There’s something looming in the water, and it’s come to take a bite out of your wallet! Chef Kenji Chiba of Chibaki-ya returns to Los Angeles with a taste of his exclusive shark’s fin ramen! Terrorizing customers at $18 a bowl, is it worth its weight in political incorrectness? Rameniac sure hopes so!

Kitakyushu ramen is well-represented at Canal City Hakata’s Raumen Stadium 2. Stylistically, Kokura ramen shops might not be all that different from their famous neighbors to the southwest, but blow-for-blow, Murasaki is one noodler that can definitely hold its own against the Hakata elite!

No one knows how that box of Manshuya Ga Ichiban Kurume ramen ended up in rameniac’s stash, but when he cracked it open and sucked down a bowl, he got this phone call that he would die in seven days. Naw, just playing. But it sure feels that way, when tonkotsu is so rich it’s practically pure molten lard!

Canal City Hakata’s Raumen Stadium 2 is a bountiful bevy of prominent, predominantly Kyushu-area ramen shops! A star stand out on the food court, Isshin Furan swears by its Miyazaki stylings with a multi-hued menu of top-notch tonkotsu. Alliteratively speaking, of course.

Ramen in Fukuoka is typically served in smaller portions than in other parts of Japan. You can order kaedama and add extra noodles or, like, rameniac, simply adopt a bowl-and-a-half strategy. On the way back to the hotel from eating ramen, rameniac makes a pit stop for well, more ramen. Warning. Don’t try this at home, kids.

Rameniac burns a morning towing his luggage around Fukuoka’s Hakata district in search of the perfect hotel - wherever’s closest to the perfect bowls! First up, Aka Noren has been around for over fifty years, and the ramen is so old-school you might not even recognize the Hakata ramen it purports to have originated!

Rameniac’s headed to Japan! Along the way, he gets a head start on his slurping with a quick, last-minute bowl at one of his favorite local watering holes. Don’t forget your passport aboard the Hamada Orient Express, LAX’s finest (well, only) old-school, mukashii-shoyu ramen depot.

Okay, so technically it’s “not really ramen,” but rameniac goes island hopping anyway with Myojo Okinawa Soba! Think of it like your cousin from the islands who’s a bit out of touch from living in the middle of the ocean; Okinawa Soba is fishy, squishy, and a noodly good time, brah!

Multi-packed instant ramen has come a long way from the days of Sapporo Ichiban. Nissin’s “Ramenya-san” lineup of plain-wrapped perennials are a step closer to what an instant noodle quick fix should be, and Yokohama Chukasoba is non-fried to boot. Can something be both good and good for you? Here’s a step in the right direction!

You know things are foo-bar’d when a cheap knock off can sully the reputation of a perfectly fine ramen shop. Tucked into the middle of nowhere, the original Foo Foo Tei serves up a menu of David Lynchian weirdness that sounds worse than it really is. Like Twin Peaks, nanchatte paitan ramen isn’t for everyone!

Intrigue plagues the existence of dual Foo Foo Tei in the San Gabriel Valley. Spite and litigation apparently abound, and rumor has it that the Monterey Park branch is merely a cheap knock-off of the Hacienda Heights original. All theatrics aside, are its noodles even worth fussing over? 

Hakata Shin-Sen-Gumi brings the flavor of Fukuoka to an otherwise arid city of dysfunctional pop tarts and baked, rappin’ hot dawgs. If I ruled the world, I’d just ship over an entire fleet of food carts, complete with drunken salarymen and grumpy old ramen masters. Until then, we’ll just have to make do with these guys.

For everyone who’s ever shoved a square peg through a round hole, for everyone who believes in the abominable snowman, this one’s for you. Tokachi Nitsu Seimen-brand Nana Ramen contains seven of the greener things that make you tick. Hug a tree, hold a yoga pose, because vegetarian instant ramen is finally here!

Sandwiched in a strip mall in West L.A.‘s Little Osaka, Kinchans’s svelte location on Sawtelle is within proximity of boba shops, giant robots, and Asian hipsters galore. The place has been around forever, but does anyone actually eat there? If so, excellent. But if not, there has gots to be a reason why!

At long last, rameniac gives a thumbs up/down/sideways to Daikokuya, arguably the most popular ramen shop in Los Angeles ever since Jonathan Gold gave it his seal of approval in the LA Weekly. Curious how you fend off hipsters to get a bowl of your very own?

Cafe Asa is the greatest thing to hit Los Angeles since… well, since my exchange student friend came for a homestay earlier year. But that’s another story. This hidden gem of a place recently appeared out of nowhere to thoroughly own most of the other ramen shops around town! The secret’s out starting now!

It’s that time of year again! This year’s Hokkaido Fair at the Torrance Mitsuwa Marketplace featured Sumire, all the way from Sapporo! The great buttery north of Japan is home to miso ramen and one of the most popular noodle styles on the planet. How does it play in LA?

In the shadow of the Giant Robot empire stands Asahi Ramen, a neighborhood institution on West L.A.‘s Sawtelle Blvd. But the times they are a-changin’. How does a once popular ramen shop stack up in the new era of specialized soups and regional styles?

Rameniac takes his first, tentative steps behind the Orange Curtain to uncover the treasure trove of ramen shops in Los Angeles’ neighbor to the south. Does Chinese Restaurant Kohryu yield a pot of gold at the end of the 405 freeway?

“Made in China” is the scarlet letter for 21st century goods. What happens when you take an enterprising Kumamoto ramen shop, franchise it across Asia, and expand it into Southern California’s San Gabriel Valley? You might get a fiasco of ill-prepared portions. Or something like that.