Sapporo Ramen Yokocho

Sapporo Ramen Yokocho

Sapporo Ramen Yokocho, is a small alley in the Susukino nightlife and entertainment district in Sapporo, Japan.  It is famous for shops serving world famous Sapporo ramen noodles to help warm you during the cold winter nights.

We passed the many shops in the narrow covered alley, but were attracted to the first shop we had passed by.  After the “irrashaimase” greeting by the two chefs, We sat down at the counter and asked the chef about the their soup base.  The soup base was a combination of boiling chicken and pork bones for a long time. 

I tried the 1,000 yen char siu ramen and found it to be very tasty.  The noodles were curly and firm - not soggy.  The soup was a little dark but the flavor of the soup was light, not greasy.  The char siu was plentiful - five pieces that covered the entire large bowl.  Toppings also included bean sprouts, or moyashi, bamboo shoots, or menma, and green onions.  My wife tried the 700 yen miso ramen.  The same curly, firm noodles and the miso based soup was very good - bean paste miso base that was slightly sweet.  The toppings included one piece of char siu pork, lots of bean sprouts, bamboo shoots, and green onions.  For 700 yen - it was a great bargain.  I’ve heard that the buttered corn ramen is very good too!  I’ll try that next time. 

On the restaurant’s walls there were comments left by famous people that visited the shop.  I saw one from Anthony Bourdain and the “No Reservations” crew.  A famous Japanese enka singer named Kitajima Saburo left comments, Miss Korea 1998 left a comment, along with many others, thanking the chefs for a great bowl of ramen.

Sapporo Ramen Yokocho is definitely a do not miss and is a great place to find cheap eats and a place to eat good ramen.
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