The Ramen Glossary

Below is an evolving list of ramen-related terms that will frequently appear in the ramen reviews of this site.  Clarifying notes on semantics, sources, and advice are included where necessary.

If there is a term that is unclear and needs to be added, or if my definitions are incomplete, tweet at @willchews or email willchews.food@gmail.com

  • Aburasoba (油そば, “oil noodles”): A style of shirunashi ramen in which all the other ingredients integral to ramen–the tare, the komiabura, the noodles, the chashu, menma, negi, etc–are included save for the broth.  In place of broth, which is difficult and time-intensive to make, there is additional oil–hence the use of the term “abura”–to facilitate noodles going down one’s gullet. 
     

    Finer points of aburasoba are: the noodles are usually thicker than standard ramen, usually closer to that of tsukemen; like tsukemen, the noodle volume is about 50% more than the comparative ramen order, with base orders getting about 200g of noodles to 140g for ramen; at the mass-chain places, prices should be cheaper than comparative ramen since there is no need to provide broth, but this discount is less evident in one-off/independent shops; there is a much more prominent use of either onsen tamago or even raw egg over ajitama.

    For all intents and functional purposes, aburasoba and mazemen are the same thing.  

  • Afuri: A shop located in the Ebisu neighborhood of Tokyo known for integrating yuzu flavors into its assari shio and shoyu ramen.  Though a well-regarded (but not spectacular) shop, Afuri got thrust into the spotlight when cited by the American-born, Tokyo-based ramen chef Ivan Orkin as one of the best ramen shops in the city.  Attention from other celebrity chefs such as Anthony Bourdain and David Chang amplified his opinion and the name recognition of Afuri. 
     

    For ramen enthusiasts who think Ippudo and Ichiran are a little too basic, Afuri’s 23 different locations across the world gives them plentiful platforms to demonstrate their budding ramen sophistication.  Japanese ramen shops largely have not followed in Afuri’s use of yuzu, but overseas shops have done so in large numbers and with great gusto, perhaps hoping to capture some of Afuri’s magic.  

  • Ajitsuke Tamago, usually “Ajitama”: (味付け卵 “flavored egg”): This is the egg one usually sees in most bowls.  Soft-boiled eggs that are boiled, peeled, and then soaked in a mixture primarily made from shoyu, mirin, and dashi for at least a day. 

    A related version is the nitamago (煮卵, “boiled egg) and hanjuku tamago (半熟煮卵, “half-boiled egg”), which is prepared similarly minus the soy sauce-mirin marination.

    When served, the outside egg whites should have turned into a light caramel color.  More importantly, the yolks should be of a semisolid jelly-like consistency; they should not pour out, nor should they have any flaky solidity.  Cochin chickens from the Nagoya region are reputed to have the best eggs, supposedly costing about 100 yen a pop. 

    One final thing of note is that while in US ramen shops ajitama are almost always included ramen orders, in Japan they are usually not included in the base option.  Those desiring ajitama in their bowls–and you should–will either have to order à là carte, or choose the buttons on the ticket machine that correspond a bowl where eggs are included, or a tokusei bowl.

  • Assari (あっさり, “light”): This is the more common Japanese term for lighter-bodied ramen broth such as shoyu or shio.   Equivalent to the “chintan” term that is favored in American ramen shops and circles, Japanese firms tend to favor the term “assari” instead.

    Broths can be made from any number of ingredients, but usually chicken and/or pork bones.  The key is that these stock pots are brewed slowly over low heat to produce a clear broth that is translucent even if the color is a deep, dark shoyu; cooking the bones and other ingredients at high heat creates kotteri (or paitan) broth that is much more creamy/cloudy.
  • Chashu (チャーシュー, 叉焼, “roasted”): Roasted meat that is sliced to top off ramen bowls.  Pork chashu is the norm, with the better Japanese shops favoring pork shoulder instead of belly; though if belly, it is often placed on top of a shichirin grill and blow-torched with an Iwatani torch.  Chicken chashu is also quite common, and there are shops here and there that will feature duck, beef, or even lamb chashu.  Chashu can be prepared in any number of ways: roasted, braised, sous vided, smoked, and of course, torched.  


    Semantics:     If you’re talking about the meat in Japanese ramen, it’s “chashu.”  Do not call it “char siu,” which is Chinese.  While chashu has Chinese culinary and etymological origins in char siu, their preparation and serving methods are noticeably different.  If you insist on calling it “char siu,” you might as well start ordering Lamian Bolognese at the local Olive Garden.  

