Hatchan Ramen Yakuin Head Shop

After a night of drinking in Hakata, I suppose that the ramen to finish off the night would be tonkotsu ramen. With this in mind, I was looking for a late-night tonkotsu ramen restaurant in Hakata when I came across the Hatchan Ramen Yakuin Head Shop, which I would like to introduce here.

I heard that Hatchan Ramen Yakuin Head Shop has a reputation for its rich soup. Personally, I like to finish the night with a ramen that has a broth that is smooth and mild, but since I was in Hakata, I thought I might as well try a super thick tonkotsu ramen…so I headed to the restaurant around 10 p.m. on a Saturday night. Well…

A small, dirty, and quite tasty restaurant of the Kitana-Shuran type… Hatchan Ramen Yakuin Head Shop is like this.

When I arrived at Hatchan Ramen Yakuin Head Shop, there were about 15 people in line from the storefront toward Watanabe Dori. The wait time from the time I reached the end of the line to the time I entered the restaurant was about 40 minutes. I guess the customer turnover is slow for a ramen restaurant. I think the reason for this is probably because many people order not only ramen Kaedama (refill) but also sake together.

The store is in an old building that has not been maintained for a long time, and for some reason there is an octopus symbol next to the word “Hatchan Ramen” written in red. The large red lantern hanging next to the entrance is torn off at the bottom, and the appearance of the restaurant has gone beyond the expression “retro” to “looks a little bad…”.

The atmosphere inside the restaurant is just the same, and if I had to sum it up in one word, it would be “Kitana Shuran” type of restaurant. However, this time, the smell of pork bones is added to the atmosphere, making it a very difficult place to visit for those who seek cleanliness. On the other hand, if you like Kitana-Shuran-style restaurants, it would be difficult to find a restaurant with such a great taste… The seating is an L-shaped counter with 15 seats along the kitchen. The space behind the counter is also very small, and it is quite difficult for just one person to pass through, so I recommend visiting the restaurant empty-handed if possible.

I heard that the soup is super thick, but actually… the pork bone ramen at Hatchan Ramen Yakuin Head Shop has an unexpected impact.

Let me introduce the ramen I ordered at Hatchan Ramen Yakuin Head Shop (price including tax). Check below to see the picture…

The ramen came out in a bowl that was one size smaller than a typical bowl of ramen. The surface of the soup is very foamy, reminding me of the special foamy tonkotsu ramen I had the day before at Hakata Ikkosha Sohonten.

Let’s start with the soup… This foam seems to be the same as the “fat foam” in Hakata Ikkosha, but Hatchan Ramen’s soup is not fluffy, but rather fatty, and it hits you hard. But to be honest, my first impression was that the soup itself was surprisingly light. The pork bone smell is present but not strong, and the soup is smooth without being thick…

Well, that first impression was drastically wrong. Perhaps I had too strong an impression from the previous day’s special foamy tonkotsu ramen. In fact, if you look closely at the soup, you can see what looks like really fine marrow floating in the soup. I was told that this is possible because the pork bones are cooked until they are in this state. You can imagine how much pork bones are dissolved in this soup, can’t you? There is one more thing that surprised me about this soup, but I will tell you about it a little later.

On the other hand, the noodles for this were flat, straight, ultra-thin noodles. I was a little interested in the unique texture of the noodles. I ordered the noodles to be boiled normally, but they were boiled reasonably hard and I could enjoy their firm texture. However, the volume is small, so if you have room in your stomach, you might want to consider getting another bowl of noodles.

There was a small piece of chashu pork buried in the bubbling pork bone broth. It was a very ordinary red meat type chashu pork, and to be honest, its presence was quite small due to its small size. It was really just a bonus, and the lack of presence made me feel a little sad. If you have a strong craving for meat, you must upgrade to the chashu men.

Since the portion was originally small, I finished it in a few minutes and left the restaurant. Until this point, I honestly thought that the soup was a little short, even though I had heard that it was super thick….

But after walking for a while toward the inn, I noticed that there was a strong sense of pork bone broth left in my mouth. This surprised me, even though it didn’t seem that rich when I was eating it. Without exaggeration, there was a lingering taste of pork bone broth in my mouth for about 15 minutes after I left the restaurant. I have never had a pork bone broth ramen that left such a lingering taste in my mouth. It is good to have ramen where the broth sinks into your body while you are eating it, but it is also good to have ramen where you can enjoy the lingering aftertaste long after eating…I thought.

Examples of other menu items at Hachitaro Ramen Yakuin (prices include tax)

• Wontan chashu ramen 1150 yen
• Chashu ramen 950 yen
• Wontan ramen 950 yen
• Large ramen 900 yen
• Negimori ramen 850 yen
• Gyoza (dumplings) 550 yen
• Noodle refills 150 yen

Hatchan Ramen Yakuin Head Shop is a 3-minute walk from Yakuin Station on the Nishinippon Railway Tenjin Omuta Line, the nearest station to the restaurant.

It is a little confusing, but in addition to the Hatchan Ramen Yakuin Head Shop introduced here, there is another restaurant called Dazaifu Hatchan Ramen with its main branch in Dazaifu City. Although these two stores are basically completely different, it seems that the founders are actually brothers: the younger brother founded Hatchan Ramen Yakuin Head Shop in 1970, and the older brother founded Dazaifu Hatchan Ramen in 1975. Hearing of such a relationship, you may want to visit the Dazaifu store operated by the elder brother, right? It would be interesting to compare the tastes of both restaurants. If you ever go to Dazaifu, please remember the existence of Hachan Ramen in Dazaifu.

Now, here are the details of the stores. Restaurant data is here…