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Often times the simplest dishes are the most difficult. Vanilla and coffee are the hardest ice cream flavors to get right. Really awesome fries are hard to come by. Tomate aliñado (sliced tomato marinated with salt, garlic, vinegar and olive oil) can range from inedible crap to an amazing culinary experience. Even the most amazing dry-aged beef can be wasted if your griller does not know what s/he is doing. And so on, and so forth.

The Japanese know that fully well. In the two years that I lived in Kobe (Hyogo prefecture, Japan) I tried as many restaurants and foods as I could, and while I was impressed with elaborate creations like kaiseki, the simplest dishes were the ones that left a deeper mark in my memory.  It is therefore high time I start to talk about Japanese food, and I have decided to talk about a major item for every self-respecting Nihon-jin: Ramen.

Where to start? Entire encyclopedias have been written about the matter. At face value, it is just a noodle soup: noodles, broth and toppings. And yet, I recall a Venezuelan coworker of mine reflecting upon his addition to the stuff “How can it be? I am addicted to and dominated by a freaking pork soup!” He just could not help it: he needed it. In origin it is a Chinese dish – thus the absence of Kanji for it, a fortunate coincidence which makes Ramen restaurants easy to find for us poor gaijin (The kana, simplified silabary, is easy enough to recognize). Ramen noodles are usually made of wheat flour, water, salt, egg and a sort of carbonated water called kansui; low-quality ones  include Mono Sodium Glutamate (MSG), a flavor-enhacing additive that is the nightmare of food purists (and of course, of my gastronomic hero Yamaoka-san, from the Manga “Oishinbo”). The broth – ah, the broth- can be made of a number of things (chicken, pork, beef, katsuobushi, etc) but when it arrives to your bowls typically comes in one of four forms: Shio (Salt), Tonkotsu (pork), Shoyu (Soy) and Miso (fermented soy bean paste). The toppings are as diverse as it comes: from spring onions to ground pork, caramelized pork belly, leek, sesame, marinated bamboo shoots, kimchi, spinach, kamaboko (or a funny-looking variation called naruto), onsen tamago (soft-boiled egg, my favorite), etc, etc, etc

But I will not waste more time: for those who have tried good Ramen, they cannot live without them. After having tried Ramen-like stuff several times after I left Japan, I pledged to not attempt it anymore until I return, lest my fond memories be spoiled by a rotten experience. You will find Ramen anywhere in Japan; but I honestly recommend you to go where you see the biggest concentration of salarymen (guys in suits with their suitcases) slurping in their bowls. The more it looks like a scene from “Blade runner” the better. Under the rail tracks, between the buildings; buried within the concrete and surrounded by neon lights. Try the local variety: Tokyo Ramen when in THE city; Hakata Ramen in Kyushu; try them all, and experience the differences but also the common bottomline: satisfaction.

Asking where to have good Ramen in Japan is like asking for a good BBQ place in Texas, a good Pizza place in Napoli, a good Paella place in Valencia: there are almost as many responses as people. However, ultimately you need some indication just to avoid the disappointment of the few bad places that exist, if only to confirm the theory of large numbers. If you happen to be in Kobe (a must-go place to experience good Japanese food, in my opinion) you can either drop by Ashiya (a nearby town) or you can just find a random place around the central station (Sannomiya). While I liked many places around there, I always returned to Hoppu-Ken for my Miso Ramen. Stay tuned for part II and you will know why.