A pile of meat and vegetables, rich and strong flavour soup, etc… In Japan, there are so many filling ramens which have such features. Since they become customer attraction, many hearty ramens are invented in Japan, and Ibaraki stamina ramen is one of them.
In this article, you will find the charm of it and the well-known restaurants. Please have a look if you are a ramen lover.
What is Stamina Ramen?
The most essential part of stamina ramen is its thick soup. It commonly contains fried ingredients like meat and vegetables, and also has soy sauce flavour.
The thickness of the soup is made with potato starch. It combines all ingredients including the soup itself, so you can have every delicious stuff in one bite. That is why many people are charmed by stamina ramen.
The Features of Ibaraki Stamina Ramen
Ibaraki stamina ramen contains thick and chewy noodles which are more filling than thin ones. Topping is, of course, thick soup. It has a little bit sweet soy sauce flavour, but with a hint of spice, that comes from the chilli pepper. That makes stamina ramen very addictive.
Ibaraki stamina ramen toppings are always known as “Kashira”, regardless of what they actually are. Kashira commonly includes cabbage, pumpkin and liver. The combination of the crunchy cabbages and the soft pumpkins is wonderful. They are fried once and become richer than boiled ones. Also, the liver is not so gamey: it does not ruin the delicate soy sauce flavour.
Ingredients in Ibaraki stamina ramen has several variations. Some restaurants add carrot, Chinese cabbage or Chinese chives. Sometimes, other offal, like intestine, is used instead of the liver.
The History of Ibaraki Stamina Ramen
Ibaraki stamina ramen was invented thirty years ago, so it is a relatively new local food. The original one was created at a ramen restaurant “Taishin”. The manager, Junichi Nagai, innovated this fulfilling ramen and started a new restaurant “Stamina Ramen Matsugoro”. It became popular and is still well-known as the place people can have authentic Ibaraki stamina ramen.
Let’s Go to Ibaraki and Enjoy Stamina Ramen!
Nowadays, there are more forty ramen restaurants serving stamina ramen in Ibaraki. Although every restaurant serves delicious ramens, it would be a good idea to go to Taishin, the birthplace of Ibaraki stamina ramen and Stamina Ramen Matsugoro, which is recognised for a mecca of it. They are also recommended by many ramen lovers. If you have an opportunity to go to Ibaraki, you should try one of them.
By the way, there is another local stamina ramen in Japan. Saitama’s stamina ramen is just as good if not better than Ibaraki’s one. Saitama is next to Ibaraki, so if you have time, you can go to both prefectures and compare each ramen. It would be fun!
