Monday, February 20, 2017

Chugoku Sanyo, San-in 中国地方山陽、山陰 - Onomichi Ramen Ichibankan 尾道ラーメン壱番館

Visited 18.04.2015 (Sat)


Origin. To my surprise, Onomichi Ramen actually originated from neighbouring Taiwan! In the past, there were many Taiwanese working in the flourishing ship building industry in Onomichi. One of them decided to reproduce this soul food from home for the benefit of his countryman which led to the emergence of a ramen shop here. The ramen was equally well-received by the locals and gradually became a specialty gourmet food that is unique to Onomichi. The secret to Onomichi Ramen is its tantalising soup, created using chicken bones and flavoured by soy sauce, with minced fatty pork floating on it. Having said that, each ramen shop has tweaked the recipe to create their very own signature soup base in order to stand out from one another. While researching food to eat in Onomichi, I was already drooling on the delicious looking pictures of Onomichi Ramen and was determined to try it during my visit!



Perfect combination. After visited Senkoji, we headed hungrily to Ichibankan, a well known ramen restaurant for lunch. Fortunately, there was no waiting queue and we were assigned a table immediately upon reaching the restaurant. Customers can choose their desired toppings for their ramen - ajitama (seasoned ramen egg), char siew, spring onion or even kimchi. Decided to order the No. 1 ramen on their menu - kakuni ramen 角煮ラーメン. When the huge bowl of ramen was served in front of me, my eyes were immediately drawn to the succulent cuts of braised pork belly topped on the noodles. The sensation derived from sinking my teeth into the kakuni was pure bliss as the meat was cooked to the right tenderness and the fatty portion literally melted in my mouth! Love the hearty serving of shiraga negi 白髪ネギ (or shredded scallions) which gave that additional touch of crunchiness and texture to the springy noodles. Ichibankan's version of soup is more towards seafood base and the umami flavour is brought out by boiling chicken bones, konbu, sardines, dried anchovies and dried sea cucumber over long hours. The first sip of soup wow-ed us instantly and our conclusion was pretty consistent with other customers as we eavesdropped exclamation of "oishii" from nearby tables too!

All in all, every aspect i.e. soup, noodles and toppings is exceptional standalone; while at the same time, they were able to complement one another in this excellent bowl of Onomichi Ramen.

======

Onomichi Ramen Ichibankan 尾道ラーメン壱番館
広島県尾道市土堂2丁目9-26
Operating hours: 1100 - 1900 hrs; closed on Fridays
http://www.f-ichibankan.com/

How to get there?

(1) By foot. Approx. 15 mins walk from Onomichi JR Station.

(2) By bus. Board any Onomichi Bus (尾道バス) from Platform 1 and alight at Nagae guchi (長江口). Approx 5 mins walk from here to Ichibankan.

No comments:

Post a Comment