As you travel around Wakayama City, you’ll notice many shops with red curtains reading “Chuka Soba” (中華そば). Recently, more and more shops have begun using “Wakayama ramen” (和歌山ラーメン) banners, but that’s a newer appellation for what’s more commonly called Chuka soba, or Chinese soba.

The name “Wakayama ramen” was first used in 1998 when the Ide Shoten ramen shop won TV Tokyo’s New Year’s “TV Champion Japan’s Best Ramen Decision Battle.” The winning entry was introduced as “Wakayama ramen,” which was a name unfamiliar to Wakayama citizens, but caused a boom in the dish’s popularity.

Ide Shoten’s ramen is made with pork bone and soy sauce broth, and many other shops also sell the characteristic brown soup. Of course, each restaurant has its own unique flavor, so it’s fun to taste and compare them.

Regardless of the type of soup, the ramen is relatively thin, and many shops serve them in small portions. The noodles are boiled until soft, and the soup permeates them. Although the serving sizes aren’t large, side dishes like hayazushi (saba sushi) and boiled eggs supplement the noodles. Hayazushi is made with mackerel, which goes well with ramen.

Wakayama’s best nightlife can be found in the Arochi neighborhood, where you’ll discover Arochi Honke Marutaka on the main street. It’s a popular destination after drinks, with one of its most popular items being the “Shime (food after drinks) Chuka soba.”

The soy sauce soup has a rich body and a refreshing taste and slowly cooked char siu (roasted pork) is a popular addition. The thin noodles are a bit firm and are outstanding in combination with the broth.

Ramen goes best with a glass of beer, and additional side dishes of oden and gyoza are also favorites of Arochi Honke Marutaka’s patrons.

On the main road from the Wakayama IC (highway interchange) to the city center, you’ll see Ide Shoten’s bright yellow sign. This popular restaurant always has a lunchtime line of customers waiting to get in.

The shop had already been serving ramen for many years when, to make the broth even more delicious, pork bones were prepared over high heat but were accidentally overboiled. What, at first, seemed like a failure resulted in a mellow soup with a new, never-before-tasted flavor that brought Ide Shoten popularity throughout Wakayama.

The almost addictive thick, rich-bodied soup looks terrific, and you’ll enjoy it to the last drop. The soup soaks into the noodles, and the delicious boiled char siu pork will melt in your mouth to complete the exceptional taste offered by this retro Showa era shop.

Kyobashi Kotaro’s ramen is the invention of the shop’s master chef. Because Kyobashi Kotaro was originally founded as a “cooking restaurant” and not a ramen shop, he was able to immerse himself in creating delicious ramen without the pressure to conform to “how ramen is supposed to be!”

Paying particular attention to the water, pork bones, and other necessary ingredients, and using the most excellent techniques unique to Japanese chefs, the result is an odorless, mellow-flavored broth that you’ll enjoy as “sophisticated cuisine.”

Maruki has been serving Chinese noodles from food stalls for over 70 years, and the third-generation owner still uses the original recipe created when the shop was founded. Carefully prepared, the broth has a refreshing and unobtrusive taste, and, understandably, there are still many fans of this simple, standard Chuka soba.

Maruki offers no large servings, no extra toppings, and no alcohol, but the traditional Chuka soba, saba sushi, and boiled egg are filling and satisfying.

Similar to Ide Shoten, Masayoshi has long served typical Wakayama ramen, but with a new shop opened in 2018, you can now enjoy a bowl of noodles in a stylish atmosphere.

Masayoshi serves ramen with raw eggs, a rarity among Wakayama shops. To eat this style of ramen, first, without breaking the egg, eat some of the noodles to appreciate the familiar flavor. Then for your next bite, pass the noodles through the egg yolk and savor the fresh, mild taste.

“You serve your own water from the pitcher.” “If you eat sushi, you count the number of dishes and add up the cost yourself.” “It’s not ‘Wakayama ramen’ – it’s called ‘Chuka soba’!”

In addition to the food itself, you can also experience the unique food culture of Wakayama, which is one of the real pleasures of a “Wakayama ramen” restaurant.

The familiar taste of Chuka soba taste never gets old, so, by all means, sample and compare the unique dishes of a few different shops!

Text by: West Plan