大つけ麺博 (Grand Tsukemen Fest in Machida)

大つけ麺博

Ramen festivals are popping up more and more around Japan. There used to be the Tokyo Ramen Show, and that was it. The success of this event led others to delve into the field, and I remember the early days of the Grand Tsukemen Fest back in 2009. The concept is always the same; buy tickets, wait in lines, eat ramen.

These events often change vendors on a weekly basis. This event, in Machida, had 10 shops that changed every week for four weeks. So, if you were so inclined, you could crush 40 bowls from all over Japan.

In fact, many of the Japanese ramen bloggers I know do just that. They come to every festival, make trips across the country, and slurp everything they can.

I rolled into this, the 2nd week of the festival, with three other ramen nuts; a ramen-loving custom motorcycle maker, a ramen-loving gravure idol, and a ramen-loving exotic car collector. Ten bowls was no problem.

Apologies for not really reviewing the bowls. You can check out more info over at the event’s site:

http://dai-tsukemen-haku.com/

Basically, going to these events alone is tough. Even if you are at comptetive-eater level, you still have to wait for each shop. A small group can come up with a battle strategy to crush them all.