The Ramen Museum in Yokohama x Lazy Blog.

On the way back from a weekend trip to Yokohama, I made a quick stop at the Shin-Yokohama Ramen Museum. You can check the waiting times on the web, and the shops that had 30-40 minute waits until 3 pm could be walked right into once it was past 4. Yokohama to Shin-Yokohama is a bit of a trek, but since I was already there I figured I’d drop by. It’s not like I get to come to Yokohama every day..

This is what it looks like

They’ve done a great job recreating the Showa era.

It’s called a museum, but it’s not really a museum.. The souvenir shop on the ground floor and the ramen shops on basement levels 1 and 2 are separate. Each ramen shop is run independently, and when you order at one, every person has to order a bowl. Coming with a group and sampling lots of different ramen looked like it would be tough. No choice but to come often..

Ramen Muku

There are a lot of shops, but I picked the one that looked the cleanest.

Inside

It has a bit of an izakaya vibe, and it’s clearly not just a tourist-trap ramen shop.

Half ramen

Since it’s one bowl per person, you have to order a half ramen if you want to hit two shops. But it was really good.. I wanted to order a full bowl, but held back because it’s so far from home..

The noodles

The noodles went perfectly with the broth, which has no MSG in it at all. So good. I’d kind of dismissed the Ramen Museum until now, but after eating here it’s on a whole other level. I’d say this qualifies as a world-class tourist spot. Having a vegetable menu is probably one of the conditions for going global, too.

The second shop was Ryu Shanghai.

Roughly this kind of vibe

It was evening so there was nobody around, which was such a relief. The Akayu Karamiso Ramen you can see in the photo is this shop’s signature dish.

Half bowl of chuka soba

Naturally, every shop has a half-bowl option. It’s a standard soy-sauce-based chuka soba, and a pretty good one.

Akayu Karamiso Ramen

It’s a regional ramen from Yamagata Prefecture, a miso ramen topped with spicy karamiso, and it is seriously delicious. Good enough that I’d go back just to eat this.

The noodles