Ichiran

Personal experience

One weekday in July, we went for lunch at Ichiran in Kyoto Karasuma, located along Shijo Street. In Japan today, there are a multitude of ramen restaurants, but personally, the taste of Ichiran’s ramen is among our favorites.

The restaurant is about a 5-minute walk from the Shijo-Kawaramachi intersection, along Shijo Street. It’s on the second floor, accessible via an outside staircase. Once you’ve climbed the stairs and entered the restaurant, you’ll immediately find a ticket vending machine where you can choose your menu and pay in advance. When we arrived at around 12:30, there were 4 or 5 people in front of us at the ticket machine, and we had to wait about 5 minutes. There are two ticket machines. When it’s your turn, you place and pay for your order at the machine, which issues tickets indicating each product ordered. With these tickets in hand, you proceed inside the restaurant, where you have to queue again until a seat becomes available. There were about five people in front of us. While we waited, an employee handed us a slip on which we ticked off our noodle preferences (firmness, spiciness, etc.) from the options on offer.

The staff member manages the seating so as to optimize occupancy, while placing people next to each other on a lighted board. Although there were 2 free seats side by side, the single person in front of us had to wait 2-3 minutes for another seat to become available before she could sit down, and we entered immediately afterwards at these 2 seats. She had no doubt estimated that a place would become available quickly, and that it wasn’t worth the trouble to get us in first. So don’t be surprised or impatient if you’re not seated straight away, even if there are apparently seats available.

A particularity of Ichiran restaurants is that, whatever the branch (but there seem to be a few exceptions), each customer is seated in an individual “booth”. Even if more than one person is present, you can sit side by side, but the seats remain strictly separate. Once you’re seated in a sort of individual booth, the curtain in front of you is opened and an employee quickly comes over. You then hand over the ticket issued by the machine, together with the form you filled in while waiting (concerning noodle cooking, spiciness level, etc.). A water tap is installed at each seat, so you can help yourself to free water. When the staff collect the ticket and order sheet, the curtain opposite is lowered. You then have to wait for the ramen to be ready. However, each table is equipped with a button for calling the staff if necessary.

On the upper part of the cubicle, against the wall, is a detailed explanation in Japanese of Ichiran’s commitments and particularities. It explains, among other things, that Ichiran is the originator of the famous “secret red chili sauce”, that only four employees within the company know the recipe for the broth that forms the basis of the taste of their ramen, and that master craftsmen prepare the noodles every day taking into account climate, temperature and humidity, using a blend of flours specially developed by the house. After a 10-minute wait, the bowl of ramen is served. One of the house’s distinctive features is its concept of “ultra-fresh ramen” and the “15-second rule”. It clearly states: “Each bowl is prepared individually to be served in its optimum condition. For this reason, we recommend that you start eating immediately, without waiting for your table companions.” The noodles, elaborated with extreme care for their taste, aroma and texture, are very delicate. Once immersed in the broth, their quality changes rapidly. That’s why Ichiran’s policy is to install seating no more than 28.8 meters from the kitchen, to ensure that each ramen is served within 15 seconds of its preparation: what they call “the 15-second rule”.

In almost all ramen restaurants in Japan, there’s a system called kaedama (替え玉), which allows you to order an extra portion of noodles if you’re still hungry. This service is also available at Ichiran.

At your seat, you’ll find a form for extra orders: just tick the items you want (like kaedama) and press the button to call an employee. Payment for extras is made directly to the staff, at the time of ordering. Ichiran offers a rather special experience with its separate individual boxes for each customer. But if you like tonkotsu ramen (pork broth ramen), it’s well worth trying their carefully crafted bowls.