One of their signature styles (and that of most ramen shops in Kyushu) is by making a thick broth called tonkotsu using pork bones and adding fresh, crushed garlic to the ramen. The fresh garlic really added a kick. I even tried it with instant ramen and it tasted delish. Try it, eat it, love it.