Ide Shoten / Savor Simple, Mellow Wakayama Ramen; Endless Lines Wait to Taste Noodles Crowned “Japan’s Best”

By Futoshi Mori / Japan News Senior Writer

14:24 JST, March 27, 2026

What a long line! I had arrived at Ide Shoten, a famous Wakayama ramen shop located about a five-minute walk from JR Wakayama Station, and I was immediately overwhelmed to see how popular it remains. It was 3:00 p.m. on the first day of a three-day weekend in March. Typically, there would be relatively few customers at this time of day — but more than 40 people were lined up along the wide street in front of the shop. No wonder — this was the shop that, 28 years ago, won the title of “Japan’s Best” and became the epicenter of the Wakayama ramen boom.

I was reluctant to simply push ahead of everyone waiting and walk in the door, so I bowed my head and explained to the people at the front of the line that I had an appointment for an interview before opening the sliding door at the entrance. The interior, with counters on both sides and table seating in the center, was, of course, packed. With fewer than 20 seats, it wasn’t as spacious as it looked from outside. And this is currently the shop’s only location; there are no branches. So, if you want to eat Ide Shoten ramen, you have no choice but to come here.

The kitchen in the back was about the same size as the dining area, and in front of a large pot of bubbling soup, third-generation manager Yoshinori Hashimoto, 54, was busy working alongside other staff members. “Is the line still that long? I’m surprised to hear that,” said Hashimoto with a carefree smile as he led me into a small room at the back, separate from the dining area. In that Japanese-style room, which appeared to be used for simple administrative tasks, I ordered the shop’s signature ramen, “chuka [Chinese-style] soba” (¥880).

The ramen was ready in no time, and the bowl placed before me looked remarkably simple. The cloudy broth was mellow and rich. I had expected it to be heavy, but the aftertaste was surprisingly light. “We simmer pork bones for long hours every day so we can continue offering the flavor passed down to us by the previous [second-generation] owner,” said Hashimoto. That much was evident even from outside the shop, as the aroma of simmering pork bones wafted through the air. As the bones simmer over high heat, gelatin melts out of the marrow, creating a broth which is blended with soy sauce to produce a unique, mellow flavor.

The soup pairs well with the straight, thin noodles the shop serves, which come from the long-established Naruto noodle factory in Aridagawa, Wakayama Prefecture. Toppings on offer include kamaboko fish cakes shaped like local plum blossoms, three thin slices of pork belly chashu, menma bamboo shoots and green onions.

The menu is simple. The lineup consists of the standard “chuka soba,” the “special chuka soba” with extra chashu, the “large portion chuka soba” with double the noodles, and the “special large portion chuka soba,” with both double noodles and extra chashu.

The ramen doesn’t have any striking special features, but I liked its mellow flavor, which retains the simplicity of the shop’s early days as a street stall.

Food stall run by mother

Wakayama ramen, a local specialty known throughout the country, can be broadly categorized into “Ide-style” ramen, featuring a cloudy pork bone soy sauce broth, and the “Shakomae-style” ramen, featuring a clear soy sauce broth. The Shakomae style is said to originate from the flavor of the ramen sold at food stalls that gathered around the Shakomae tram station, which was at the center of a bustling commercial district in the postwar era. Locally, both types are referred to simply as chuka soba.

The original Ide Shoten was a chuka soba stall set up in 1953 by Tsuyako Ide, whose husband died of an illness at a young age after returning home from the war, leaving her to raise their three children on her own. Several years later, road widening work began in the area in preparation for the 1971 National Sports Festival, making it difficult for Ide to continue operating the stall. This led her to open the shop at its current location. Later, her son, Norio, joined the business, and the shop began to thrive.

It was Norio who changed the broth at Ide Shoten in the late 1970s to the cloudy pork bone soy sauce broth we know today. Until then, it had been a clear soy sauce broth of the same kind that is said to have been the origin of Wakayama ramen. Because the pot used to make the broth at the shop was small, whenever things got busy, they would keep it on the stove while making more. One day, Norio tasted the concentrated broth that this process produced, and he discovered that it was delicious. From then on, he gradually shifted to the method of simmering it down that is used to make the broth today.

A major turning point came in 1998, when a certain television program named Ide Shoten as the shop serving “Japan’s best ramen.” The shop gained nationwide recognition and began to draw massive lines every day, and more shops in Wakayama and Tokyo began to feature “Wakayama ramen” on their signs. This marked the arrival of the Wakayama ramen boom. Its popularity continues to this day.

A free pamphlet published by Wakayama City and the City Tourism Association, “Wakayama ramen: a taste tour map,” features 35 eateries.

Ide Shoten has also solidified its reputation by opening regular and pop-up shops at the Shin-Yokohama Ramen Museum in Kohoku Ward, Yokohama, on several occasions.

“It was around the end of 2024 that I was specifically told I would be the ‘third-generation representative,’” Hashimoto recalls. The second-generation owner, Norio, stepped back from the front lines, and Hashimoto is now in charge of running the shop. Born in Osaka and raised in Wakayama, Hashimoto has worked at Ide Shoten for a quarter of a century, starting when he was around 30 years old.

“The pressure is intense,” said Hashimoto, his expression turning serious. “I have no intention of expanding. I want to stay steady and unwavering here, uphold our traditions and do work that lives up to the shop’s name.”

Ide Shoten

4-84 Tanaka-cho, Wakayama City. Open from 11:30 a.m., with last orders at 9:30 p.m. Closed on Thursdays.

Japanese version

【ラーメンは芸術だ！】和歌山の名店「井出商店」、行列の先に待っていた「日本一」の味