Menya Yukikaze Susukino Head Shop

Menya Yukikaze. I happened to find this restaurant while doing Internet research during my stay at a hotel in Sapporo, and I heard that it is an incredibly popular ramen shop there. The restaurant has won the “EAST 100 Best Ramen Restaurants” award three times, and the reviews on the Internet are quite high. I decided to visit the restaurant for that night’s dinner, thinking, “If this is the case, the taste is sure to be good too…”. Without paying attention to the ladies touting for customers in the downtown area, I followed Google Maps straight to the restaurant and arrived at Menya Yukikaze Susukino Head Shop, located at the southern end of Susukino…

The line at Menya Yukikaze Susukino Head Shop on a weekday night at around 9:00 p.m. was just unbelievable… What was the length of the line and how long was the wait?

I arrived at Menya Yukikaze Susukino Head Shop around 9 p.m. on this particular day, and there was already a huge line at the storefront…

To be honest, I lost interest in waiting in line. The number of customers ahead of me was estimated to be well over 30, and the estimated waiting time was about an hour and a half? If I had the next day, I probably would have gone back to my hotel at this point. Unfortunately, it was the last day of my stay in Sapporo, and I managed to stay there with only a feeling of “I don’t know when the next time will be…”.

A little trivia while waiting to enter the restaurant. The name “Yukikaze” of Menya Yukikaze was taken from “Yukikaze,” the only destroyer that survived until the end of the Pacific War despite taking part in many naval battles during the war. I thought it was just a Hokkaido-style restaurant name, but I was wrong. It has been over 20 years since it opened in December 2003, and this restaurant has not only survived in the fiercely competitive ramen industry, but has become one of the most popular queuing points in Sapporo.

In the meantime, the line was gradually moving forward, and after an hour and 20 minutes of waiting at the end of the line, I was finally able to enter the restaurant. The space inside the restaurant is really cozy, with only 12 seats at the counter. The interior is simple and unadorned, and is filled with autographs of famous people. Looking at the number of autographs, it is easy to see how popular this restaurant is!

It was quite different from the miso ramen I had imagined… What was the signature dish of Menya Yukikaze Susukino Head Shop really like?

Let me introduce you to the signature dish I ordered at Menya Yukikaze Susukino Head Shop, Thick Miso Ramen (priced at 998 yen including tax). After about 3 minutes of waiting, the Thick Miso Ramen arrived in front of me…

At first glance, I noticed that the color of the soup was different from the Sapporo Miso Ramen I have had before. The soup is a bit muddy…

I scooped some of the soup onto the spoon and found that my intuition was right: the soup was quite thick. It has a mild miso taste and a nice blend of chicken-based animal and seafood flavors, with a hint of garlic. It is definitely “thick,” but it is not miso, but rather a thick soup stock. Although the soup is rich in flavor, it has a clean aftertaste, so you can finish the soup without feeling any lingering taste.

The noodles are made by Nishiyama Seimen, a prestigious noodle maker in Sapporo, and are medium-thick and frizzy with egg. The degree of frizziness of the noodle is moderate compared to the frizziness of other restaurants. The noodles are slightly hard-boiled, and their plump texture and firmness can be enjoyed at the same time. Their presence is not at all overshadowed by the thick miso soup based on chicken white soup.

In addition to this large pork belly chashu, there was also chicken chashu hidden under the vegetables. This was lucky! I felt like I was getting something before I even ate it. But aside from that, if looking closely at this pork belly chashu, there is pork skin attached to it. Speaking of pork rind, the gourmet manga “Oishinbo” is famous for the problematic comment, “This pork belly stew is not ready yet, I can’t eat it.” It is true that when the skin is present, that part becomes a sticky gelatinous substance, and you can enjoy the sensation of it melting together with the fat underneath. In other words, this pork belly chashu has a maximum degree of melt-in-your-mouth quality. I can’t say it’s bad.

The “Thick Miso Ramen” on Menya Yukikaze Susukino Head Shop‘s flagship menu is clearly different from the miso ramen I have had in the past, and is clearly differentiated from those of other popular miso ramen restaurants. This makes me feel like I want to try Menya Yukikaze’s miso ramen, not “I want to eat miso ramen in Sapporo”. If you want to try a new type of miso ramen in Sapporo, I recommend this Thick Miso Ramen along with Ebisba Ichigen’s Ebi-Miso. However, the queue length is just exasperating, so you have to be prepared for a very long wait…

Examples of other menu items at Menya Yukikaze Susukino Head Shop (prices include tax)

• Spicy miso ramen: 1,050 yen
• Chicken bones salt ramen 998 yen
• Various types of ramen without ingredients: 750 yen
• Handmade grilled gyoza: 6 for 500 yen (half gyoza: 3 for 250 yen)
• Chashu pork 300 yen
• Seasoned egg: 200 yen
• Rice 200 yen

In addition to the Susukino Head Shop, there are also the Teine and Kiyota branches… Menya Yukikaze Head Shop is a 4-minute walk from the nearest station, Higashi Honganjimae Station on the Sapporo City Tram.

In addition to the Susukino Head Shop introduced here, there are two other branches of Menya Yukikaze: the Teine branch and the Kiyota branch. The other two branches are located far from the city center… If they had branches in the city center, the long lines might have been eased a little…. On the other hand, if you go to these branches, you may be able to get ramen with a shorter waiting time than at the main restaurant, so I think it’s a good idea to make a short trip from the city center to these branches.

Now, here are the details of the ramen shop…

P.S. If you are looking for delicious ramens in Hokkaido, please stop by this article below…