Takahashi Chukasobaten / たかはし中華そば店 - Hirosaki

Takahashi Chukasoba is a legendary ramen shop in the Aomori prefecture in the North of Japan, near the small city of Hirosaki. They serve a style of ramen known as “Tsugaru Ramen” and are often named as the best tsugaru ramen shop in all of Japan. I can’t really judge if that is true or not, however it was definitely one of the top shops I have tried in Northern Japan so far, maybe battling for the top position only with the famous Hirakoya near Aomori city.

The soup is visibly based on a lot of dried sardines, also known as niboshi. You can see the glittering and shining effect of the small scales of the niboshi, which disperse into the soup during the cooking process. Besides niboshi, the thick and rich soup contains pork and chicken. The flavor of the soup reminds me of a niboshi heavy gravy, without any hints of bitterness of harshness which often accompany niboshi bowls. Top quality niboshi and extraction methods. I guess. I wish I knew their secrets.

The noodles are made inhouse and are more thin compare to noodles at shops closer to Aomori city. Lightly wavy, they have a great bite to them and stand well against the rich and impactful soup.

Toppings are very classic. Chunky and dark menma, some negi for freshness and crunch and an old school style pork chashu, but perfectly prepared. You can’t even get eggs here, that’s how minimalistic the store is. Only variables are the amount of noodles, the amount of chashu and negi. Additionally you can order and rice on the side. That’s it. However there is another item on the menu, which is a kind of fusion dish between ramen and soba, where the ramen noodles are served zaru soba style.