Monday, July 20, 2020

拉麺男 (Ramen Man in Miyazaki Prefecture)

拉麺男(ラーメンマン)

Ramen Man in the northern area of Miyazaki Prefecture knows how to satisfy a Ramen Rider. Sure, I can eat ramen throughout the day, but when I'm out here camping on the coast I tend to wake up with the sun. Breakfast ramen (朝ラー) at Ramen Man is a bit lighter than their normal tonkotsu ramen and at only 480 yen for a bowl, I spend more on coffee than this work of art.

Traffic in Miyazaki Prefecture is nothing like Tokyo, so it should only take you about 10 minutes to get out here.







Ramen Man was ranked as one of the top spots in Miyazaki over the last decade. It's another one of those spots that simmer their soup for a ridiculous amount of time. Trotters, heads, and bones stay on the heat for 20 hours. They go through around 200kg of bones a day in this pursuit. It's a style they call yobimodoshi (呼び戻し). Massive pots are kept on heat at all times, with bones and water being added as needed. This requires unique skills that take years to master.

The opposite of this, where a smaller pot is cleaned out each time is called torikiri (取りきり). That's some nerdy ramen knowledge!

Some people categorize Kyushu-style tonkotsu by both the level of cloudiness and whether it is yobimodoshi or torikiri.

Though I only had a chance to try the morning ramen, I've heard very good things about the normal, thicker stuff served from 11 in the morning until 11 at night.


Takana (たかな) spicy mustard greens are available on the counter, but they ask that you only put on what you can eat. There was a takana shortage in 2019 due to it becoming a trendy food, and the cost to shops went up significantly. It became commonplace for shops to charge.




Miyazaki isn't often thought of as a ramen destination, a stereotype I came to learn wasn't entirely accurate.

By the way, the owner here is a huge Beatles fan. You'll understand if you step inside the shop.

Official site here.



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