  • Chicken-Shoyu (鶏醤油、”torishoyu;” チキン醤油, “chikin shoyu”): This is a style that is strongly identified as Tokyo’s own distinctive style.  Making ramen from a chicken broth and shoyu tare is a standard approach for many other ramen, but what sets the Tokyo Chicken-Shoyu style apart from others is the high quality of chickens used–such as the Cochin chickens from Nagoya–and the use of high levels of rendered chicken oil in the bowl, about 15-25g per bowl.   A number of the best shops in Tokyo practice this style. 
  • Chintan (清湯, “clear broth”): The more common name for assari broth used in American ramen culture and shops.  “Chintan” itself is a term rarely used on Japanese ramen menus.  See under Assari.
  • Dashi (出汁): Stock derived from from kombu (昆布, kelp), katsuobushi (preserved skipjack tuna or bonito), niboshi (煮干し, dried sardines), or shiitake mushrooms.  Its purpose is to add umami to broths, serving as the base for miso soup, udon noodles, ramen, oyakodon–pretty much all Japanese cooking that is at least semi-liquidy.  In ramen, dashi can serve as the soup stock on its own, or more commonly, added to chicken/pork/seafood stocks when making broth.  
  • Donburi (丼, どんぶり, “bowl,” often shortened to “-don”): The Japanese diet can be remarkably carb-heavy, and some ramen diners are still hungry after consuming a bowl of fatty and salty broth, meat, and 150g+ of noodles.  To showcase their chashu and to accommodate any still-hungry diners, many ramen shops will offer a chashu-don (chashu rice bowl) as a ramen side order.  Needless to say, visitors to shops highly regarded for their chashu should strongly consider ordering a chashu-don.
  • Hakata-kei (博多系, Hakata-style): This is the ramen style that is most well known overseas diners thanks to the popularity of ramen chains Ippudo and Ichiran.

    Hakata-style ramen comes from Japanese city of Fukuoka in Kyushu and is characterized by creamy (though not overly thick) tonkotsu broth; thin, straight, and firm noodles; and the inclusion of toppings such as thinly-sliced pork belly, kikurage, and chopped scallions.  Despite its prevalence overseas to the point of becoming the de jure style of ramen,” Hakata-style has a fairly limited presence outside of Kyushu, limited primarily to specialty shops and ramen chains. 

  • Hiyashi Chuka (冷やし中華, “cool Chinese”): A style of shirunashi (soupless) ramen that is usually eaten in the hot and humid Japanese summers.  In place of broth, the bowl uses a dressing of shoyu, rice vinegar, and sesame oil to a bowl of ramen noodles, topped with any mix of items but usually including julienned vegetables, thinly-sliced chashu or ham, corn, negi.  The idea is to produce a bowl that is relatively light and refreshing both in taste and texture. 

    Japanese supermarkets and convenience stores readily sell pre-made versions of this for about 500 yen; it’ll be a few hundred yen more from a proper ramen shop.
  • Honten (本店, “base/original store”): The original location of a ramen shop with two or more locations.  As a shop receives accolades, success, and riches, satellite locations may open elsewhere in the city, in other cities, overseas, or in transportation hubs.  The menus of such satellite stores may hew closely to the menu of the original store, be given a great deal of creative license, or somewhere in between.

    In general, the original locations have the best rendition of the mini-chain’s particular style ramen.  Satellite shops located in transportation hubs–e.g. Tokyo Ramen Street, Narita Terminal 1–tend to be inferior to the original shop, though this is of course a matter of degree.

  • Ie-kei (家系, “House Style”; Yokohama Ie-kei, 横浜家系): The development of Ie-kei ramen comes from a former truck driver, Yoshimura Minoru,  andwho in 1974 established the Yoshimuraya (吉村家) ramen shop in Yokohama, where the style takes its name from the last word of the shop, 家 (Ie). 

    It’s a tonkotsu-shoyu broth of the kotteri type, with thick straight noodles, chopped negi, and boiled spinach in the bowl.  It’s a style that is growing in popularity, though largely in the form of chain ramen shops than individual ones.  If curious about the original, the main Yoshimuraya shop is located just steps away from the west exit of Yokohama Station, a 20-25 minute ride from Tokyo Station on the JR Tokaido Line.


    Source Note:     I’ve only had Ie-kei once or twice and am relatively unfamiliar with it, so some of the information came from this site. 

