Japanese Ramen Noodle Lab Q is one of Sapporo's finest ramen shops. Their shoyu ramen is delightful.
Japanese Ramen Noodle Lab Q - Award-Winning
Japanese Ramen Noodle Lab Q has received heaps praise of in Sapporo, Hokkaido. But it's the same story outside of Sapporo. In fact, they've been on Tabelog's Top 100 East Japan Ramen List for several years running.
Price-wise, their ramen is on the higher side - for Japan, that is. But they do source a crazy amount of ingredients and take their craft seriously.
Craft Shoyu Ramen?
They do shoyu (soy sauce) and shio (salt) ramen. The hot seller is the shoyu. In it, they use a whopping 10 types of shoyu for the seasoning. This includes pure shoyu.
This seasoning bolsters a chicken-centered soup. They use whole chickens from around the country - 5 breeds in total. This includes Shintoku chickens from Hokkaido, Hinai from Akita, Cochin from Nagoya, and Tanbakuro chickens from Hyogo.
Chicken oil caps off the chicken theme. It makes for a syrupy, rich stratosphere.
Among toppings, the two pork slices really stand out. On the lefthand side is pork ribs and on the righthand side is pork loin cooked in kelp. Cooked on low heat, they're both as soft as clouds.
The thin, flat noodles are 6 types of wheat flour from Hokkaido and 1 type of wheat flour from Kagawa. This double digit ingredient list is impressive (soup, noodles, and toppings).
I review Japanese Ramen Noodle Lab Q and three others on a 3 hour Sapporo ramen crawl:
Final Remarks
The ramen here does come with a heftier price tag. But we're talking heftier for Japan. Compared to outside of Japan, the ramen at Noodle Lab Q is still a bargain.
But you could argue that their style of ramen (refined chicken ramen) is overdone these days. There are countless ramen shops doing this style, especially in Tokyo.
But that doesn't mean they all can do this style justice. Japanese Ramen Noodle Lab Q certainly does though.