Ippudo

Shigemi Kawahara opened the first Ippudo in his hometown of Fukuoka City in 1985. Today there are Ippudos all over Japan, and all over the world, serving Hakata-style ramen noodles based on a flavoursome tonkotsu pork broth. Queuing in a food court is not everyone's idea of fun, but the system works and tables turn over fast. Diners sit at long benches under a wave of a wooden ceiling surrounded by open kitchens full of swirling, whirling chefs. The basic ramen comes with black fungus, spring onions and considerably less pork than shown on the picture menu, but for a little extra you can add pork belly, boiled egg, or miso with ground pork, and ask for your noodles to be soft, medium or firm. There are things other than ramen, including an unexciting hot-stone rice with grilled eel, decent gyoza dumplings and steamy little pork buns. And if you've never had a green tea-iced, red bean-filled lamington, now's your chance.