Ganso Aka Noren Secchan

I came to Kyushu for the Saga international hot air balloon festival, but I stayed in Fukuoka. And I wasn't leaving Fukuoka without some good ramen. I did some research on the best shop in Tenjin I could find, and the first that came up with famous Ganso Aka Noren Secchan Ramen. I'm not sure why I hadn't been here before, but after a long trip through Saga I was ready for a full set, complete with fried rice and gyoza.

佐賀の国際熱気球フェスのために九州に行きましたけど、福岡に泊まりました。せっかく福岡に行ったので、本場の豚骨ラーメンも食べなあかんと思いました。いろいろ調べて、「元祖赤のれん節ちゃんラーメン」が出てきました。有名なので、なんで行ったことがなかったかわかりませんでした。とにかく、佐賀の日帰りの後お腹がすいてきましたから定食にしました。

The Bowl
There's something different about the tonkotsu in Fukuoka from the ones I've had in Osaka and Tokyo. Oh, there are some good ones on Honshu, but they seem to know just how to balance the ingredients in Hakata. The soup with thin, but flavorful; there was a bit of oil, but it wasn't drenched in it. It was light, begging me to keep eating without ever getting full. With a soup as fresh and drinkable as this, it's no surprise that Hakata ramen always have bunches of thin noodles. The chashu was nothing special, but that's not the main attraction here. The gyoza and fried rice too were solid if par for the course; a bit garlickly and cinnamony, respectively.

やっぱり福岡のラーメンは大阪と東京のラーメンと違います。本州にもうまいのもありますけど、博多的なバランスと離れています。このラーメンのスープは半透明で以外とさっぱりとしました。脂ぽかったですけど、ちょっと抑えたので胃もたれまでもなりませんでした。こんなさっぱりとしたスープを食べると、なんで細い麺が使われているかすぐわかります。チャーシューはまあまあ普通でしたけど、長所はスープでした。餃子も焼き飯も美味しかったです。

Would I Go Again?
Yes.

はい。

Should You Go?
Yes.

はい。

That bowl left me so refreshed that I was happy to eat a cup of gelato at Samurai Gelato afterwards.

さっぱりとしたラーメンで、食べた後すぐにサムライジェラート〆にしました。

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元祖赤のれん 節ちゃんラーメン

Ganso Nagahamaya

It was the first full day of my brother's and my Fukuoka adventure, so we had to choose a ramen shop to hit up. The previous time I went to Fukuoka I had somehow missed Nagahama, so with that in mind we set out for the classic Ganso Nagahamaya first thing.

I've had a lot of wacky types of ramen, or interesting takes on classic styles of ramen, but Ganso Nagahamaya was the exact opposite of those. An old-school shop with vending machines with just one thing to order: ramen. At an absurdly cheap 400 yen, how can you go wrong?

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元祖 長浜屋
Fukuoka-ken, Fukuoka-shi, Chūō-ku, Nagahama, ２丁目５

The Bowl
This bowl was even lighter than the bowl I had at the food stall the previous night. The broth was very light; it was practically just oil meant to flavor the noodles. The noodles were thin and hard like I've grown to expect in Fukuoka tonkotsu. The thin slices of chashu were very juicy. I plowed through my noodles but drinking all of the oil-like broth would have been ill-advised at best, and suicide at worst.

Would I Go Again?
It was good, I'd like to try it again.

Should You Go?
It's an original, and it's super cheap!

Pyonkichi

My brother visiting meant that this was a time of travel. We had eaten bowls of ramen in Tokyo, had our fair share of soup in Osaka and Kyoto, but now it was time for a trip to Kyushu. The first night in Fukuoka means that we can only do one thing: go to a food stall. We ordered some ramen and their recommendation of crispy gyoza.

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屋台屋ぴょんきち
Fukuoka-ken, Fukuoka-shi, Chūō-ku, Tenjin, １丁目

The Bowl
The bowl was a pretty standard tonkotsu, but it reminded me how different Fukuoka's tonkotsu can be. The thin chashu and thin noodles were all easy to eat, and the broth was light and refreshing, unlike the tonkotsu I'm used to eating. Instead of a full meal, a snack to get you through your next beer.

The gyoza, on the other hand, were great. They were crispy and small enough to pop in your mouth one after another.

Would I Go Again?
I would almost go back just for the gyoza. But I'd sooner hit another food stall.

Should You Go?
You should go to a food stall, you don't have to make it Pyonkichi.