As a Muslim living in Japan, a cooking from my home country I miss the most might be “chicken noodle”. Japan has ramen, though, which is somehow similar to this chicken noodle. However, the ramen in Japan is generally not safe to be eaten by Muslim since its broth is made from pork. There are various types of ramen made with ingredients other than pork for its broth, commonly with fish-based or vegetable-based broth as well, but they might still use “mirin” which is a type of sweet rice wine used in cooking. So the safest way is to avoid eating usual ramen in Japan at all.
The number of halal Japanese restaurant has been increasing, and I am personally very happy. With the increasing number of halal restaurant in Japan, so does for the halal ramen restaurant. I had the chance to try one of the new halal ramen restaurants, Ramen “Ouka” in Shinjuku. This is a newly opened restaurant since it is only just opened on around September 2015. However, I heard that this ramen restaurant is quite popular as being very delicious, even for non-Muslim customers. It got its halal certification from Japan Islamic Trust, so it is guaranteed that all of the ingredients used are halal.
The place is a bit far from the nearest station. It can be reached by foot from exit 2 Shinjuku Gyoen Mae Station (Marunouchi line), for about 5 minutes.
The restaurant is quite small, and has the counter-style seats, with the kitchen directly in front of the counter, similar to the usual Japanese style ramen shop. There was also what’s it called “premium seat”, it might be on the second floor and only able with reservation (I did not ask). Megumi-san, the owner, was very friendly.
Megumi-san, the owner.
Open kitchen in front of the counter-style seats. We came at dinner time to the restaurant. There are 3 sets for dinner menu: Halal Ramen R set (1500 yen), Vegan Ramen R set (1100 yen), and Spicy Halal Ramen R set (1700 yen). With an additional 600 yen, we can get a dessert and cappuccino or espresso. If we want bigger serving, we can get the large size with an additional 100 yen, and extra large with an additional 200 yen. We ordered Halal Ramen R that came with ramen, tsukune, grilled chicken, and rice. Here is the picture of the Halal Ramen
R set.
The ramen broth/soup had a rich taste, and was made from sea bream. The white topping in the top of ramen was a meringue, made from white egg and yuzu (Japanese citrus fruit). The ramen bowl had a special design in which it has pointed side, specially designed to pour the left-over ramen broth in to the rice. This is called“ochazuke”, means rice with soup or sometimes tea, poured on top of it. The tsukune, a Japanese style chicken meatball, and the grilled chicken, were very delicious as well. After finishing our food, we also got a glass of special tea as a service. It had a very nice aroma, and the staff said that it is very good for health.
In my personal opinion, it was the most delicious halal ramen I had ever tried during my stay in Japan until now. The place, even though it was small, was very comfortable and pleasant. I would like to eat this more often if it is closer to my apartment.
Information
- Address: 1-11-7 Shinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo
- Tel: +81 3-5925-8426
- Opening hours: Monday-Thursday 12.30 – 15.00, 18.00-22.00, Saturday Sunday
- 12.30-22.00. Friday closed
- Webpage:http://m-ouka.jp/
Map:
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