Maruhoshi Chinese Noodle Center Head Shop

I visited the Maruhoshi Chinese Noodle Center Head Shop (a.k.a. Maruhoshi Ramen), which has a long history and strong popularity among Kurume ramen, one of the three major types of ramen in Fukuoka, along with Hakata and Nagahama ramen. The restaurant was founded in 1958, so as of July 2024, it has been in business for 66 years. It is said to be the first ramen shop in Japan to open 24 hours a day (note: it is not open 24 hours a day anymore). The store is also said to be the originator of red ginger on ramen, and is famous for being the first ramen store in Kurume to introduce the “Kaedama” (Noodle refills).

Unaware of such a legendary story, I walked from the station and arrived at the restaurant at around 11:30 in the afternoon. I entered the restaurant and thought to myself, “I’m hungry…” but upon entering the restaurant, I was surprised to find a few things…

Entering the store, I was surprised at many places… Maruhoshi Chinese Noodle Center Head Shop (a.k.a. Maruhoshi Ramen) is a store like this.

Maruhoshi Chinese Noodle Center Head Shop is located north of Kurume City on Route 3, across the Chikugo River. The exterior is very old and looks exactly like a “hotchpotch hut”. It has a very nice taste and history from the time of its establishment.

Fortunately, there was no line at the store. However, I was surprised to see a huge crowd inside the store. There were probably about 10 customers waiting for a seat to become available in the small space. The space is so small that it is very tight.

But actually, this restaurant seems to have nearly 100 seats in total. From the outside, it doesn’t look like such a large restaurant at all. When I looked into it, I found out that the store was only about 7 square meters in size when it first opened, but it has been expanded and expanded to its current structure. There is no sign of the kind of livability that is typical of ramen shops these days, and the layout looks as if everything has been squeezed in to the utmost limit.

After entering the restaurant and before being shown to a seat, purchase a meal ticket from the ticket vending machine. The basic menu consists of Tonkotsu Ramen (Note: “W Ramen” with double the amount of noodles has been suspended since July 1, 2024), and additional toppings such as Yaki Buta (300 yen), Boiled Egg (80 yen), and Green Onion (50 yen) are available for customization, The basic ramen costs an astonishing 550 yen per bowl (all prices include tax)! Even for a local restaurant with low maintenance costs, this is a price setting that would have been common even in the Showa period (1926-1989). I wonder, “How can they do it at such a low price? In other words, in exchange for the low price, the customers are willing to pay for all the other inconveniences. Therefore, please do not complain about “small” or “inconvenient” at all if you go to Maruhoshi Ramen.Also, looking at the bottom of the ticket machine, there is a button that says “Oden”. Indeed, there is an oden pot at the back of the ticket vending machine, where a wide selection of oden items are simmering, just like at an oden specialty restaurant. I would associate “ramen and oden” with “can I have a beer?” However, this is not a “ramen shop + izakaya” style restaurant like Hakata Ramen ShinShin or Hidechan Ramen Tombo Branch. The combination of “ramen + oden” is a bit of a mystery to me as a Kansai native…

And it doesn’t end there. In the seating area inside the restaurant, there is a corner with side dishes such as “nikujaga (meat and potatoes),” “tsukune-no nimono (simmered tsukune),” and “takana (leaf mustard),” which can be picked up for free! This corner is also very popular, with customers constantly coming in to wait for their ramen to be served. Even the phrase “god-class cost performance” seems cheap now that it has come this far…

How was the traditional [Maruhoshi Ramen] made at Kurume’s legendary Maruhoshi Chinese Noodle Center Head Shop, when I tried it?

However, if Maruhoshi Chinese Noodle Center‘s ramen is “bad,” it’s a complete waste of time. Let’s try their “Maruhoshi Ramen”, shall I? Once seated, hand your meal ticket to the mothers who are moving about the floor in all directions, and at the same time, tell them how much you want your noodles cooked. After about 10 minutes of waiting for our order, the Maruhoshi Ramen arrived in front of me…

A piece of chashu pork, chopped green onion, and a sheet of nori topping a bowl of cloudy soup… This is the “normal” state of Maruhoshi Ramen (the noodles are also cooked to a normal level). Even at only 550 yen per bowl, this ramen is not at all inferior to the standard ramen at other restaurants.

First, take a sip of the soup… The first sip is slightly oily, and the rich, yet natural pork bone flavor spreads softly in the mouth. I heard that this soup has been cooked in the same pot for more than 60 years since the establishment of the restaurant. Like the secret sauce preserved at long-established yakitori restaurants and eel restaurants, this soup is the “life” of this restaurant. It does not have the strong pork bone flavor of Hakata Ikkosha, nor does it have the pork bone smell of the typical Kurume ramen, Taiho Ramen, so even those who do not like pork bone ramen can eat it normally.

On the other hand, the noodles are lightly frizzled, which is a bit different from the noodles I have eaten at restaurants in Fukuoka. The noodles themselves are slightly thicker than Hakata Tonkotsu Ramen, and could be described as “medium thin noodles”. Thanks to this, the noodles have a good firmness and a sticky texture.

The main topping, chashu pork, is the traditional type, but it is cut a little thicker, so it makes me feel like I have eaten meat after eating it. I can’t say that it is extravagant since the price of a bowl of ramen is 550 yen, but at this price, I honestly have nothing to complain about.

This is how I left the restaurant, very satisfied with my ramen at Maruhoshi Chinese Noodle Center Head Shop. The building is old and inconvenient in some ways, but the warmth of the restaurant’s thoughtfulness far outweighed these inconveniences. I hope this kind of restaurant will continue to exist for a long time to come. I don’t mind if they raise the price of ramen, so I hope they will continue to do their best until the next time I visit Kurume.

A full lineup of souvenir products…To get to the Maruhoshii Chinese Noodle Center Head Shop, a 12-minute walk from the nearest station, Miyano-jin Station on the Nishitetsu Tenjin Omuta Line.

At the Maruhoshii Chinese Noodle Center Head Shop, several souvenir items are available for purchase in the store…

There are three types of ramen: a three-serving fresh ramen, a three-serving half-serving boxed ramen ideal for souvenirs, and a two-serving stick ramen made by Sampo Foods that can be preserved… There are three types, so you can choose the one that best fits your purpose. The box ramen, in particular, is priced at 1,400 yen, but the limited price at the main store is 1,200 yen, a 200 yen discount! If you like the ramen at the restaurant, why not buy some of these ramen to take home?

Now, here are the details of the store…