I love spicy and hot food. I think I started eating more and more spicy food when I was in universtity. When I was growing up, I can clearly remember the time my father and I were at a Thai restaurant. The waiter asked my father, "How spicy do you want it?" My father replied, "As spicy as you can make it." When the dish arrived, you could have smell the heat and spices coming from the dish. My father could not finish the dish because it was too spicy for him. That was quite surprising for me because I knew my father loved spicy food.
When I was in university, I was always going out and trying new foods from dim sum in Chicago's Chinatown to pho in Uptown to Thai food in Albany park. When I started eating new foods, my palate suddenly became exposed to new flavors and tastes. One of those tastes was spice and heat. I loved the endorphin rush that comes from eating spicy food. It is quite addictive.
Recently, I have been loving all sort of spicy foods from Thai curries to spicy dan dan men (a fiery spicy ramen) to mapo tofu (tofu and ground beef in a spicy sauce). A few months ago, I was in a bookstore, and I saw this magazine. I love reading food magazines whether they are in Japanese or in English. When I noticed that they had a section dedicated to spicy food, I knew I had to buy this magazine and go out and try these different dishes. So far, I went to Magic Spice in Osu to try a spicy soup curry. Afterwards, I wanted to eat some ramen. This is how I came to eating at Ippudo ramen in Hirabari, Nagoya. According to description in the magazine, I noticed that the sauce for the ramen will contain habernos and other chilis. From the point on, I knew I had to go this shop and try this ramen.
When coming out of Hirabari Station on the Tsrumai Line, the ramen shop is about a 5 to minute walk form the station. It is next to a Book Off. Look for the sign below and you get to the shop. Please note that are many Ippudo ramen shops in Japan. It is a national chain specializing in Hakata-style tonkotsu ramen. The broth is made from pork bones. It has a unique smell.
When I got to the restaurant, I was seated at the counter. The server asked me what I wanted to order. I told her that I wanted the Ippudo Karaka Men (一風堂からか麺）and I told I wanted it the toku version. With this ramen, you can choose the level of heat. I chose the second hottest version that they had. Also, she asked what kind of noodles that I wanted. I said that I wanted the noodles rather hard. I sometimes like hard noodles in my tonkotsu ramen. Below are some pictures and a video that I took of the ramen. It should be noted that I crushed 4 cloves of garlic into the ramen. Plus, you can see the various condiments that come with the ramen. You can add crushed garlic, ground sesame, and other pickled vegetables if you like.
Here is the finished bowl of ramen. In terms of heat, it was not that bad at first. However since the spice and heat was in the ramen, I felt the heat of the chilis about a half later after eating it. With being said, itt was a very delicious and tasty bowl of ramen. I highly recommend it.
Here is the menu for Ippudo Ramen.
Here are some pics from inside of the restaurant.
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