Sapporo Miso Ramen

Miso had not been used as a ramen base until Morito Omiya of Aji no Sanpei in Sapporo built one in the 1950s, reportedly from a customer's request for something like a miso soup with noodles in it, and by the 1960s it had spread nationally as one of the three main ramen styles. The Sapporo version has particular features: a pork and vegetable stir-fry cooked in a wok first with a metal ladle, miso and stock added to the same wok, curly medium-thick yellow noodles that hold the heavier soup, sweetcorn and butter as common additions, and a layer of rendered lard floating on the surface that seals in the heat - a bowl stays scalding for far longer than it should, which is the point in a city where it is minus ten outside. Ramen Yokocho, an alley of small shops in Susukino, has been the traditional place to eat it since 1951.

What you actually see

• A wok-built soup - vegetables and pork stir-fried first, then miso and stock in the same pan.
• A lard seal - a film of fat on the surface keeping the bowl scalding.
• Corn and butter - the standard Hokkaido additions.
• Ramen Yokocho - an alley of small shops in Susukino, running since 1951.

When to go

All year; winter, when the heat retention makes sense. An hour.

Honest expectations

Ramen Yokocho is small, touristed and not where every local eats - good shops are spread across the city. Queues at the well-known places run to an hour. Bowls are very rich and heavy. Many shops close between lunch and dinner.

Nearby

Susukino is the nightlife district around the alley; Odori Park is north.