Ganso Ramen Nagahamake (Akasaka)

When I visited Fukuoka in the summer of 2024, I was determined to go to the Ganso Ramen Nagahamake (a.k.a. Ie1) in Akasaka. I had already visited the original Nagahamaya (a.k.a. Gannaga), which is the root of this restaurant, and the Ganso Ramen Nagahamake (a.k.a. Ie 2) with the exact same name in Nakasu Kawabata, so I just felt somewhat uncomfortable not having visited Ie 1 in between the two…

Aside from this silly motive, the main advantage of Ie1 that the other two Gannaga-style restaurants do not have is that they are open 24 hours a day. There is one time a week when the restaurant closes for cleaning, but other than that, it is very nice to be able to eat ramen anytime I go to the restaurant. That is why I went to Ie1 to have ramen as my “end of the day” meal. But when I actually tried it, I got the impression that it was quite different from what I had heard in the rumors…

A little different from Ganso Nagahamaya and Ganso Ramen Nagahamake (Nakasu Kawabata)… Ganso Ramen Nagahamake (Akasaka) is such a restaurant

I arrived at Ganso Ramen Nagahamake (Ie 1) in Akasaka at around 10 pm. At that time, there were 5 people waiting in line to enter the restaurant. I thought, “Well, that’s about right…” and got in line at the end, but by the time I finished my ramen and left the restaurant, there were clearly more than 20 people in line. I have never known a restaurant in Kyoto or Osaka to have a long line late at night, so I was simply amazed at this situation.

After waiting about 10 minutes, I entered the restaurant. The interior was clean and bright despite its simple layout, and there were 28 seats in total, including six counter seats. Like the Ganso Nagahamaya, the tables are shared as a matter of course. However, the method of ordering ramen is different from the other two restaurants. At Ie 1, there is no ticket vending machine in place, so orders are given directly to the waiter, but when I took my seat, they did not come to me even though I signaled with eye contact. After taking my seat, I walked up to a waiter myself and told him my order, but I had a little trouble getting him to let my order through, perhaps because he was still unfamiliar with the place. Even after I finished my order, I was a little worried about whether it had gone through as I had hoped…

At the last remaining Gannaga-style ramen restaurant, Ganso Ramen Nagahamake (Akasaka), I ordered a simple “Nasi Yawa” ramen…

What I ordered at Ganso Ramen Nagahamake (Akasaka) this time was “Nasi Yawa,” a light ramen with no oil and soft noodles. In the past, I have ordered “as it is” ramen at Ie 2 and “betanama” ramen at Gannaga, the original Nagahama Ramen restaurant, so I thought, “Let’s try the opposite of betanama this time! I decided to order “Nasi Yawa” in a lighthearted manner.

After ordering and waiting for about 5 minutes, “Nasi Yawa” Ramen was brought in front of me…

At first sight of this ramen, I felt something quite strange. Of course, there is no oil floating in the soup because it is “oilless,” but I felt that the soup was too white…

I actually took a sip of this soup, and my feeling of discomfort was correct. I think there was probably no sauce in this soup. I ordered a light ramen this time, but it was too light. I even had a suspicion that they forgot to add sauce. I even had a doubt in my mind, “Maybe they forgot to put tare sauce in?” I took a sip and immediately…

I took a small kettle on the table and poured in a considerable amount of sauce. I was glad that the restaurant had sauce on the table. But is this really the default taste of “Nasi Yawa”? According to what I heard beforehand, the three Gannaga-style restaurants have different store names, but their ramen making methods and tastes are almost the same… If you order “no oil,” will the amount of sauce be reduced as well? As for that, I’m still a bit curious after finishing my meal.

On the other hand, the noodles I asked for with “yawa” didn’t turn out as soft as I had expected. They were chunky and boiled with a slight firmness in the center. They were softer than the “as it is” boiled noodles I had in the past at the Ganso Ramen Nagahamake (Ie. 2), so perhaps they were properly asked for the desired degree of boiling. It was boiled close to my personal preference, and in that sense, it was good.

The thinly sliced meat topping was, for some reason, much saltier than the meat from Ganaga or Ie 2. The thicker salt content was a little spicy when eaten as is, so I soaked the meat in the broth to rinse off the salt before eating.

I personally felt a lot of discomfort when I tried the ramen at the Ganso Ramen Nagahamake (Akasaka) like this, to be honest. I had heard that “Gannaga, Ie 1, and Ie 2 are almost the same in terms of production method and taste”… Perhaps it was just a coincidence that the taste was very different this time, but to be honest, I felt that the ramen this time was about as different from the other two restaurants as it could be. I don’t intend to say anything about “which is better or worse” here, since there are differences in personal tastes, but you might want to be a little careful when ordering light ramen at Ganaga-style restaurants in the future.

Menu list of Ganso Ramen Nagahamake (Akasaka) (prices include tax)

• Ramen 550 yen
• Kaedama (noodle refill) 100 yen
• Kaeniku (meat refill) 100 yen
• Shochu: 200 yen
• Sake 350 yen
• Bottled beer 500 yen

Ramen noodles for souvenirs are sold in the store… To get to Ganso Ramen Nagahamake (Akasaka), a 9-minute walk from Akasaka Station on the Fukuoka City Subway Airport Line, the nearest station.

At Ganso Ramen Nagahamake (Akasaka), ramen noodles for souvenirs are sold in the store…

A box of three servings of semi-sweet noodle type ramen is priced at 1,500 yen per box including tax. So far, Ganso Nagahamaya and Nakasu Kawabata’s Gansu Ramen Nagahamake do not offer this kind of service, so if you want to buy Ganaga-style ramen as a souvenir to take home, this is the only store you should go to. While I was sipping my ramen at the store, there were people buying ramen in bulk (if I had asked for a rich ramen, I am sure I would have had the ramen I was expecting). I think it would make a good souvenir for ramen lovers, so why not consider buying it on your way home from eating ramen?

Now, here are the details of the store…