Marutai Hakata Nagahama Tonkotsu Ramen - Review and How to Cook

Monday, April 24, 2017

Marutai Hakata Nagahama Tonkotsu Ramen - Review and How to Cook

Last weekend, my husband finally cooked Marutai Hakata Nagahama Tonkotsu Ramen (マルタイ博多長浜とんこつラーメン). :) Hakata-ku (博多区) is a ward of Fukuoka city in Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. There are many tonkotsu ramen stalls around Nakasu (中州) in Hakta-ku. These are called Hakata Ramen. Nagahama (長浜) is located in Chuo-ku (中央区) in Fukuoka city. Even though Nagahama is not located in Hakata-ku, people sometimes call ramen in Nagahama "Hakata Nagahama ramen."

Marutai Hakata Nagahama Tonkotsu Ramen

My Experience of the Original Nagahama Ramen Restaurant in Fukuoka
When I visited my hometown, Fukuoka, my sister's family took me to the famous traditional Nagahama Ramen restaurant. Her husband is really an avid ramen lover and knows so many best ramen restaurants in Fukuoka. When I first went to the Nagahama ramen restaurant with my sister and her husband, I was really surprised many things there! Each table had large and small aluminum kettles, and I first thought the kettles had some tea, but actually a small kettle had ramen sauce, so with adding ramen sauce to your ramen, you can make your perfect soup according to your preference. I've never seen these ramen sauce kettles outside Fukuoka city. When a waitress came to take our order, my brother-in-law said, "Nama." I thought he was ordering beer, which is called nama (生) or nama beer (生ビール) in Japan, but he was actually ordering raw noodles. Yes, raw noodles! At the traditional Nagahama Ramen restaurant, they only serve tonkotsu ramen. You can only choose firmness of noodles (nama, barikata, kata, futsuu and yawa) and richness of soup (beta, futsuu and nashi). Nama (ナマ) is raw noodles, so they just soak the raw noodles in boiling water for a few seconds. Again, I've never seen ramen restaurant serve raw noodles outside Fukuoka city. Barikata (バリカタ) is very hard noodles, so they cook noodles for less time than regular cooking time. My favorite firmness of noodles is barikata (バリカタ) or kata (カタ). Yawa (やわ) is fully cooked noodles. For the soup, beta (ベタ) is very rich soup which has larger amount of lard, and nashi (無し) doesn't contain lard. When you go to Nagahama Ramen restaurant for your first time, you might be confused there just like I was. ;)

Term of Nagahama Ramen

■Firmness of Noodles
Nama (ナマ) : Raw Noodles
Barikata (バリカタ) : Very Hard
Kata (カタ) : Hard
Futsuu (ふつう) : Regular
Yawa (やわ) : Soft

■Richness of Soup
Beta (ベタ) :Very Rich
Futsuu (普通) : Regular
Nashi (無し) : No Lard
　

Marutai Hakata Nagahama Tonkotsu Ramen

By the way, the yellow map on this package is Kyushu (九州), which is the most southwesterly of four main islands of Japan. The red area on the map is Fukuoka prefecture (福岡県) where Nagahama Ramen restaurant is located.

Marutai Ramen always contains two servings of noodles and soup.

Two Serving of Dried Noodles, Tonkotsu Soup Powder and Lard

How To Cook
My husband always cooks instant ramen perfectly. :) I'm going to share how he cooked Marutai Hakata Nagahama Ramen with you. First of all, cook noodles with plenty of boiling water.

Then, add tonkotsu soup powder.

Move noodles into a large ramen bowl.

While cooking noodles, you can cook an egg in microwave oven. Put a little water in a small bowl and put a fresh egg in it. Then microwave it for seconds. He told me that microwave it for 20 seconds, and microwave it for another 15 seconds. He told me that the cooking time depends on size of egg. Keep in mind that if you over cooked the egg in a microwave oven, it would be exploded in it. Try not to over cook the egg. Add a cooked egg to the ramen bowl.

Pour the soup over noodles.

Add kizami shoga, shredded red ginger.

Top it with chopped green onions.

Add a pack of lard into the soup.

Finally, top it with pieces of nori. :) Enjoy!

Marutai Hakata Nagahama Tonkotsu Ramen

Marutai Hakata Nagahama Tonkotsu Ramen was so delicious! The soup tasted very authentic tonkotsu ramen. Compared to Marutai Kurume Tonkotsu Ramen, Hakata Nagahama Tonkotsu Ramen was not too greasy. I'm glad that Marutai always makes authentic Japanese ramen!

Marutai Kyushu Ramen Series has eight kinds of local ramen from Kyushu Island. If you are planning on visiting Japan, you can find these Marutai ramen at Don Quijote (ドン・キホーテ), which is also called Donki (ドンキ), one of the biggest Japanese discount chain stores in Japan. If you live in the U.S., you can find these Marutai ramen on Amazon or eBay. If you want to try all eight kinds of Marutai Kyushu ramen, I recommend you to find ones on eBay because some eBay sellers selling a set of 8 Kyushu Ramen. :)