Ramen Misoya / らぁめんみそ家 - Nagano

Misoya (らぁめんみそ家) is the most famous and popular ramen shop in Nagano city, just across the street of Nagano station. A must visit for all ramen fans making a stop in Nagano city.

*Front of ramen shop Ramen Misoya, right across from Nagano station.*

Misoya is serving a miso ramen made with the famous local Shinshu miso of Nagano, which has fans all over Japan.

The shop only serves miso ramen, but offers variety as you can get spicy miso or miso tsukemen versions. Looking at the menu, you can see the almost the same items at the top and the bottom. The only difference is the noodles which are used. At the top, you get regular ramen noodles, the bottom ones are from stone ground whole wheat flour, which have a more bread-ish flavor to them.

The inside of Misoya has a small waiting area at the entrance of the store, must people waiting will have to line up outside though. The kitchen looks like it has been upgraded and updated just recently, lots of new and shiny appliances which are being kept in top condition. Note the wok station, which is essential for this type of ramen.

*The miso ramen at Misoya in all of its glory, fresh out of the wok.*

Compared to the more famous Sapporo miso ramen, the miso ramen of Nagano is significantly lighter. It lacks the thick layer of lard that makes Sapporo miso ramen so rich.

*Light miso ramen soup, made with the local Shinshu miso.*

The miso at Misoya is mixed with sprouts and onions, then wok fried before everything gets added to the broth, to combine into a delectable miso ramen soup. If you have tried it in the area, you can easily recognize the local Shinshu miso that is used in making the miso ramen at Misoya. It has the distinct flavor and coarseness, leaving bits and pieces of the miso floating in the soup.

*The bowl of ramen comes out piping hot - slurp at your own risk!*

Another highlight are the optional stone ground wheat flour noodles, which have a very “whole wheat” taste to them, which I mainly know from German dark whole wheat breads. Very interesting and quite rare to find in ramen.

The chashu is classic rolled pork belly, for which they used rather meaty pieces without huge layers of fat. The chashu is super tender and almost falls apart when picked up.

No ramen would be complete without an egg. At Misoya, they outsource the peeling work to their customers. So you get an unpeeled egg and have to peel it yourself, which keeps you entertained until your bowl of ramen is ready. Since the egg comes unpeeled, it somewhat limits the seasoning of the egg. I think they salt the boiling water somewhat, but it is on the unseasoned side when compared to other ajitama ramen eggs.

The area of Nagano city is not only known for miso and winter sports, but also somewhat surprisingly for chili. There are a ton of chili related products that you can buy in the city, of which some find their way onto the counter of Misoya.

*Shichimi by Yawata Isogoro, a product you find all over Nagano.*

The first must try is their shichimi seven spice, which has chili powder as the main spice, but also brings 6 other spices to the table, namely ginger, shiso, sansho, orange peel, black sesame and hemp seeds. You can find out more about this specific product and the ingredients on their website. It is one of the essential souvenirs to bring from your journey to Nagano.

Another must add on the counter is a spicy chili paste. I want to call it karamiso, which means spicy miso, but actually there was not much saltiness to it, rather pure packed chili flavor, although not too spicy. So you can actually add quite a bit to your bowl without making it too spicy or too salty, which is often an issue with doubanjiang chili pastes. Honestly, at Misoya it is a mandatory addition for me. Next time, I would probably directly go for their spicy bowl instead, as this paste really elevated the bowl to another level for me.