Ramen lovers are in for a treat when they visit Sapporo Ramen Yokocho. Yokocho means alley in Japanese and this famed alley is well-known as the birthplace of Miso Ramen. This narrow corridor located near Susukino Station may not be that easy to find but you can always engage the help of friendly Japanese commuters. The alley offers a selection of around 17 ramen restaurants.

Braving the cold winter breeze, we did a quick assessment of the ramen restaurants by reading their menu and checking out their patronage.

Japanese ramen shopkeepers takes great care of the customers dining within their premise. When the restaurant is full, they urged us to keep the doors close and wait patiently outside to prevent cold air from flowing in. Eventually, we managed to get two seats in one of our shortlisted choice – Teshikaga.

With only 6 to 8 seats within the restaurant, the locals are only there to satisfy their stomach. Socialising need to take place somewhere else after dinner. Hangers are thoughtfully provided to hang our coats in the restaurant.

The restaurant operate by a ticket vending machine system as well. Just pass the ticket to one of the chef and they will start preparing your orders. We admired the passion of the chefs, it is way beyond just eking out a living. It is the pride that they have for their craft.

Our ramen came within 5 minutes. I gave mine full marks for the aesthetics but the taste was surprisingly ordinary. The noodles, char siew and egg were good but the flavours of the broth was a little too light.

My friend’s bowl of ramen wasn’t that impressive as well. It could either be that our expectations were heighten because we were dining in Sapporo Ramen Yokocho or this was the taste of ramen that the local loved. Singaporeans tend to prefer stronger flavours.

The gyoza shared made a wonderful complement to our ramens. The hot soupy bowls of noodles also warmed us up for our walk back to the hotel.

We were pretty glad that the ramen standards in Singapore are on the high side. The ramen we had in Ramen Yokocho were good but it did not wow us. Still we recommend that you visit the alley when you are in Sapporo to give the rest of the restaurants a try. Here’s the full details:

Sapporo Ramen Yokocho

Address: 3 Chome-8 Minami 5 Jōnishi, Chūō-ku, Sapporo-shi, Hokkaidō 064-0805, Japan

Nearest Train Station: Susukino Station

Do let us know your experience at Sapporo Ramen Yokocho in the comments section below!