  • Jiro-kei (二郎系, “Jiro-style”): If there is a junk-food ramen, this is it.  Developed in the shop Ramen Jiro (no, not that one, and yes everyone’s made the same joke) in the Mita neighborhood of Tokyo near Keio University in 1968, Jiro-kei is designed for feeding hungry students with exceedingly high metabolic rates on a budget.

    It uses a miso tare with a tonkotsu broth, topped with a large portion of thick, robust high-mineral and high protein noodles made in-house, topped with large amounts of vegetables (usually bean sprouts and cabbage), a few scoops of minced garlic, pork backfat, a few scoops of fried tempura bits (karaage, not the fried chicken kind) and a few thick slices of low-quality coiled pork belly. One normal-sized bowl of Jiro-kei ramen is close to the average daily caloric requirement. 

    Ramen Jiro itself has 40+ stores across Japan, and many more Jiro-style shops have popped up to respond to the needs of the style’s small, but very devoted fanbase.

  • Kansui (かん水, “lye water,” “alkaline water,” “lye”): Critical component of ramen noodles that gives them a particular firm or chewy character.  Kansui is made from a mixture of alkaline salts–potassium carbonet and sodium carbonate. 

    As explained by Mike Satinover, kansui:

    1) improves the rigidity of gluten that increases the tensile strength of the noodle;
    2) adds flavor, which is why ramen noodles often taste “eggy” despite the absence of any actual eggs. 

    The ratio of potassium and sodium varies depending on the purpose of the noodle, with potassium altering the texture of the noodle to give it a firmer, tighter texture, while the sodium adds flavor and makes the noodle more chewy.  By adjusting the potassium/sodium ratio, ramen noodles can vary from the thin, rigid type used in Hakata tonkotsu to the thicker, chewier type used in tsukemen or tonkotsu-gyokai. 

    There is also a movement, particularly in the best shoyu shops, to use less kansui and to use low-protein flour to make for smoother, less prominent noodles.

    Reference Note: For an even more in-depth look into kansui in noodles, see this explanation by Yamato Noodles. 

  • Kikurage (きくらげ, “wood ear mushrooms”): Chopped up into thin strips, kikurage is frequently served as a topping for Hakata-style ramen, where its crispy chewiness provides textural contrast against the creamy tonkotsu broth. 

    Within Japan, kikurage is almost never seen in bowls of other ramen styles.  This is not the case overseas, however, where some shops lack toppings discipline and saturate bowls of every type with every topping available.
  • Kitakata (喜多方): A town in Fukushima prefecture in the Tohoku region of Japan best known for having its own distinctive style of ramen, featuring light shoyu broth and handle-rolled, crinkle-flat noodles.  It has the highest concentration of ramen shops per capita in Japan and ramen is regularly eaten for breakfast.
  • Komiabura: (香味油, “flavoring oil”): This is the finishing oil that is added to bowls of ramen right before serving, which lets it impart much of the initial front-end flavor, and mask less-desirable odors such as seafood.  There is, however, a danger in putting too much komiabura in a bowl, leading to it either overwhelming the other scents and flavors, or simply turning the broth into an oily mess. 

    Every shop has its own komiabura, often multiple versions of komiabura to be used with different bowls; needless to say, recipes are a closely-guarded secret.  
  • Kotteri (こってり, “heavy, rich”): Japanese term for creamy, rich heavy ramen broth such as tonkotsu, chicken paitan, or tonkotsu-gyokai.  Whereas assari broths are made by boiling the bones at low temperature, kotteri broths boil bones at high heat to create a creamier, heavier, and opaque broth. 

    A related descriptor often seen in Japan is noukou (濃厚, “rich”), whereas in the US the term paitan (白湯) is used more often and applies to both chicken and pork bone broth, rather than just the former as usually used in Japan.  
  • Mazemen (混ぜ麵, “mixing noodles,” also often referred to as “mazesoba”): More or less the same as aburasoba, mazemen is a soupless ramen in which other than the lack of broth, contains all the ingredients one would expect from ramen–tare, komiabura, noodles, chashu, menma, negi, etc.  There is a much heavier emphasis on onsen tamago than in ramen.  One “mixes” everything together to eat it.

    There is some debate over the specific differences between mazemen and aburasoba.  Some claim that whereas mazemen uses the same width of noodles as ramen, aburasoba tends to use thicker, tsukemen-style of noodles.  Others cite how one has to “mix” to eat mazemen…but one has to do the same for aburasoba as well.  For the most part the two are largely interchangeable in meaning and function and people really can’t explain any real taxonomic difference. 

    I generally use the term “aburasoba,” unless the menu item specifically mentions “mazemen.”

