This is the first time I am tasting a traditional ramen and I was mind blown!!! And what’s even better is this big bowl of goodness is VEGAN! Me, being a vegetarian, have been hunting for good spots vegetarian around that served traditional Japanese food, which was hard to find. This hearty bowl made me sooooo happy yesterday 😀

Ramen (ラーメン) is a noodle soup dish that was originally imported from China and is one of the most popular dishes in Japan. Ramen restaurants, or ramen-ya, can be found in virtually every corner of the country and produce countless regional variations of this common noodle dish. Ramen are typically categorized according to their soup base. I think the one I had is a Shio ramen. Shio ramen soup is a light, clear broth seasoned with salt.

The second key aspect of ramen are the noodles, which are made of wheat and come in many different types. Typical Ramen noodles are long and elastic, but countless varieties exist that vary from thin and straight to thick and wavy.

Though ramen is a one pot meal by itself, many ramen-ya also serve a selection of side dishes in addition to their noodles. The offerings vary from shop to shop but virtually all ramen-ya serve gyoza (potstickers). These Chinese style, pan fried dumplings come five or six to an order and are eaten after being dipped in a mixture of soy sauce, vinegar and rayu (hot chili oil), all of which are usually available on the table and combined according to your taste.

This bowl of ramen and the Goyza together costed about 1230 yen. You can refill the noodles too if you want.

Place: Chabuton Yadobashi-Umeda, Osaka