Ramen Kanetora: Popular tsukemen in Fukuoka
During my honeymoon, I visited Fukuoka for the first time. Fukuoka is known to be the birthplace of a lot of food and one of these being the famous Hakata Ramen or Tonkotsu Ramen (pork broth) π.
My husband loves tsukemen – a type of ramen where the broth and noodles are actually separated and you dip the noodles into the broth before you eat it. So while we stayed in Fukuoka, I was determined to find a delicious ramen place that specializes in tsukemen.
Ramen Kanetora is where we ended up when I searched for “Fukuoka” and “Tsukemen”. With 4.3 stars on Google and over 2,000 reviews, we were excited to try it out for lunch.
Ramen Kanetora
Β Japan, γ810-0004 Fukuoka, Chuo Ward, Watanabedori, 4 Chomeβ9β18 Fukusyu Bldg, 1F
The vibe
We arrived at Ramen Kanetora around 12:40pm on a Tuesday afternoon. There was already a line outside. By 1pm, we made it to the machine where you can order and pay and we were seated around 1:09pm.
There are signs and instructions in English to help you decide what to order. The machine also has English so you can order easily without understanding Japanese.
The inside of this ramen restaurant is very small and mostly counter seats where you are not facing the person you are eating with. It’s definitely more of a self-dining and eat quickly type of vibe, with everything you need in front of you at the bar table. The washroom is upstairs (quite small, single stall) and you have to go up quite a narrow and steep flight of stairs.
The food arrived very quickly and I put on a complimentary black bib to protect my clothes from any splatter.
Food review
Prices have been converted from yen to CAD and rounded to the nearest dollar for simplicity.
Special rich tsukemen ($16)
The menu is quite small and essentially only has 2 types of tsukemen to choose from: a spicy version or a rich version. Since my husband and I both cannot handle too much spice, we both opted for the rich tsukemen and chose mild.
Next, they have versions of the noodle dish that is with char siu (braised pork belly) or without (just an egg or just noodles). We both got the version with char siu.
Note that they also have regular portion (200g) or large portion (300g) but it’s the same price. The large portion was definitely way too much food for me and my husband also struggled to finish his bowl.
When our order arrived, it smelled delicious and smoky. We mixed the broth until the powder dissolved – you will notice that tsukemen broth is much thicker and saltier than regular ramen broth, hence why we only dip the noodles in.
I found the broth to be a little too salty for me so I had to dip less before my bites. I also found it to have a bit of a grainy texture but maybe I didn’t mix it well enough.
The noodles were chewy and tasted very fresh and the broth clung onto each noodle quite well. The char siu was so fatty and tender! It falls apart at the touch of your chopsticks.
Near the end of the meal, they recommended us to add some chili powder in, which we did, and it got quite spicy because I accidentally put too much in.
Final thoughts
Loewe’s rating: βοΈβοΈβοΈβοΈ
This is the best bowl of tsukemen I’ve had in awhile, considering Vancouver doesn’t really have that many options for tsukemen.
Things I really liked about Ramen Kanetora:
- Super affordable – only $16 for a huge bowl!
- How smoky and savoury the broth was
- Noodles cooked perfectly
- Pork belly was melt in your mouth
I wouldn’t say this is the best tsukemen I’ve had in my life but it’s pretty damn good. My husband still stands that the random tsukemen place we ate at last time we were in Japan (which I can’t even find an English name for) was better.
If you love tsukemen and you want something hearty that will fill you up, check out Ramen Kanetora and make sure you come a bit earlier if you don’t want to wait in line.
Sincerely, Loewe