Ikkousha in Fukuoka!

I just wrote about Ikkousha being crowned the Ultimate Ramen Champion in Singapore last week. 

What a coincidence!

Just in the following week, I have a chance to travel Ikkousha's hometown, Fukuoka. While I couldn't write about Singapore's Ikkousha now, of course I should visit the real authentic Ikkousha in Fukuoka.

And here I am, in Ikkousha @ Deitos Hakata, right on top of the JR Hakata Station.

Irasshaiimase!

This Ikkousha outlet is located in the Hakata Noodle Street, a food street with 12 noodles stores from different parts of Kyushu. Besides ramen, it also has shops offering udon, soba and Nagasaki champion.

Maybe I am a little early for lunch

Frankly I was not aware of Ikkousha when I was in Tokyo, but walking around the streets of Fukuoka, I spotted quite a number of them - They are a famous regional brand from Fukuoka!

Checking Ikkousha's homepage, they have 9 outlets in Fukuoka alone, and 1 more in Kyoto. In addition to the Ikkousha brand, there are also other brands such as Gensuke (offering seafood-tonkotsu ramen. unfortunately closed in Singapore), Genkun (offering tsuke-men), Genou (offering tsuke-men too) and Keishi (offering seafood-shoyu ramen). Last but not least, the group also has a noodle manufacturing company, supplying noodles to the group and beyond. 

Overseas and beyond Singapore, they have also expanded to Jakarta, with 2 stores now. 

Outside the Deitos store, there is this board that was created to share with their customers that they are now expanding to the world!

世界進出 - Expanding to the world!

Attracted by the huge pieces of char siew, I tried the Char Siew Ramen (850 yen).

Giant char siew!!

The ramen is topped with spring onion, black fungus and 4 thin slices of char siew that spill over the edge of the bowl. True to the Hakata style tonkotsu ramen, narrow and white noodles are used, and the soup is creamy with the rich smell of pork bones. The soup is boiled over strong fire in a large traditional Japanese pot, thereby giving it its creamy texture. However, this way also introduces the "pork bone smell" that some might not like. The sauce (tare) used is said to have used 4 different types of local soy sauce, a handful of spices and a few types of seafood.

Personally I like this bowl of ramen. While it does not gives a strong impact in a single area, it is tasty and mild that kept me eating on and on. The char siew is soft and compliments the soup and noodles well. Compared to the outlet in Singapore, I felt that the soup is slightly thicker here in Fukuoka. 

There is a direct flight from Singapore to Fukuoka, so to those of you ramen fans out there, you might want to visit Fukuoka and taste Ikkousha and also other famous Hakata ramen!

View Ramen Walker's Ramen Map in a larger map

Ramen Data - Ikkousha @ Hakata Deitos

Address: 1-1 Hakataeki-Chuogai, Hakata-ku, Fukuoka (Inside Hakata Ramen Road, Deitos 2F)
Types: Tonkotsu Ramen
Price: 650 - 1050 yen