Shirakawa Ramen is one of Japan’s most famous ramen styles. Here are three tasty places to grab it! All three include thick, handmade noodles and silky, handmade dumplings.
Shirakawa City is located in Fukushima Prefecture – a region of Japan that absolutely loves its ramen.
1. THE Shirakawa Ramen – Tora Shokudo (とら食堂)
Ramen restaurant Tora Shokudo is synonymous with Shirakawa style Ramen. Like the other two on this list, their portions are enormous. The “Chashu Wantanmen” comes with 3 extra slices of pork and 5 dumplings.
The soup is mostly pork bones and whole chickens. There’s also chicken oil on top, mingling with a tangy soy sauce seasoning. Overall, the soup is light. Furthermore, there’s no chemical seasoning, which lends to a clean taste.
They make their noodles in-house and even use a bamboo stick to press them. The dumplings are also hand-made. In short, Tora Shokudo goes the extra mile in making sure that everything is delicious.
2. A Punchier Soup – Teuchi Suzuki (手打中華 すずき)
Ramen restaurant Teuchi Chuukasoba Suzuki is another Shirakawa City heavyweight. The word “teuchi” means handmade. So you know they’re taking proper care of their noodles here too. These noodles are a bit more dense.
The soup is chicken bones (the Miyazaki Jidori breed) and pork bones (from Nasu Kogen farm). Compared to Tora Shukudo, the soy sauce (shoyu) seasoning is bolder and the soup has an oilier, richer consistency.
In addition, the dumpling wrappers here are more slippery. Suzuki is family run and the ramen preparation feels less streamlined than at Tora Shokudo. The unchanged, old-school aesthetic reflects this too.
3. Extra Smoky Pork – Kafuutei
Kafuutei is somewhere in between the previous 2 entries. The soup is richer like at Suzuki. But it has a softer soy sauce base like at Tora Shokudo (although not quite as soft).
The soup is pork and chicken bones, with 2 soy sauces guiding it. One is local, and the other is a darker soy sauce from the Chiba region. Of course the thick, wavy noodles are made in-house!
Among toppings, it’s easy to tell that they like their white negi (spring onions). The pork slices here are extra smoky in flavor. This smokiness and the reddish tint borrows from Chinese char sui and is a must for Shirakawa ramen!
If you’re ever in Shirakawa, give these 3 big portion ramen restaurants a try!