Ramen is probably one of Japan’s most popular — and iconic — foods. The total number of ramen restaurants in Japan ranges from between 23,000 to 32,000, meaning that more than one out of 10 restaurants in the entire country is a ramen restaurant.
The thing is, with so many ramen restaurants, and so many types of ramen, it’s difficult to discern what is the best ramen in Japan. Of course, it goes without saying that ramen preference is extremely subjective: some prefer a lighter, almost refreshing shio broth, while others are in it for the fatty, rich tonkotsu.
But you definitely won’t go wrong with any of the restaurants below, all of which have been in operation for years, with all of them receiving some sort of local or national accolade. Keep on reading for our list of the best ramen in Japan.
Find out more: Most Delicious Types of Ramen
Shoyu ramen: Bannai Shokudo (Kitakata, Fukushima)
Shoyu ramen, or soy sauce ramen, is the teiban, or standard, of ramen by which all ramen are judged. It’s said to be the “original” ramen, and the kind that most ramen shops serve by default.
Shoyu forms the base of many of Japan’s most famous regional ramen varieties, from Asahikawa in Hokkaido to the shockingly jet-black Toyama ramen. But the only shoyu-based ramen among the Three Great Ramen of Japan is Kitakata ramen, from the city of the same name in the northern prefecture of Fukushima.
(Technically, like iekei down below, it’s also a blend of tonkotsu and shoyu, but most consider it a shoyu base.)
What really sets Kitakata ramen apart, if you’ve never tried it, are the noodles. The shoyu ramen served at most restaurants uses noodles of a medium thickness; Kitakata ramen, on the other hand, wants you to make sure that your jaws are getting a workout. Typically, Kitakata noodles are significantly thicker than most other noodles, giving even the famously chewy tsukemen noodles a run for their money.
Many ramen enthusiasts make pilgrimages to where the legend began, taking a trip up from Tokyo to the city of Kitakata, about three hours by train. It’s the city that’s said to have the highest number of ramen restaurants per capita, with over 120 ramen restaurants with a population of just 51,000 people.
And yet there is one that stands tall above the rest: Bannai Shokudo. Founded in 1958, the restaurant still continues to be as traditional as it gets. The noodles have just the right amount of chew to be satisfying without fatiguing, and the shoyu broth isn’t quite as dark as most modern blends, giving the rich tonkotsu aspect of it some space to strut too.
The recommended dish by far is the “niku soba,” which is piled high with so many slabs of pork chashu that it’s impossible to see the noodles, even. Better get digging.
Find out more: What is Shoyu?
Shio ramen: Motenashi Kuroki (Asakusabashi, Tokyo)
Shio ramen — clear salt broth — is the other most popular type of ramen in Japan, and is the other teiban standard offered by ramen restaurants.
Interestingly, while the most popular shoyu ramen restaurants skew towards the traditional, the most popular shio ramen restaurants tend to be those that embrace change. Shio broth, possessing less inherent “character,” naturally lends itself to experimentation.
This is why the majority of modern Michelin-awarded ramen is largely salt broth-based, including the likes of Seijoseika, Iruca Tokyo Roppongi and others of their ilk. In that sense, if a modern ramen restaurant’s shoyu ramen is a measure of how good it adheres to fundamentals, its shio ramen indicates how effectively its chef can innovate.
Tokyo specifically is a hotbed of shio ramen specialists, given that the capital is at the forefront of ramen innovation, with many of the most notable chefs in the shio ramen scene opting to incorporate all manner of exotic ingredients, with white truffle, porcini mushroom and even wagyu beef on occasion.
This makes it extremely difficult to pick a clear first place, but Motenashi Kuroki edges out the rest by a very small margin. Located in Asakusabashi, a few stops east of Tokyo’s otaku haven of Akihabara, the shio ramen here makes use of five different kinds of salt, a mixture that’s sourced both from within and outside of Japan.
