Top Ramen restaurants in Japan

Kinryu Ramen Dotonbori ★ 4.7

The neon dragon landmark on Dotonbori canal, open 24 hours. Pork-based tonkotsu-soy ramen for under ¥800; kimchi and garlic are self-service at the counter.

OrderTonkotsu ramen, Extra chashu, Gyoza

Bakudanya Honten ★ 4.5

Bakudanya is the Shintenchi shop that pushed Hiroshima tsukemen beyond the city: cold noodles dipped in a chilli and seafood-stock sauce you grade yourself.

OrderHiroshima tsukemen, choosing your own heat level

TipThe dipping sauce comes in graded heat steps, so order low on a first visit and add chilli powder at the table.

Chukasoba Youki Eba Honten ★ 4.5

Chukasoba Youki has cooked one dish in Eba since 1958, and its soy and pork-bone bowl is exactly what Hiroshima people mean when they say chuka soba.

OrderChuka soba, the only thing the kitchen makes

TipThe Eba flagship shuts on the 1st, 12th, 13th and 26th of each month, so check the date before crossing the river.

Hanamaruken Ramen Namba ★ 4.5

Famous for 24-hour pork-marrow kotteri broth and happiness pig chashu; a Namba landmark for late-night workers and tourists seeking rich Osaka tonkotsu.

OrderHappiness pig ramen, Extra marrow, Spicy miso ramen

Ichiran Dotonbori South ★ 4.5

Solo-booth tonkotsu ramen at the Dotonbori branch of Japan's solo-dining chain. Customise broth richness, spice, and noodle firmness on an order form.

OrderTonkotsu ramen with flavour-concentration slip

Musashibo ★ 4.4

Musashibo serves Hiroshima's broth-free tantanmen a short walk from the Chudenmae tram stop, ordered by vending machine and graded by heat at no extra cost.

OrderShirunashi tantanmen, stirred thirty times before eating

TipHeat runs on a four-step scale with level two as the house standard, and stepping up costs nothing extra.

Moeyo Mensuke ★ 4.4

Fukushima's duck-chashu ramen shop, famous for slow-roasted duck breast in a clean shoyu broth; a 20-seat counter that fills quickly by 12:00 and 19:00.

OrderDuck chashu ramen, Tori shoyu ramen, Half-rice set

Mongoi-tei Tanna Honten ★ 4.2

Mongoi-tei in Tanna builds a chicken, pork and seafood broth finished with dried fish and prawn oil, one of Hiroshima's busiest late ramen rooms.

OrderThe seafood tonkotsu ramen with extra dried-fish oil

TipThe Tanna flagship sits south of the centre near Ujina, and it runs lunch every day but shuts the dinner service on Tuesdays.

Kadoya Shokudo ★ 4.2

A Shinmachi ramen institution since 1957: house-made noodles in a chicken, black-pork and dried-fish shoyu broth. Queues form well before opening.

OrderDuck soba, Gyoza

Resshi Shoyu Menkobo Sanku ★ 4.1

A Fukushima niboshi ramen specialist working a clean dried-sardine and soy broth. Dinner service starts at 18:39, a pun on the sanku in the shop name.

OrderNiboshi shoyu ramen, Wonton topping, Shoyu-marinated egg

Tsubame Ramen ★ 4.0

Tsubame Ramen works a small Higashi-Kanon room in western Hiroshima, a neighbourhood chuka soba counter rather than a stop on any visitor circuit.

OrderChuka soba, the shop's soy-and-pork standard

TipService runs unbroken from 11:30 to 22:00 on every day except Sunday, which is the one day the shutters stay down.

Wadato Hiroshima Ekimae ★ 4.0

Wadato works a Hakata-style tonkotsu bowl beside Hiroshima Station, open through the afternoon at weekends and until 23:30 for the last-train crowd.

OrderThe house tonkotsu ramen on thin straight Hakata-style noodles

TipWeekends run straight through from 11:30 with no afternoon break, but the shop is shut all day on Mondays.

Rai Rai Tei ★ 3.9

Rai Rai Tei is a plain Minami-ku noodle room in Hiroshima with a split lunch and dinner service and a queue that forms without any signage at all.

OrderChuka soba at lunch, before the kitchen breaks at 15:30

TipThe kitchen closes between 15:30 and 17:00 from Tuesday to Saturday, and the whole shop shuts on Mondays.