牧商店 (Maki Shoten in Fukuoka)

博多 牧商店



I mentioned in my last post that I was in Fukuoka on a foodies trip. I wasn't alone, and some of the others were ramen shop owners from local shops as well as shops that reside far away. One local master's disciple had recently opened a shop of his own. Time to check it out.



No pressure when your former boss comes to try your ramen.



Maki Shoten has an entire dinner menu, with pork stir-fry and omelets among other things. This was stop #4 of the day (we had already had ramen, squid sashimi, and motsu nabe), so just a bowl of ramen would have to do.



Classic Fukuoka-style. Choose from white, black, or red. Black adds some burnt garlic oil, while red (I'm assuming) is spicy. Tender chashu and solid toppings. This bowl checks all the boxes that make up a decent Hakata ramen.



Official site here.





福岡県福岡市博多区博多駅前3-12-3
Fukuoka-ken, Fukuoka-shi, Hakata-ku, Hakataekimae 3-12-3
Closest station: Hakata

Open 11:00-15:00, 18:00-1:00am

はなもこし (Hanamokoshi in Fukuoka)

麺道はなもこし



Road trip! I got the call a week before the trip. Spend between two and five days in Kyushu, eating anything and everything. High-end sushi reservations were already made, and it was our goal to fill in the time between with b-kyu, casual gourmet dishes. Ramen was definitely on the menu.



Hanamokoshi can be a tough one to get in to. They open from 11:45 until 1:30, but will probably run out of soup, so try and get there when they open or shortly after. They open again at dinner, for only one hour from seven to eight.



Yes, this system makes it tough, but as one of Fukuoka's great non-tonkotsu shops, they are in high regards.



This is a breathtaking bowl. The master studied not only ramen noodle making, but pasta and udon. He wanted this one to resemble a dish called niku udon, udon topped with meat. The handmade noodles use local flour, and have a bit like nothing else in town.

The soup is a simple dashi made from dried seabream and sardines from the nearby Seto Inland Sea.



Little bits of art adorn the walls in this homey spot.



A must-hit in Fukuoka if you grow tired of the plethora of 100% pork ramen you find on every corner.



Official site here.



福岡県福岡市中央区薬院2-4-35
Fukuoka-ken, Fukuoka-shi, Chuo-ku, Yakuin 2-4-35
2 minute walk from Yakuin-Odori Station

Open 11:45-14:00, 19:00-22:00
Closed Sundays

祥気 (Shoki in Nagaoka, Niigata)

麺の風 祥気


Nagaoka is an interesting city in Niigata Prefecture. There is a bustling downtown near the station, and then another kind of new-town a ways north. About a 45 minute walk gets you close to the AEON Nagaoka shopping mall. Another 5 gets you to Shoki.



No one recommended this one, it was all just a casual search on the supleks ramen database. A fairly high ranking either means that it is a good ramen shop, or a Jiro-style temple to pork and garlic. Fortunately, Shoki is the former.



Chukasoba, shio ramen, and tantanmen are on offer. As the menu says 人気No.1 next to the shio, that's the one to go for. Light shio with some not-so-light chicken oil on top. The whole thing was rounded out with yuzu zest. A stellar bowl in the countryside, far from Tokyo.



The jumbo gyoza were also recommended by the staff. Handmade on site, they were plump and juicy. My kind of gyoza. Warning, there's a bit of garlic in these, and my breath was stinking on the 45 minute walk back to my hotel. Sure, you can take a bus, but where's the fun in that.



I love seeing things like stamp rallies outside of Tokyo. I spend most of my ramen hunting time in the big city, and seeing all these shops, all these smiling masters, it lets me know that the world of ramen is something I can never tire of.



Niigata is a large prefecture, and their excellent-looking ramen rivals any city in Japan.







新潟県長岡市寺島町729
Niigata-ken, Nagaoka-shi, Terajimamachi 729
Closest station: Nagaoka

Open 11:00-15:30, 17:00-20:30
Weekends 11:00-20:00
Closed Sundays