A former holder of the Michelin Bib Gourmand until 2020, Michelin reviewers took particular note of the delicacy and intricacy of the flavor, drawn from a dizzying array of ingredients: three different breeds of chicken, asari clam, flying fish, dried sardines, pork, kelp and even more that Chef Kuroki Naoto has yet to reveal.
Guests who are especially particular about their ramen have the option of choosing between standard thickness noodles and super-thick ones, akin to the Kitakata ones above — both are equally recommended by the staff.
It’s definitely worth spending a little extra to get additional toppings: almost as much as the ramen, the chicken meatballs are delightfully springy and absorb the broth wonderfully.
Find out more: Best Ramen in Tokyo
Miso ramen: Menya Saimi (Sapporo, Hokkaido)
While today it is considered one of the “big three” of ramen broths, miso ramen is actually one of the more (comparatively) recent developments in the field of ramen.
It dates back only to 1953, when a drunken customer at a restaurant requested that ramen noodles be added to his miso soup. (This is anecdotal; the truth is generally agreed that ramen restaurant Aji no Sanpei is the inventor of miso-style ramen, but whether there was drunkenness involved is still up for debate.)
Today, due to the undying dedication of the Japanese to their fermented soybean, miso ramen has since become one of the most popular ramen all across the country, and while still not quite ubiquitous like as shio and shoyu broths are, has achieved an almost equivalent level of popularity.
Unsurprisingly, the best place to get miso ramen remains in the place of its origin, Sapporo. One of the Four Great Ramen of Hokkaido next to Asahikawa, Hakodate and Kushiro ramen, it is Sapporo ramen that perhaps best represents the spirit of miso ramen.
The vast majority of Sapporo natives pick Menya Saimi as their ramen restaurant of choice, with only the legendary Ramen Junren and Sumire even remotely coming close. Started by Chef Oku Masahiro, a former chef at the aforementioned Sumire, he was so inspired by his time that he decided to set up his own shop — and today rivals Sumire in popularity.
Saimi serves shoyu and shio ramen as well, but the most popular item on the menu is definitely its miso ramen. Done in typical Sapporo style, the broth actually starts life as a tonkotsu-style bone broth, but becomes Saimi’s famed miso broth with the addition of a top-secret blend of three types of white miso.
The one secret ingredient that Chef Oku will reveal is grated ginger, the special Kogane Shoga (“Golden Ginger”) all the way from Kochi Prefecture, which gives the broth an unexpected spicy yet almost sweet dimension. This ginger also adds even more burn to the spicy miso ramen option, which adds a multicultural, fiery kick thanks to the addition of Korean-style gochujang and Chinese doubanjiang.
Menya Saimi’s popularity isn’t the only measure of its success; during the Special Edition of the Michelin Guide Hokkaido 2017, it was one of the few ramen shops to receive a Michelin nod, while its national accolades include a spot in the Ramen Walker Hall of Fame, and a two-year consecutive placement on the Tabelog Top 100 from 2017 to 2018.
Find out more: Best Sapporo Ramen Restaurants for Miso Ramen
Tonkotsu ramen: Ramen Taiho (Kurume, Fukuoka)
From Kagoshima to Kitakyushu, the entirety of the Kyushu region is famed for its rich, satisfying tonkotsu ramen. The most famous, however, is undoubtedly that of Hakata. It was in this central district of Fukuoka City that tonkotsu ramen, or pork bone broth — like that of the famed Ichiran Ramen — was first discovered by visitors from out of prefecture, and spread northward like wildfire towards Tokyo and beyond.
The thing is, even though tonkotsu ramen is largely synonymous with Hakata ramen, Fukuoka tonkotsu ramen is actually three different types. Hakata ramen is actually considered the most “accessible” of Fukuoka ramen, having what many connoisseurs consider the ideal balance of lightness and richness in its broth.
