If you’ve always wondered if there’s a place that sells a bowl of ramen so large and ridiculous in scale that you could potentially overdose on noodles, then you’ll be pleased to hear there is a place you can taste those limits in Akihabara, Tokyo.
Akihabara may be renown for being a Japanese pop culture Mecca, but hidden down a back street is a restaurant called “Yarou Ramen”, a ramen shop for the everyman.
Yet there’s one dish on the menu known as “Mega Pork Yarou Ramen” that’s been created for the madman.
Huge slices of braised pork, a mountain of bean sprouts and thick noodles to soak up the thick soup broth. I can’t say it’s my favourite ramen - or indeed a particularly good ramen - but you don’t go to Yarou ramen to be impressed by flavour. You go to challenge yourself to Tokyo’s finest monster food challenge.
And that is exactly what I did, when I went head to head with Natsuki one autumn, as we sat in the corner of the store and spent 30 minutes attempting to devour the bowl.
Whilst I’d rather forget the food, I can’t forget the hilarity of battling the increasingly cocky Natsuki. Of the various food challenges I’ve undertaken in Japan, the monster ramen challenge was easily my most favourite and given it’s now been watched by over a million people, I dread to think how many others we inspired to attempt to consume the nightmarish bowl of “Mega Pork Yarou Ramen”.
Sadly, but perhaps unsurprisingly, it didn’t end well for me either.
Road Tripping to Japan’s Mouthwatering Ramen Capital
Road Tripping to Japan’s Mouthwatering Ramen Capital | Kitakata, Fukushima I won’t lie, once you’ve seen a dozen temples and shrines you’ve more or less seen them all. That doesn’t mean you can...
Wandering the Bustling Streets of Japanese Venice
Wandering the Bustling Streets of Japanese Venice | Kurashiki, Okayama When somebody told me Japan had its very own answer to Venice, the cynic in me called bullshit. Having visited Venice and been blown...
Tasting the Finest Wagyu in Japan with Natsuki
Tasting the Finest Wagyu in Japan with Natsuki | Morioka, Iwate A few years ago I won a competition called “Tohoku 365” whereby I received funding to travel around all of north Japan and document the ...
Japan’s Most Underrated City
Japan’s Most Underrated City | Matsuyama, Ehime Ask me what my favourite spot in Japan is and the one that comes racing to my mind first and foremost is the view from Matsuyama Castle, nestled in the he...
Discovering Sapporo for the First time with Natsuki
Discovering Sapporo for the First time with Natsuki | Sapporo, Hokkaido You can’t beat exploring a city for the first time with a good friend. One August after both Natsuki and I found ou...
Cycling the Islands of Japan’s Stunning Inland Sea
Cycling the Islands of Japan’s Stunning Inland Sea | Onomichi, Hiroshima If I had to give one place as being the most jaw-dropping, “instagramable” location in Japan, that award would go the Setouch...
Getting Lost with a Madman in Osaka
Getting Lost with a Madman in Osaka | Osaka City As a lover of cyberpunk, retro wave and Blade Runner, Osaka is effectively my holy city. "What about Tokyo’s Shibuya and Shinjuku districts?” you might...
Escaping to a Secluded Mountain Temple
Escaping to a Secluded Mountain Temple | Mount Haguro, Yamagata In a world where switching off is all but impossible, sometimes we need to retreat to a secluded mountain temple and pretend like we’re in...
Wasting the Day Away at Sake Vending Machines
Wasting the Day Away at Sake Vending Machines | Niigata City, Niigata “Sake vending machines.”- Say it out loud. It’s f*cking magical isn’t it? Co...
Road Tripping Hokkaido in the Winter
Road Tripping Hokkaido in the Winter | Noboribetsu, Hokkaido You can’t quite beat the sensation of relaxing in a hot spring in winter, soaking beneath the steam with the icy breeze blowing against your ...
Staying in a Traditional Japanese Inn
Staying in a Traditional Japanese Inn | Yonezawa, Yamagata I’d known my cheeky Japanese friend Ryotaro six months when he invited me to travel with him on a visit to see his friend Satou-san, the owner ...
Making Friends in Japan: My Experiences and Tips
Considering it’s the question I’ve received thrice daily for the past 2 years, I still haven’t worked out a proper response to; “Will I be able to make Japanese friends in Japan?” ...
