We’ve been trying to go Furukawa ramen for over two years now. It has some of the highest reviews on google so we figured it must be a worthwhile ramen shop in Mito. The only catch is that the ramen shop is only open Monday – Friday from 9:00 – 14:00. They don’t serve dinner and they are closed on the weekends. This was incredibly frustrating as it was close to our home and workplace. Since our workplace provided lunch everyday, going out would surely be frowned upon. Having finally gone, we can say it was worth the wait.
After two years of waiting our chance finally came. We had a special holiday on a Monday, so we took the opportunity to finally try the Furukawa ramen shop in Mito. We got to the restaurant at around 10:00 since we weren’t sure how busy it might be. As fate would have it, we learned that the restaurant was under construction. Go figure. After doing a little more investigating we learned that they had a another location in the northern part of the city. It was a 15 minute drive away, but we figured we’ve come this far, we might as well give it a try.
The restaurant was located in a old style shopping complex directly across from the Mito wholesale grocery market. The shopping complex itself was shaped in a “U” pattern with a large parking lot in the center. What made this complex unique was the double set of doors. The first set of doors leading from the parking lot led to a covered courtyard area in front of each of the businesses. From there, there was another door that led into the business itself. Some businesses used their courtyards to display more products, while others used it for storage, or just kept it empty.
Furukawa Ramen Menu
The store front for Furukawa had this beautiful light wood paneling and a couple of stools for guests. The menu was based around their three types of ramen (shoyu, salt, and rich backfat). They had base versions starting at a reasonable ¥700 and upgraded versions with wantons and or chashu slices. Seeing as this might be the one and only time we come, we decided to go big. We got one of the shoyu ramen with both chashu and wantons and one of the rich backfat ramen with chashu and wantons. We went to order inside at a vending machine. Before finalizing our order a picture of their mini onion mayo chashu bowl caught our eye. At only ¥300, we figured we’d give it a try.
The interior of the restaurant had a very modern, clean, and simple feel to it. There were about a dozen bar stools perfect for the lunch rush and three tables for larger parties. The restaurant was well lit and clean.
Furukawa Ramen Food Review
Our food came out really quick. First to come was the mini chashu bowl. It was absolutely delcious. Surprisingly, the highlight of the meal for us. The chashu was cut thinly and well seasoned. The combination of the chashu, onions, dried seaweed, a little mayo, and a sweet soy based sauce was wonderful. The proportions were good, it left us craving more.
The ramen came out next. The presentation was really nice, everything was well positioned and looked really clean in the white bowls. At first we thought the chashu looked a little dry, but were happy to find that it was really tender. The dumplings were a little bit of a let down. There was so little filling, that it was difficult to determine the taste since the filling to skin ratio was so off. We would not get them again. The broths for both of them were delicious, particularly we liked the addition of the fried garlic bits in the back fat ramen.
Final Thoughts
The ramen was good, however the chashu bowl was delcious. We’d go back just for the chashu bowl. Furukawa Ramen is a worthwhile ramen shop in Mito. If your in the area on a weekday during lunch time, we highly recommend stopping by Furukawa Ramen.
More to Come…
Here is the link to their Twitter.