By contrast, Nagahama ramen, from the district of the same name, is extremely light, bordering on shio-like broth, served with extremely thin noodles that are meant to be cooked and consumed as quickly as possible — the Fukuoka equivalent of the salaryman lunch.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, there is Kurume ramen, and what even the most ardent of Hakata supporters must begrudgingly admit is the true origin of tonkotsu ramen. Taking its name from the southern Fukuoka city, Kurume ramen broth is thick, possibly the thickest in all of Japan.
Almost all Kurume ramen restaurants use a broth-making technique called yobi-modoshi, which is where the broth — kept at a constant boil, even overnight — is constantly topped up as it is being used. This means that all the remaining broth (and subsequently, flavor) from the previous batch of broth is simply added to, becoming more and more flavorful with each successive addition. Consequently, the richness of broths accumulated over decades finds its way into each new serving ladled from the master cauldron.
Kurume ramen is best represented by Ramen Taiho, which has had its yobi-modoshi boiling constantly since 1953 — meaning that each bowl contains a deliciousness that can only be acquired after over 70 years of constant boiling. Each mouthful brims over with umami and a thick, almost viscous mouthfeel from the copious amounts of collagen present.
For true indulgence, order the mukashi-ramen, which is topped with chips of fried lard for that little bit of extra sinfulness. Ramen Taiho is only about an hour south of central Fukuoka by train — so you owe it to yourself to taste the grandfather of all tonkotsu ramen.
Find out more: 10 Must-Try Foods at Fukuoka
Iekei ramen: Yoshimuraya (Yokohama, Kanagawa)
Iekei ramen is a ramen base that combines both pork bone broth with shoyu broth — the best of both worlds. Pronounced ee-eh-kay, iekei-style ramen is specific to Yokohama, and unlike most other ramen types, can be traced back to a single restaurant: Yoshimuraya.
To ramen enthusiasts, this might be a boring choice. Of the roughly 1,000 ramen restaurants in Yokohama, almost 20% of them are said to be iekei-style, but ultimately the most popular and emblematic of them all is still the place where it all began.
It cannot be understated how hugely impactful Yoshimuraya is to iekei ramen as a whole: it literally influenced the style’s name. In the early days of the restaurant, iekei was simply known as a blend of tonkotsu and shoyu ramen.
But later, as many of Yoshimuraya’s chefs left to start their own ramen restaurants specialising in this style of broth, they kept Yoshimuraya’s final character for “ya” — alternately pronounced “ie” — in their restaurant names as a homage to their place of training.
As this unique style of ramen proliferated throughout Yokohama, diners noticed the prevalence of “ya” and started calling it “ie-style” ramen — or iekei.
So it’s only right that Yoshimuraya continues to hold the top spot for iekei ramen. Many of the restaurant’s disciples have found huge success at their own restaurants, such as Sugitaya, but there’s nothing like the original.
Yoshimuraya’s broth truly combines the best of both tonkotsu and shoyu broths, with the salty, sharp soy sauce cutting cleanly through the thick, creamy richness of the tonkotsu. Traditional toppings of blanched spinach and sheets of dried seaweed add a nice textural contrast and palate cleanser.
Find out more: 15 Best Things to Do in Yokohama
Paitan ramen: Ramen Asuka (Kasugai, Aichi)
A relatively recent phenomenon, paitan ramen, (sometimes called tori paitan) only experienced its renaissance in the past two decades. The characters for paitan literally mean “white soup,” referring to the thick, opaque color of the collagen-rich broth — the result of boiling chicken bones for several hours.
Most people credit paitan broth’s invention with the popular Kyoto-based ramen chain Tenkaippin, which first started serving ramen with chicken bone broth in 1971. Other restaurants may have done this before, but it wasn’t until a major chain like Tenkaippin adopted it that paitan ramen became a more “mainstream” type of broth.
However, paitan ramen really exploded in popularity with the sudden interest in mizutaki — a chicken broth-based hot pot from Fukuoka in 2005 — which led to a huge proliferation in ramen restaurants looking to scratch that itch for a rich, soupy chicken broth.
