オランダ軒

Oranda-tei, or Holland House if we translate it directly, serves Niigata-style ginger ramen to rabid fans in the Saitama area. It’s a style with many, many shops around Kanto, like Gamushara and an outpost of Aoshima Shokudo, but this spot is the one to beat. Shoyu ramen spiked with ginger. So get yourself on the Tobu Noda train line and head the hour and a half outside of Tokyo to wait in an equally long line. It’s worth it.

Or just drive your 1929 Bugatti Type 37A. That works as well.

Ginger ramen is a Niigata thing. Specifically, it’s a Nagaoka City, Niigata Prefecture thing. Cold winters mean ramen should be as warming as possible. Ginger is medicine for the snowstorms.

This shop is the baby of Yasushi Yamamoto (山本靖さん), a former professional snowboarder who spent a lot of his youth in Niigata on the slopes. In typical snowboarder-style, he didn’t have a lot of money and spent a lot of time eating cheap gourmet like ramen.

Years later, he actually learned about restaurants and cooking at a burger shop. He finds a direct correlation between burgers and ramen. Both are casual gourmet. Both are comfort food. Both are simple but rely on a balance of the parts to be great.

The shoyu ramen here is balanced. Yamamoto-san developed his own recipe, so it’s a bit different from the traditional stuff you’ll find in Niigata. The ginger is very subtle, almost an afterthought. The soup is made from two parts chicken to one part pork. Noodles come from a secret local maker.

The eggs are fantastic. If you visit their location tag on Instagram, you’ll see few people order less than double. Four eggs, meaning eight halves, are common. I’ve even seen photos of the maximum that will fit, sixteen halves. Personally, I felt strange ordering so many, but when I return I’ll be going big. You should as well. It’s worth it.

Official Twitter here.

Ramen Adventures

Ramen Shop Reviews from Japan and Abroad

オランダ軒 (Holland House in Saitama)

はいむる珈琲店 (Haimuru Coffee Shop in Musashi Koyama, Tokyo)

ただいま変身中 (Tadaima Henshinchu in Nakano, Tokyo)

地球の中華そば (Hoshino Chukasoba in Yokohama, Kanagawa)

オランダ軒 (Holland House in Saitama)

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はいむる珈琲店 (Haimuru Coffee Shop in Musashi Koyama, Tokyo)

ただいま変身中 (Tadaima Henshinchu in Nakano, Tokyo)

地球の中華そば (Hoshino Chukasoba in Yokohama, Kanagawa)