  • Menma (メンマ、麵麻): A portmanteau of ramen (拉麺) and machiku (麻竹) type of bamboo, menma is fermented bamboo served on top of ramen, imported from China and/or Taiwan.


    Good menma tends to be julienned with a square-ish cross section of 0.5cm up to 1.5cm, taste slightly sweet, and like good ramen noodles, have plenty of chewiness and elasticity in each bite.  The menma more common to Chinese cuisine tend to be cut into flat strips with significantly lower levels of sweetness and fermentation, and doesn’t taste as good in ramen. 

    A ramen shop–particularly overseas–that features the right kind of menma is usually a good sign for the shop.

  • Michelin (Stars and Bib Gourmand): Michelin stars probably do not need to be explained here.  Michelin Bib Gourmand was created in 1997 to reward restaurants that may not have been star-worthy, but offer excellent food at a good value.  In Japan, the meal price cutoff is about 5000 yen. 

    As of the November 2019 Michelin results, there are 2 Michelin-starred ramen shops in Tokyo and 20 shops listed on Bib Gourmand.  Ramen shops receiving Michelin stars are usually drawn from the ranks of the previous year’s Bib Gourmand, as was the case for Nakiryu and 2019 recipient Hotogisu. 

    (In fact, my review of Hototgisu prior to its star referred to it as the “Phil Mickelson of the Tokyo ramen scene” for the sheer number of years it had appeared on Bib Gourmand)

    Semantics: Less fact-adherent diners–particularly those who appear on Yelp–will often confuse Bib Gourmand recognition for Michelin stars thanks to Michelin’s awkward two-tiered construction and, in some cases, the willingness of some shops to benefit from that misconception.  In practice, it’s not a huge deal: Bib Gourmand shops are arguably as good as the starred shops, but it is a distinction to bear in mind before making any loud and uninformed pronouncements.  

  • Miso (味噌、みそ): Paste made from fermented soybeans and a host of other ingredients.  With regards to ramen, it is closely associated with Sapporo-style ramen, but plenty of shops make miso ramen not in the style.  The miso paste becomes of the tare for these bowls, usually mixed with assari rather than kotteri broth as the miso adds plenty of body on its own.  Often topped with lard, miso bowls are usually hearty.


    Spicy Miso (辛味噌, “karamiso”):     An almost uniquely foreign rendition of miso ramen.  While there are a number of well-known spicy miso ramen shops in Japan, such as Tokyo’s Kikanbo, the concept of “adding spice” to miso broth is almost entirely a non-Japanese notion.  The rationale behind spicy miso, based on observational and anecdotal evidence outside of Japan, is likely due to a shop’s failure to make good broth and having to obscure its shortcomings with spice/hot sauce.

  • Niboshi (煮干し): Dried baby sardines (not anchovies) that can be used either as a flavoring agent for tare or as a much more distinctive component of other broths or on its own.  Like chicken and pork-based broths, niboshi broth reacts differently according to levels of heat and boiling times, though the more delicate nature of niboshi means that it’s easy to overcook and create bitter/acrid flavors that are not desirable…sometimes. 

    When combined with assari broths such as shoyu and shio, niboshi adds fishy umami and smoky notes; when combined with kotteri tonkotsu or paitan broths, it can create intensely “rich” (or pungent) ramen in the style made by Nagi Golden Gai in Shinjuku. Carried to an extreme, it can create a thick sludge called dorokei (泥系, “mud-style”) or semento-kei (セメント系, “cement-style”) ramen, of which the most prominent shop is Ibuki.
  • Onsen Tamago (温泉卵, “hot spring egg”): Essentially a poached egg where the original shape is preserved and the egg doesn’t scatter, it is far simpler to make than the ajitama.  Rarely seen in soup ramen, a liquid-y yolk onsen tamago does frequently appear in aburasoba.  
  • Paitan (白湯, “white broth”): See under Kotteri.
  • Ramen DB: Dedicated crowd-sourced review site for searching ramen no matter where one might be in Japan.  Search categories include by type (ramen, tsukemen, shirnnashi), style (shoyu, tonkotsu, etc.), and prefecture and town.  Gives out awards, leans somewhat more towards kotteri ramen, and the Jiro-kei stans are out in full force on the site, but if you can ignore the latter, Ramen DB is very reliable for pointing out the best ramen out there.  See the site here.
  • Sapporo-style (札幌系, Sapporo-kei): King of the North.  Sapporo is the northernmost major city in Japan–sorry Asahikawa–and a heavier ramen is needed to keep out the cold: miso is the tare of choice.  It’s prepared with the miso either being combined with clear pork broth in the bowl, or sometimes stir-fried in a wok with vegetables such as bean spouts and the pork broth is used to deglaze the wok before being poured into the bowl. 

