There are certain places in Japan that are famous for its ramen. For example, Sapporo Ramen (札幌ラーメン) is a type of miso (味噌) ramen. Miso is a type of thick paste used to flavor soups and sauces. If you like your ramen salty, then you’ll probably like Sapporo Ramen. Sapporo is a city up in the north, so the winters can get quite cold. The locals tend to eat Sapporo Ramen for its hearty and protein rich soup, which is ideal for combating the cold months in Sapporo.

Hakata Ramen (博多ラーメン) is a type of ramen made with tonkotsu (豚骨) broth. Tonkotsu broth is a type of broth made from pork bone. The pork bone is boiled in water for several hours and used as soup broth. Additional toppings like sesame seeds, spring onions, hard-boiled eggs and beni shoga (紅生姜) are also commonly served with Hakata Ramen. Beni shoga is pickled ginger that is typically served in several thin slices of red or pink, over the noodles of the ramen.

Yokohama Ramen (横浜ラーメン) has a flavor that is a mixture of soy sauce and pork bone broth. The Yokohama Ramen is distinctly known for having nori strips as one of its toppings. Nori (海苔) is the Japanese word for seaweed. The nori strips typically stick out from the ramen bowl. Other toppings include spinach, a hard boiled egg, roasted pork slices and negi (葱). The soup is typically quite oily, with noodles that are rather straight and thick.

While the noodles for Yokohama Ramen are normally thick, the noodles for Tokyo Ramen (東京ラーメン) tend to be thin. The flavor of the broth is a mixture of chicken stock broth, soy flavored broth and dashi broth. Dashi (出汁) is a type of soup stock made from kombu (昆布) and katsuobushi (鰹節). Kombu is a type of dried kelp and katsuobushi is a type of fermented tuna skipjack. Tokeyo Ramen is known for its menma (メンマ) or bamboo shoots. These bamboo shoots are brown and served in thin slices.

Kitakata Ramen (喜多方ラーメン) is from the island of Honshu (本州). The soup broth is a combination of pork and niboshi (煮干し) broth. The niboshi broth is made by boiling miniature sardines in a pot of boiling water over extended periods of time. The dominant topping of Kitakata Ramen is the pork strips. Usually around four or five pork strips are placed on top of the noodles. Speaking of noodles, the noodles are typically thick and curly.