Fukuoka part 1: Ramen.. here we come!

Sam got last Friday off as he had to work a previous weekend so we went down to Fukuoka to visit a family friend of Sam's over the weekend. It was extra cold on Friday and it started to snow on the bus ride from Kobe to Kansai airport. Our flight was a little delayed due to snow but we arrived safe and sound after about a 1 hour and 10 minute flight.

Our first task was to get some ramen!! Fukuoka is famous for their tonkotsu ramen. A lady from church recommended a ramen shop/franchise called Ichiran, which is where we went for lunch. You purchase food tickets from a machine at the front of the store and proceed inside to find a vacant seat by looking on a panel located at the front of the shop.  Ichiran has something called "Flavour concentration system" where you sit in individual booths. You customise your ramen by filling out your preferences for the different components on an order sheet. For example, flavour strength, richness, meat/ no meat and noodle hardness. You hand this sheet in along with your meal tickets through a small window in front of you. After your meal arrives the waiters then let down a bamboo screen in front of that window to allow you to concentrate on the flavour in your little booth. If you need noodle refills or extra toppings you can call them by pressing a button within the booth.

The ramen at Ichiran is similar to Ippudo as they are both Hakata ramen. The individual components do vary slightly. The noodles were a little thicker, the cut of pork was shoulder (as opposed to belly) and the soup base was a little different. Overall I prefer Ippudo's ramen. Ippudo also has their special marinated soft boiled egg.

Ichiran ramen with kikurage mushrooms

After ramen we walked around Canal city which is basically a big shopping mall. We went into one food souvenir type shop and found some interesting products as seen below. Haha...

Bust pudding

It was snowing most of Friday in Fukuoka so we spent most of our time in Canal city before heading over to an island part of Fukuoka called Nokonoshima Island. Every hour in canal city there is a water show. A different tune is played each hour and the water show is choreographed differently for each song. It is pretty cool to watch! Didn't end up taking any pictures of it though.

Half snowy tree

Cool half grassy building (part of canal city)

Stay tuned for the next instalment of our adventure in Fukuoka.