Ichirin Ramen in Hamamatsu x Lazy Blog.

Another local ramen shop this time. Among Hamamatsu’s local ramen there is a style called ninja-style ramen, or Enshu Black, and Ichirin is one of the shops that represents it.

The place

It’s a fair-sized building.

The front

The car park is full of cars. That’s how popular the place must be.

Meal tickets

Cash only here. Ticket machines have been a talking point in Japan lately. The machines cost an enormous amount, and with the new banknotes issued this time round, every shop in the country has ended up having to replace theirs. The burden on owner-run businesses is apparently considerable. So I do think it might be better if cashless ticket machines simply became the default from here on.

Oshibori

There’s a counter and there are table seats too. I came on my own, so the counter it is.

Tokusei chuka soba, the special

First visit, so the special it has to be. They say this shop gets called ninja-style because the owner is fond of ninja films.. though the colour of that black broth does bring a ninja’s outfit to mind as well.

The noodles

One taste and it was as tough and forceful as Shinpuku Saikan in Kyoto. It tastes like something caught halfway through evolving from shoyu, through iekei, on into Jiro. But the way it’s put together isn’t retro like Shinpuku Saikan or Daiichi Asahi, it’s modern, so the broth is rich and yet clean with no muddy notes, and the celery in the wontons and the spring onion piled on the soup add a freshness that leaves the balance about as good as it gets. Honestly, it was far better than the original-article ramen I ate in Kyoto. I never imagined the retro-modern ramen I’d been after would be in Hamamatsu rather than Kyoto.

The kitchen

It always cheers me up to see a shop doing good business.

Chuka Soba Nakaya

There’s a sign up saying they make their own noodles. A place like that can’t help but be good, the way I see it. I made a note to come here next time for sure.

Torii