龍上海赤湯本店 (Ryu Shanghai in Akayu, Yamagata)

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龍上海赤湯本店

On the southern side of the prefecture on a Yamagata ramen hunt, you’ll find mega-famous Ryu Shanghai. Ryu Shanghai’s claim to fame is their aka miso ramen. Rich miso ramen with a dollop of spicy red flavor enhancer. Sure, they have a branch at the Yokohama Ramen Museum, but this is the hoten, the head shop, and I had to go.

A 10-minute walk across the Yoshino River will have you joining the massive line. Ryu Shanghai is one of those shops where the line can easily be 30 people deep. Expect an hour wait. This beautiful Akita Inu will be there to keep you company.

Various Japanese miso pastes are used in the soup. It’s on the “lighter” side of miso soups, with the faint aroma of niboshi and aonori seaweed coming through.

Tender chashu and curly homemade noodles. The real claim to fame, though, is the red ball of spicy miso in the middle.

The history of this shop is something special. In 1958, Kasumi Sato (佐藤一美) opened Ryu Shanghai serving only shinasoba-style ramen. Basic shoyu ramen like this was a hit around the country at the time and is the style that propelled ramen into the worldwide fad it is today. But the original Ryu Shanghai’s business wasn’t great. Every day Sato-san brought the leftover soup home to feed his family.

The 11-year-old son Harumi Sato was delighted to eat ramen every day. What middle school boy would want to grub down on something so tasty every day? On one of those days, he dumped some leftover miso soup into the ramen, and the seeds were planted. After graduating high school, Harumi took over the shop from his father and put miso ramen on the menu. You can still get the shoyu ramen, but it was the unique miso that made this shop what it is today.

It’s understandable if you don’t want to drink much of the soup. In typical miso ramen fashion, a layer of hot oil covers the whole deal, making it less than healthy. But good food is healthy for the mind, so slurp as much as you like. By the way, the spice level isn’t too high. Don’t expect some kind of devil spice here, just a mellow heat that works perfectly with the soup and fatty chashu.

You can always melt some of those calories away in the nearby onsen. Yamagata is low-key one of the best prefectures for hot springs.

I kept moving north towards Yamagata City and even more ramen. See you next time!

Still reading? Did you know that I released a ramen cookbook? It’s available wherever fine cookbooks are sold, aka Amazon. Can’t wait to see what recipes you come up with!

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