Tokyo: Ichiran Ramen

Before I went to Japan, I was super picky about noodles. I only ate certain kinds of noodles and ignored everything else. I know, it's terrible but keep in mind that most noodles that I had here in Toronto was very inferior.

After sightseeing all morning in Tokyo, I was starving for lunch. My bf found this ramen shop..I forgot the name..sorry!

I was intimated to go in but he said that we should try it (he's more adventurous and definitely more Asian than me). We had to figure out how/what to order using the vending machine outside the restaurant door. It's actually a great idea that they have vending machines to purchase your food. You can order what you like and get additional items/side dishes and drinks. You just select what you want, pay and it prints out a ticket(s) to take inside the restaurant. We had to wait in line for a few minutes until a booth became free. We were seated side by side.

You just press a button to call the attendant. He/she will take your ticket and you have to fill out the form for your preference on what you want on your ramen. 

Everything that you need is in your booth..chopsticks, cups, spout for water, and tissues. My bf and I didn't realized until later on that we can open up the booth divider. 

It's so interesting that what you have in front of you is a bamboo blind that goes up and down when the attendant is serving you. I only saw our attendant's face once, the rest of the time I saw the middle of her body. 

The service is very efficient and quick. It's really good! and we ordered ours with extra noodle so we just used the buzzer to call our attendant and she had the extra noodles ready in a flash.

It's just a great concept. I would like to slurp my ramen in the privacy of my own booth if I'm eating alone.

I wish we had this near my office because I would eat there every single day!

P.S. since coming back from Japan, I have been hounding ramen restaurants more and more in Toronto. Sadly, I have yet to find a place that's comparable to ramen places in Japan, any tips?