Yet the top spot for tori paitan ramen might be surprising, as it’s from neither Kyoto nor Fukuoka. Aichi’s Kasugai is a city about 45 minutes north of the capital Nagoya, and is famous among foodies primarily for one thing: it’s where the vaunted Chef Hiro of YouTube, Instagram and TikTok has his omakase sushi restaurant, Sushi Take.
But Kasugai is also especially popular among ramen enthusiasts for the presence of Ramen Asuka. It’s not especially well-known among those who aren’t especially familiar with ramen — who goes to Aichi for paitan ramen? — but the Tabelog Awards don’t lie: it’s secured a Tabelog Top 100 Award for seven years running, from 2017 all the way till the time of writing.
Unlike the insanely complex soup bases of modern shio, Ramen Asuka is refreshingly simplistic. The soup has just two ingredients: Nagoya Cochin chicken, and water. Add heat, and that’s it. From these fundamentals is born one of the finest paitan ramen broths in the whole of Japan.
Made with wheat from Hokkaido, the thick noodles — another rarity for tori paitan — absorb a satisfying amount of soup, infusing each noodle full of umami right down to the very core. Interestingly, the chef himself recommends the shoyu base, but the paitan has proven to outstrip it in popularity. If you’re in the area, why not try one for lunch and another for dinner?
Tsukemen: Chukasoba Tomita (Matsudo, Chiba)
Tsukemen is eaten very differently from regular ramen. Unlike regular ramen, where the noodles are served in the broth, tsukemen is meant to be dipped briefly in a separate bowl of broth, before being lifted out and slurped down. This makes the broth much thicker and saltier, which can be overwhelming for some but perfect for others.
At the end of the meal, when the noodles have all been consumed, dashi broth is then added to the remaining tsukemen broth, with the thinner result then downed to conclude the feast.
There was never any doubt that Chukasoba Tomita would be the top choice for tsukemen on this list. Since its birth, this Chiba restaurant has perpetually been, and will always be, the most sacred of tsukemen specialists.
Already commanding long lines to get in even before its feature in the documentary Ramen Heads, Tomita’s popularity skyrocketed on the documentary’s release, necessitating an entirely new ticketing system to be implemented just to secure a seat at its counter.
There are other less-crowded branches of Tomita scattered throughout Tokyo and its surrounding areas, all invariably delicious as well, but to most ramen enthusiasts, the complex procedure of getting a seat at Tomita is almost like a ritual, akin to throwing soybeans at Setsubun or visiting a shrine for Hatsumode.
At 7 am (8 am on weekdays), the ticket machine outside Tomita activates. Neatly assembled in lines, the gathered crowd takes their tickets from the machine, which will secure them a spot later in the day, with actual service beginning around 10:30 am. However, during peak season, even if you get your ticket around 8:30 am, you might still only get a seat around 1, or even 2 pm. It’s that popular.
But it’s easy to see why, the moment the steaming broth is presented in front of you. It’s extremely thick and loaded with umami; so thick that it puts even Kurume ramen to shame. Tomita specializes in a kind of tsukemen called tonkotsu-gyokai, meaning pork bone and seafood.
As such, the broth is especially rich, a mixture of the oily aroma of silver-skinned fish and the hearty fat of pork shoulder and loin (similar and yet very different from the chicken-fish combination from rival Fuunji).
From beneath it all emerges a subtle citrus tang — one that lingers just as long as the rich flavors that accompany it. A trip to Matsudo is basically a half-day excursion from Tokyo, but any ramen lover worth their shio owes it to themselves to make the pilgrimage.
And there you have it — our list of the best ramen in Japan.
Got a place that you think could dethrone our top picks? Be sure to let us know.
But until then, check out a few more of our favorite ramen restaurants, including vegan ramen in Tokyo, the most expensive ramen in Japan and the best cities for ramen.