Taking Ichiran Home: The Hakata Thin Noodle Set, Five Servings

Almost everyone has the same thought after eating at Ichiran: could I have this at home?

You cannot bring back the bowl, or the wooden divider. The flavour, though, travels surprisingly well.

What Is in the Box

Ichiran Ramen, Hakata Thin Straight Noodles (5 servings). According to the official shop, the box contains three things:

• Hakata thin noodles × 5
• Liquid soup base × 5
• The red secret powder × 5

That last item is the point. In the restaurant it arrives as the red sauce in the middle of your bowl; here it comes as a powder, one sachet per serving. A take-home ramen set without it is not really the same product — the red part is what makes an Ichiran bowl taste like an Ichiran bowl.

On the noodles, the official description says they use “a specially blended, rare wheat flour” to give the firmness and smoothness the restaurant is known for.

How to Cook It (the official method)

Four steps.

1. Bring 450 ml of water to the boil
2. Boil the noodles for 2–4 minutes, depending on how firm you like them
3. Take the pot off the heat, then add the soup base and stir well
4. Pour into your bowl, and add the red secret powder last

The order matters. Soup goes in off the heat; the powder goes on at the very end, after the noodles are in the bowl. Follow that and it is difficult to get wrong.

Why It Travels Well

• It is light. Even the five-serving box slips into a gap in a suitcase
• It keeps. The official shop states that orders ship with at least two months of shelf life remaining — comfortably enough for a trip home
• It needs no explanation. Even if the person you give it to has never heard of Ichiran, the instructions are four lines long

Two Honest Warnings

Refrigerate after opening. The official storage note asks you to reseal the noodles after opening, keep them away from heat and humidity, and store them somewhere cold such as a refrigerator. Sealed, for the journey home, it is fine — but once opened, finish it reasonably soon.

Check your own country’s import rules before you buy. Tonkotsu means pork bone broth, so this contains pork-derived ingredients. A great many countries restrict or prohibit bringing in meat products, and the problem does not arise when you leave Japan — it arises at the border you are arriving at. Please look up your own customs and quarantine guidance before you fly. It is a short search, and it is a miserable thing to have confiscated.

Price and Where to Buy

The official shop lists it at ¥2,300 including tax at the time of writing. Prices from Rakuten and Amazon sellers differ.

You can also buy it in the restaurant itself — order it at the counter when you order your ramen. It also turns up in airport and station shops.

How to Have It Delivered to Your Tokyo Hotel

Amazon Japan and Rakuten can deliver straight to the hotel where you are staying, which saves carrying a multi-pack around. Ordering a few days before your flight home works well: collect the package at the front desk. Set the shipping address to the hotel, with the hotel name and your guest name exactly as it appears on the reservation.

• Please check with your hotel in advance that they accept packages for guests
• On Amazon.co.jp, the English display toggle is at the top right of the screen. Rakuten Ichiba is a Japanese-language site, so use your browser’s translation if you find it hard to read

About the Original Bowl

The solo booth, the order sheet, the ticket machine, and the red sauce itself are all covered in the original article.

→ Ichiran Natural Tonkotsu Ramen: The Solo Booth, the Order Sheet, and the Red Sauce

Who Is This For?

Anyone who ate at Ichiran and found themselves thinking about it again on the flight home. And anyone who has tried to explain Japanese ramen to their family and watched the explanation fail. With five servings, it is quicker to just cook it for them.

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