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How to order ramen in Japan

By on October 27, 2016

Many non-Japanese speakers have been in and out of restaurants in Japan.  While some can order sans difficulty in the language, some struggle with how to get their order right.  Casual Japanese restaurants  have ubiquitous plastic food models on display that give you an idea how foods look but rarely how they taste.

Oftentimes menu at ramen or noodle shops in the city is in Japanese (unless you’re at a tourist belt) .   Ramen is one of Japan’s popular comfort foods in autumn and winter. 

If you are an adventurous eater who keeps getting “mystery bowls” at ramen restaurants, here’s a quick guide as to how to pronounce key words that will help you get your order right!

shoyu-ramen
The four basic soup stocks of Japanese ramen are:  salted or “shio” (pronouned she-yo), pork broth “tonkotsu” (pronounced ton-cot-sue), soy sauce “shoyu” (pronounced show-you) and miso (pronounced me-sow).  Of course, ramen won’t taste good without the standard toppings so here’s what you should know.
Tokyo ramen
Soup:  light flavored chicken broth seasoned with dashi  and soy sauce
What comes with it: 2-3 thin slices of roast pork chashu (pronounced cha-shew), strips of bamboo shoots menma (pronounced mem-ma) seaweed nori (pronounced noh-rie), hard-boiled egg yudetamago (pronounced you-deh-tuh-mahgo) and chopped scallion negi (pronounced neh-gui).
Yokohama ramen
Soup: miso and pork broth
What comes with it: 2-3 thin slices of roast pork chashu (pronounced cha-shew), seaweed nori (pronounced noe-rie),  onion negi (pronounced neh-gie).
Miso ramen (Hokkaido origin)
Soup:  deep miso flavor in pork broth seasoned with garlic ninyiku (pronounced neen-yie-kew)
What comes with it: hard-boiled egg yudetamago (pronounced you-deh-tuh-mago), corn (pronounced con), 2-3 thin slices of roast pork chashu (pronounced cha-shew), mongo sprouts moyashi (pronounced moe-yuh-she), strips of bamboo shoots menma (pronounced mem-muh), seaweed nori (pronounced noe-rie). (Variation:  Sapporo ramen is sometimes topped with butter and seafood.)
Hakata ramen (Kyushu origin)
Soup:   rich tasting pork stock
What goes in it:   garlic ninyiku (pronounced neen-yie-kew), pickled ginger beni shoga (pronounced beh-knee-show-guh), sesame seeds goma (pronounced go-ma), 2-3  slices of roast pork chashu (pronounced cha-shew) , chopped scallion negi (pronounced neh-gie), spicy greens karashi takana (pronounced kuh-ra-she-tuh-kana)
Variations and what they mean:
Miso chashu: One standard bowl of Miso ramen contains only 2 – 3 thin slices of roast pork (chashu).  Miso chashu means you are ordering an extra serving of the meat for an additional cost.

Omori – This is the tricky part.  While omori (pronounced oh-moe-rie) generally means bigger-than-standard portion, it refers only to the noodle and not the other stuff that goes with it.   For example, omori bento refers to more rice only.

Men wo sukuname de – means you want them to put less noodles.

Butter tsuki (pronounced bahtaa-tsu-key) – This means “with butter” for an added cost.  Say what you want added + tsuki + de onegaishi-masu (please)

Butter nuki (pronounced bahtaa nue-key) – This means “without butter” for the same price as with butter.  Say what you want removed + nuki + de onegaishimasu (please)

About Tim Furukawa