Enjoy you ramen in isolation, that is what I thought of Ichiran Ramen.
Its apparently a chain of restaurants around Tokyo – and they serve only ONE dish. Yes, you read that right – just one dish – and that is the Tonkotsu Ramen. You can though, make it to your exact liking because they let you fill out a form that will determine the exact outcome of your ramen.
Ordering food in Tokyo was a bit odd, but when you think about it – it makes sense! They use a VENDO machine to accept all the payments and to get your orders. This eliminates theft with regards to money – and eliminates one less person to man the cashier.
We queued for about 15 minutes then, you are met at the entrance by a vendo machine where you will pick your order – it will spit out tickets – which you will then give when you are seated:
After paying for your meals, you are given a form to fill out:
After filling it out, you then wait to be seated. Mind you – its counter style – meaning groups cannot sit facing each other – rather you’d need to be seated beside each other (if there’s enough room) or seated separately. You will then be led to your ‘counter’ and there you will hand your form together with your food tickets
And so, here’s my Inchiran Tonkotsu Ramen!
Was it worth the wait? Yes – because the broth was flavorful! To be honest, I think we just spent 30 minutes from the time we ordered till when we finished our respective ramens. I made sure to finish the entire bowl without leaving any broth! Haha…
