Ippachiya Ramen

Rating: OK
Meal:  Lunch
Price:  990 yen
Payment:  Cash only (ticket machine)
Dishes:  Red miso ramen with extra charshu
English Menu:No
Smoking:No

I am really stretching the limits of walkable lunch places now.  I tried for a few other spots but they didn't open until 11:30am and by the time I settled on Ippachiya it was 11:30 anyway.  Oh well.  At least ramen is fast!

Ippachiya is one of the newer additions to the ramen scene in Yokosuka, about a year and a half old.  I've only been a couple of times and wasn't blown away.  Keep in mind though that even the worst ramen here is probably better than anything anyone in the US has ever tasted, so it's still pretty darn good.  Although there are some english names under pictures on the outside, the actual ticket vending machine is all in Japanese, so you'll have to do some kanji matching to find the one you want if you don't recognize anything.

 I decided to go for something a bit different today and ordered what I think was the red miso ramen with extra charshu (pork).  I usually go for the straight tonkotsu (pork bone broth).  As usual I asked for my noodles to be done "katame de" or "with hardness" (aka "al dente") and promptly dumped all the extras in the soup when it arrived:  garlic paste, chili paste, sesame seeds, and pepper.  I was a bit surprised at the noodles which seemed a bit softer than usual for a "katame de" request.  I'm not sure if I was misheard (though the opposite is "yawarakame de", kind of hard to mishear that) or they just made a mistake but it was a kind of pleasant surprise as I don't know that I've ever deliberately chosen to eat soft noodles...maybe I should try more often.

The broth was also quite good, not as salty as I remember it being before with the tonkotsu.  I actually drank it all down.  The meat was good once it was heated up by the broth and it was nice to see some spinach in the mix as I do like some veg with my ramen.

Overall I was pleasantly surprised and give it a high Ok, just short of Very Good.