The Best Ramen Shops in Asia

Pork bone broth

Tonkotsu is broth boiled from pork bones until it turns cloudy and thick. Gonta in Habikino serves it Nagahama-style with thin straight noodles, and Men-ya Ichimen Senshin in Kyoto makes its version from pork bones and water alone. The same broth is served outside Japan: Mendokoro Ramenba in Makati and Bari-Uma Ramen in Singapore both pour it thick and top it with thick-cut chashu.

Chicken and beef

Paitan is a cloudy white broth, and tori paitan is the chicken version. Tori Soba Zagin in Osaka serves it frothy under a tall pile of fried burdock root. Oreno Ramen in Seoul has only two bowls, a regular and a spicy tori paitan, with free refills of noodles, rice and broth. Beef bone broth appears in a few shops. Ninjomenya Gyukotsuo in Osaka seasons it with salt, Ramen San in Takayama builds its bowls on Hida beef, and Menya Nishikawa in Tokyo keeps its beef broth clear and light.

Dipping and brothless bowls

Some bowls come without soup in them. For tsukemen the noodles arrive on their own and are dipped into a separate bowl of concentrated broth; at Marubushi Tsukemen in Osaka the chef adds dashi to the leftover broth once the noodles are finished. Abura soba has no broth at all, only oil and seasoning under the noodles, and at Aburaya in Kanazawa the owner explains how to adjust the bowl with the condiments on the table.

Outside Japan

The shops in Makati, Taguig, Singapore and Seoul keep the Japanese counter format and add their own ordering systems. Both Mendokoro Ramenba branches in Metro Manila take the order and the payment before a seat is given, and diners eat at a counter by the open kitchen. Ramen-ya in Singapore and Oreno Ramen have a kiosk outside for the same purpose.