Chukasoba Youki / 中華そば 陽気 - Hiroshima
Chukasoba Youki (中華そば 陽気) is the highest ranked ramen shop in Hiroshima city and Hiroshima prefecture. During my last trip in Hiroshima, I had a few chances to talk to locals about this shop and got the impression that not only the rankings, but also the locals think that this is the best ramen shop in Hiroshima.
The entrance of Chukasoba Youki promises a classic and nostalgic ramen experience.
Youki serves tonkotsu ramen that is seasoned with shoyu tare and traditionally flanked by a big onigiri rice ball. The recipe of the ramen has remained unchanged since the shop opened in 1957 and gives us a tasty glimpse into ramen history.
The menu at Youki is quite easy to navigate, since there isn’t all that much variety.
The menu is honestly as much “no frills” as it possibly can be. There is essentially only one bowl of ramen that you can order. The only addition to the ramen is chashu, which is added via a separate button. As side items, you can order their famous salted onigiri, which I would argue is a must get. Additionally, they also offer mini chashu dons, which are small rice bowls topped with chashu, probably the cut up end pieces that don’t look nice enough to be put on ramen bowls.
If you want to eat this style of ramen at home, there are also 2 takeaway options. The first one is for taking out fresh ramen to cook at home, which I would only recommend if you have access to a kitchen somewhere in or around Hiroshima. The other option is to get their souvenir ramen, which I personally did. Maybe I will write a review about it in the future.
The soup at Youki is light compared to rich tonkotsu bowls, but still has a lot of richness overall.
The ramen have a rather light pork bone soup base, combined with a moderately salty soy sauce seasoning. Overall in kind of of reminded me of a light variant of iekei ramen, although they do not share a common history.
The beautiful long noodles at Youki make you wish that they offered a large portion size.
The noodles are thin and straight, relatively low hydration. My first thought went into the direction of Hakata tonkotsu style noodles and I think they probably share some ancestry. The noodles here are bit thicker though, but very much in the same category.
If I had to guess, I would say that Hiroshima style tonkotsu developed out of the Hakata and Nagahama style white tonkotsu that is way more famous these days. Since soy sauce is one of the big products of the area around Hiroshima, it is only natural for the tonkotsu here to be combined with a shoyu tare, instead of the shio tare focus you find on Kyushu.
Lightly blanched sprouts provide crunch and texture.
The ramen at Youki is topped with blanched sprouts and a heap of negi green onion. The sprouts provide some texture to the rich and creamy bowl, while the negi bring a bit of zing to the table. A very classic topping combination for ramen.
Direct top-down view on the chashu and the other toppings on Youki’s ramen.
The chashu is quite old school and reminded me of Kitakata style chashu, lightly flavored with a good bite. Be aware that I added some chashu to my bowl. The standard bowl at Youki will have a few slices less chashu.
The lightly salted side onigiri is a must at Youki. It comes itself flanked by pickled radish.
The onigiri rice ball is made with high quality rice and seasoned with salt. It does not contain any filling. For me personally, similar to iekei, rice is the perfect finisher for this type of ramen.
The secret pro tip at Youki is to ask the ladies running the shop for some garlic, just say “ninniku onegaishimasu”. They will bring you a freshly grated garlic on a small plate for you to drop into the soup. I could not find any reference to it inside of the shop, but saw multiple people reference it in reviews, when I did some research. I recommend eating at least one third to one half of your soup to get the classic experience. The garlic changes the flavor dramatically and really kicks things up. Especially since it is freshly grated garlic, the aroma is very intense and punchy, way more compared to the pre-grated garlic you get at other tonkotsu shops on the counter. You can actually see me adding my video about Chukasoba Youki.
You can find the Youki main location a bit outside of the city center of Hiroshima within the port area to the South. You can get close to it via tram to Eba station or by taking the bus line 6. There are also Youki ramen shop locations near Hiroshima station, in the Yokogawa suburb and the near the Peace Memorial Museum.
If you find yourself down there, maybe also consider making a stop at rit. craft chocolate and coffee for some great dessert and coffee.
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