Ramen Museum @ Yokohama

It would be silly to head to Yokohama just for Ramen museum...but that was exactly what happened due to time constraints. Just 30 minutes train ride from Tokyo station, Ramen Musuem was found without much difficulty!

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Right at the door steps.

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Ramen Musuem, like its name sugggests houses the top ramen names throughout the whole of Japan.Incorporating the concept of a museum, it takes you back in time...into the 1950s where policemen still wore shorts and it is quite a history journey with all the artifacts put in place. From the old telephone booth to a psuedo hair dresser's...even the sky and roving policeman...everything just felt so old school! Even the parents were so in awe and gamely posed for photos with us.

Our Food Republic bore such uncanny resemblance to it.

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Even the dirt was deliberate to make this nostalgic!

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Eki, we headed to for Hokkaido ramen. Ranked tops by diners, we only had space for one and went with the mass advice. On hindsight, we should have gone for Yokohama's..afterall we were there!

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The obsession with paper lanterns this time round!

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Vending machine stamps.They insist on one order per adult which smashed our hopes of trying out different types of ramen throughout the museum.

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Eki was packed...infact, all the ramen shops were!

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Yuzu chilli paste. Bombastic. Yuzu works wonders the way a dash of lime does but yuzu infuses more zest into ordinary chilli paste.

We had a go at all three types of noodle: Soy sauce, miso, black sauce.

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Miso based.

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Soy sauced based.

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Black sauce.

Miso based soup got my vote for personal favourite. This was a lot less salty than the rest though the layer of oil swimming atop the soup was hard to miss. Like maggi noodles, the wavy noodles made slurping mandatory. The noodles were chewy and firm, retaining much of the bite until the very last mouthful.

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Mentaiko rice (350 Yen)

Belittle this bowl not. Vibrant colours aside, the shreds of fried egg and salty mentaiko with shreds of nori should be tossed with the rice to reveal the most tantilising combination ever.

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The oldshop bread-icecream shop that tempted.

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In the olden Japanese schools, they served bread rolls like these during recess time.

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See what I mean by a total replication of the past? Even the store owner looked the part!

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4 flavours up for grabs.

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Peanut powdered bread roll. The bread wasn't the most fantabulous, doughy bread roll with the loveliest and most generous portion of peanut powder. For that split second, I felt I was transported to decades back.

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The charm continues with an oldschool tuckshop stocking all the Japanese sweets and snacks from yesteryears. I went totally "awwww" at this! The uncle had wrinkles drawn on his face to look the part....I was completely sold by now.

With japanese tunes played on the background, it was an immersion in the past...

old school candy

Walking away with a couple of treats..orange flavoured cigarette sweets?

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Every museum is surely not complete without a souvenir store. Keychains, mugs and bowls aside, you can choose to customise your own ramen pack. I nearly gave in but decided against.

Ramen museum brought out the child in both my parents and myself...we had a great time there! Looking back, I wish I had the guts to try out more than one ramen stall! Two storeys worth of nostalgia and 600 Yen each...well worth the experience!

A couple of doors away was Freshness Burger and I was soooooo tempted to sit myself there and tuck in heartily. If only I wasn't so stuffed...if only.

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