    In both cases, Sapporo-style ramen features a layer of lard on top of the broth, and is notably topped with, in addition to the normal accouterments of chashu, sweet corn and a pat of butter.  Noodles are usually heavily alkaline and eggy (even if there are no eggs in there).  Chashu also features, but the focus is on the broth and the cornucopia of toppings.
  • Seiriken (整理券, “numbered ticket”):  Ticketing system used for handling large crowds waiting to get into popular ramen shops.  Because of the flexibility of Japanese mixed-use zoning laws, ramen shops are not infrequently located adjacent to residential buildings.  Long lines of people waiting for hours create noise and disruption for local residents: hence the seiriken.

    Shops using the system begin distributing seiriken in the morning.  Customers who receive one usually have to put down a deposit (usually 1000 yen).  These tickets are usually used for specified time-slots, such as 1100-1200, 1300-1400; failure to show up during one’s specified timeslot means the deposit is forfeited.

    Seiriken are a useful system that acknowledges the realities of Japan’s zoning laws and shops’ desire to foster good neighborhood relations.  In general, they work well, but they sometimes mean that customers end up spending several hours in the local chain coffee shop.
  • Shio (塩、しお, “salt”): Nominally the “simplest” style of ramen, it’s generally a clear, assari broth with a tare that uses salt (and not shoyu, or miso, or whatnot) as its base. 

    While common in Tokyo ramen shops, few shops have shio as their #1 featured ramen as chicken-shoyu, tonkotsu-gyokai, and niboshi-flavored ramen have assumed ascendancy.  Yet there is no broth that is better for testing the capabilities of the chef, since the light-bodied shio broth gives no cover to poorly-prepared or sourced ingredients.  
  • Shoyu (醤油、しょうゆ, “soy sauce”): Generally an assari broth where the shoyu tare is combined with clear chicken and pork broths, but there are examples where the shoyu tare can also work with kotteri broths to produce styles such as such as tonkotsu-shoyu. 

    Noodles in a shoyu ramen tend to be fairly thin and al dente, though nowhere near to the degree of Hakata-style’s thinness and firmness.  Despite being a “basic” ramen, the versatility of the shoyu tare means that it is exceedingly common to find shoyu as the base of some of the best bowls of ramen.  


    Semantics:     Let’s make this clear: this is a ramen with a broth made from a soy sauce tare; it is not “soy,” as far too many American ramen shops and publications tend use to use as a shorthand. Soy(beans) are a legume, and taste nothing like soy sauce.  If “soy sauce” is difficult to use, shoyu is the better option to use.

  • Spicy Miso: See under Miso.

  • Tabelog: A general-purpose crowd-sourced restaurant review site, not unlike Yelp. 

    Using a more comprehensive list of factors to produce far more detailed ratings than Yelp–both use a 5-point scale, but Tabelog shows scores down to hundredths of a point, not 0.5 like Yelp–Tabelog is generally more reliable than Yelp in pointing to the best restaurant options. 

    Generally, shops rated above 3.50 are very good; those above 3.80 are excellent; and those above 4.00 are exceptional.  It has both a Japanese site and a more constrained English site that has gotten better.  The navigation is still a little clunky in English, but a better option than Yelp Japan.


    Note on Yelp Japan:     Though there are some Japanese users on the site, the reviews on Yelp Japan still skew very heavily towards foreign users, particularly tourists.  As such, reviews tend towards the exclamatory superlative and the choice of shops tend towards those prominent on the tourist circuit. 

    For instance, as of this writing, Ichiran’s Shibuya shop has 597 reviews for a 4.5 rating.  In contrast, the Tier 1 and Tier 2 shops on this site individually tend to have 15 or fewer (and often far fewer) reviews.  As of this time, WillChews does not recommend the use of Yelp Japan in your ramen search.  Use the Sortable Ramen Reviews Table instead.

  • Tantanmen (担々麵, “Dan Dan Noodles”): Japanese ramen rendition of Sichuanese dandan noodles.  The ground pork is still present, but some shops will also include pork chashu as well.  It’s a good change-of-pace from standard ramen, but some places (like Nakiryu) have won plaudits and even Michelin stars for it.
  • Tare (たれ): Provides the essential flavors of the bowl and the reason why bowls are labeled as a particular style.  A bowl is generally put together with the tare spooned into the bottom and the broth poured over it, after which the noodles are added. 

