鷲尾★ジロー
Yesterday, I visited the ramen restaurant "Shodai Ichikokudo," which represents the Heisei era, after a long time, so today I also visited the flagship store of another famous Heisei era restaurant, "Shirakaba Sanso." It's been about 10 years since I last had ramen at "Shirakaba Sanso." Personally, I categorize Sapporo ramen shops into generations, similar to the comedy industry. The first generation includes legendary shops like "Aji no Sanpei," which created miso ramen. The second generation consists of ramen shops that opened from the late Showa era to just before the Heisei era. And then the third generation, which includes ramen shops run by owners of the same generation as Downtown or Unnan in the comedy world, from the Heisei era onwards. This period coincided with a time when individual ramen shop owners started to gain attention. Examples include "Tetsuya," "Sumire Three Musketeers (Ayami, Ookami Soup, Present Gekkoken)," "Zantouka," and "Enya." The president of "Shirakaba Sanso," Mr. Suganuma, also falls into this third generation. At that time, he gained attention as a successful ramen shop owner who quit his job and was featured on TV riding a Harley. Leaving that aside, the restaurant is located in Makomanai, Minami-ku, Sapporo. After passing through Makomanai Park and heading towards the Art Park, you'll find a mountain hut-style shop on the right side of Makomanai Street. Despite having other branches like Ramen Republic, Ramen Yokocho, and an airport store, this one in the depths of Makomanai serves as the main store. I entered through the noren curtain that said "20th Anniversary" and sat at the counter, ordering the "Miso Ramen" for 820 yen. While waiting for the ramen, I enjoyed the complimentary boiled egg, a signature of Shirakaba Sanso (^ω^) After about 10 minutes, the ramen was served. The miso ramen was adorned with various toppings like corn, wood ear mushrooms, seaweed, menma, green onions, and vegetables. Let's dig in! First, the soup. It's delicious. A rich tonkotsu shirodashi soup made with pork, kombu, and aromatic vegetables. The fragrant miso sauce adds a sweet touch. Another form of Sapporo miso flavor. The noodles are medium-thick curly Sapporo egg noodles. They have a chewy texture that complements the soup well. The noodles are provided by Morizumi Seimen. Stir-fried bean sprouts, carrots, and ground meat enhance the flavor when combined with the soup. It's a bit disappointing that the corn and menma are cold. The quail egg is a nice touch. Now, let's finish every last drop of the soup, yum~ (*´∀`*) Once again, I finished every last bit. This ramen from Shirakaba Sanso, which has been at the forefront for over 20 years, is indeed a representative of "Heisei-era ramen." The ramen industry has seen the rise of the fourth and fifth generations, bringing various new trends, but this shop representing the third generation is still delicious. When paying the bill, the man in front of me told the staff, "It's been four years since I last had this, but it was delicious." I agree. I understand that sentiment. Thank you for the meal ♬ (Note) The fourth generation of ramen shops includes evolution and new wave styles that opened around 2008. The fifth generation consists of shops that opened from around 2018 to 2021.