中華そば嘉一

Kaichi is Sendai’s most famous ramen shop. They’ve been included on the East Japan Top 100 list as well as given legend status with Ramen Walker. Their golden chukasoba with meaty chicken thigh chashu is a must-hit, though this is another one of those lunch-only shops in Japan that often sells out before their posted closing hour. It’ll take some effort, but if you come up Sendai way, go for a bowl.

Shoyu ramen, shio ramen, and ramen with wakame seaweed. The shio with extra tori chashu is the recommended bowl. For once, the upper left isn’t the top choice. Down one and to the right. When the shop opened in 2009, the concept was to enjoy ramen with chicken. Best to get extra chicken.

Kaichi’s soup is nothing but chicken. They change the cooking technique slightly based on the size of the chickens they get their hands on, so some ramen nerds come back to taste the subtle differences of the soup. The chicken chashu is also, well, chicken. In this case, they use older hens that have a tougher texture and more meaty flavor.

I’m not a fan of skin on my souped meats if that makes sense. So with that in mind, the regular bowl with only two pieces of chicken would have been better for me. And the wakame topping was probably very good. Locally sourced wakame seaweed (三陸わかめ) from Sankriku on the coast of Miyagi Prefecture is quite famous in Japan. Other than having to deal with that, this was a top-notch bowl of shio ramen. Handmade noodles since 2018.