    Tare recipes differ from shop to shop–making for endless combinations of ramen–and are tightly guarded secrets.  And while one might choose a shoyu tare, rest assured that there are ingredients other than shoyu in there–such as mirin, salt, bits of niboshi, etc, etc–that are molded and reduced by a combination of skills, knowledge, and witchcraft.

  • Tokusei (特製, “specially made”; also appears as zenbunose, 全部乗せ, “with everything”): This is the default option of the bowl selected for WillChews reviews because it is the most effective means of tasting the full-range of a shop’s ingredients. 

    Unlike the base ramen bowl of any style, tokusei bowls usually come with additional slices of chashu (almost always two or more types showcasing the shop’s meat arsenal, defined by different cuts or preparation methods), an ajitama, and additional menma. 

    As rows on a ramen ticket vending machine are allocated to a shop’s different styles of ramen, the leftmost button in any row is usually the tokusei option.


    Note on the use of “Deluxe”:     “Deluxe” is the term I use in the headline descriptions of the bowls on this website.  It allows me to convey that the bowl contains a cross-section of all of the shop’s ingredients and components without throwing off first-time readers from wondering what exactly “tokusei” is.

  • Tonkotsu (豚骨, “pork bone”): Pork bone broth made by boiling the bones at high heat with water and various other ingredients.  Typical parts of the pig used include neck bones, trotters, feet, skull–anything that will maximize the amount of collagen to create the necessary creaminess.

    Tonkotsu is the style or ramen that is favored in western Japan (from the Osaka-Kyoto Kansai area onwards) and is most frequently associated with Hakata-style tonkotsu ramen.  But there are plenty of other styles of tonkotsu, and shops in other parts of Japan, particular Tokyo, have utilizing tonkotsu broth in ramen as well, most frequently in blended broths as tonkotsu-shoyu or tonkotsu-gyokai (see below).

  • Tonkotsu-Gyokai (豚骨魚介, “pork bone and seafood”): One such blended broth is tonkotsu-gyokai, which draws its flavors from both tonkotsu broth and a seafood broth made from any number of ingredients that are specific to the chef, including mackerel, niboshi, tuna, sea bream, etc. 

    A favorite of the kotteri-loving crowd, at least in Tokyo, some of the most popular shops feature this style.  However, as with all ramen, each broth is tailored according to the chef’s preferences and there is wide variation, from creamy and subtle versions to much stronger, smoky-acrid, and gritty broths.   

     

    On the latter, the “grittiness” of the broth comes from the bits of pork bone that gets pulverized in the tonkotsu cooking process. Depending the shop’s preferences, this bone residue can either be roughly scooped out–leaving grit–or carefully scooped out for a smoother broth.

  • Toripaitan (鶏白湯, “chicken white broth”): A kotteri broth that that is created by similar principles as tonkotsu, except now it’s the chicken bones that are boiled at high heat to create a cloudy, opaque broth.  


    Semantics:     In Japan, “paitan” is almost exclusively used to describe toripaitan broth, whereas in the US “paitan” frequently refers to any sort of bone-derived broth.

  • Tuskemen (つけ麵, “dipping noodles”): Developed in 1961 by Yamagishi Kazuo, the owner of the ramen shop Taishoken in Tokyo.

    The noodles are usually thicker than other ramen noodles, served in larger volumes than ramen (1.5x the volume of noodles is about normal, with options for larger volumes of noodles being the norm), and served cold or lukewarm with a bowl of warm, concentrated broth on the side.  Toppings such as chashu, ajitama, and menma, usually sit on top of the the noodles or in a separate dish; rarely will the bowl of broth anything than onions and maybe some chashu. 

    Owing to the fact that the broth has to be concentrated and cling to the dipped noodles, rich tonkotsu-based broths (particularly tonkotsu-gyokai) generally serve as the broth bases for tsukemen, though shoyu-based versions do exist.  Awfully popular in Japan and starting to catch on in the United States.

  • Yuzu (柚): A type of citrus grown in Japan that is generally used cooking, not as a fruit.  The skin can be used for zest, while the juice can be used in ponzu sauce.  For the purposes for ramen though, some shops–most notably Afuri–add yuzu to their assari ramen to offer a different flavor profile. 

    Such a practice has been emulated overseas to a much larger degree than has been the case in Japan, likely as an aspirational attempt by some American ramen shops to self-bestow ramen legitimacy.