This pandemic has harshly impacted on food and beverages industry especially restaurants. 

Feared on Covid-19 virus spreading from person to person, many people have been afraid of going out socialising with their friends and families. Lockdowns, social distancing, SOP and a lot of restrictions have turned off not only restaurant business owners but also customers who would love to patronising. 

This restaurant has sparkled in my mind when I first visited in Japan, Osaka! 

It is Ichiran Ramen. 

It was my first time to come here. I was a bit stressed as I didn’t see any menu board or shop signboard? It was like only green coloured Japanese characters with red background… When I first arrived at the restaurant, there was already a queue outside of the restaurant. The line was traced into the restaurant.

After a long day, I was expected on someone to serve me with a menu. When I moved in and it was my turn… “Geez..!” 

No waiters/waitresses, only a vending machine right before me.

I was sweating and panicking. It was not because that I have never seen a vending machine. I had never ordered restaurant freshly made cuisine from a vending machine. 

With… a long queue with dozens pair of eyes behind my back, pressing me on ordering right away! 

It seemed like there was only one type of Ramen for me to choose. The vending machine menu choice looked kinda overwhelming with many choices at one glance. I quickly made my choices then slot in the cash for payment. 

One great thing about using the vending machine: it doesn’t matter what you wanted to eat, once you press on the buttons, you have to slot in the cash. And there is no so called “that’s not what I ordered.” You just pay for whatever you press on menu on that machine. 

Haha … there is also no such situation as “I forgot to bring my wallet/cash or I can’t pay. HAHA” 

Ok! Now let me walk you through this. 

Don’t press any buttons first!

First of all, Look Carefully on what you want on the menu. 

The top right corner was set meal Tonkotsu Ramen(with meat and spring onions) + an half boiled salted egg and dried seaweed = 1580 yen. You can add on one Kae-Dama noodle refill(210 yen) or half.(150 yen) 

And there are side dishes like smoke-flavoured stewed pork, kikurage mushroom, more porks, rice, more dried seaweed and green onions, more garlics, vinegar sauce and egg. 

And you can order drinks and your drought beer! I love tap drought beer~ 

Now…

Step 1

Insert your notes and coins. 

Step 2 

Select your items. That’s why I said the “First of all” is very important. After you have what in your mind, you can tap the buttons in a breeze. 

Step 3 

Press for receipts. And also retrieve your changes.  

Step 4 

Take your tickets. 

After that, I moved along in the queue. A staff passed me a piece of paper. It was meticulously prepared for your preference for taste in 4 languages(English, Chinese, Japanese, Korea). You will be amazed by how caring and how detailed the Japanese service will go. From the taste of broth, oil, with or without white/green onions, to the hardness of the noodles. Take your pick! 

I was close to getting into the hall to get my seat. A counter booth seating chart(空席案内板）was displayed out side the dining room. 

The “空“ means Vacancy. There were two rows of seats with total of 40. The middle lane was the kitchen. The fun thing was I saw someone pushed out few luggages from a room. It was said that you can put your luggages here with a small fee. 

Moving along the line, I was about to step into the dining hall. 

There was a champion trophy showcased at the corner. The ramen was a national champion. I can’t really read the Japanese.  

Tada! If every seats here was separated by 1 meter distancing, it would have been the perfect business model for restaurant for covid-19 pandemic! 

The arrangement looked a bit funny like… students were sitting for exams? Or people were writing their lottery tickets? Or people were circling their votes?! 

This has perfectly created the space with perfect social distancing, no touching, no saliva splashing, so definitely no Covid-19 virus spreading! 

There are 5 originals from Ichiran Ramen. There is one very unique that many people will notice it right away.

Ichiran called it Ichiran’s own Ramen Focus Booth. It is based on Ichiran’s Flavor Concentration System. 

I prefer to call it “Your Very Own Ichiran Ramen Bay”(or Bae?).

Our Flavor Concentration System is very pleasing to many customers, and a distinct characteristic of ICHIRAN is our overwhelming number of female customers. Our system attracts numerous famous people and celebrities who come to eat ramen without having to worry about their surroundings.

After all, it takes about 10 minutes to eat ramen in silence. Our Flavor Concentration System creates an environment where you can concentrate just on instinctually enjoying your food in a relaxed state without worrying about your surroundings. - ichiran.com 

As a junior high school student, the founder of Ichiran noticed that many girls felt shy and uncomfortable to eat when people around were watching them. Then he conducted a survey when he open his first Ichiran at Nanokawa store. The survey showed that many women find it hard to enter ramen shops alone. Mhmm .. I wonder was it because eating ramen will make a lot of noise that they feel embarrassed? Or they feel weird to be watched to eat alone? 

In Canada, it is said that you will be taken as a weirdo to eat alone. 

I don’t know… sometimes I prefer to eat alone. There may be a moment, I just want to enjoy my food, instead of being made to socialise and chat with someone over the table. 

Ichiran’s found story is worth reading~ 

https://en.ichiran.com/ganso/#counter

Wah la! I thought like so fast! I think within 1 minute, the Ramen was served behind the small curtain unveiled. They will serve the Ramen within 15 seconds! I didn’t know it until I looked up on their website.

Ichiran’s 15 second standard 

Our fresh noodles are very time sensitive. Once in the boiling water, they expand. Therefore, we strive to deliver your ramen from kitchen to your table within a fifteen second window so that you can enjoy the exact texture you ordered. We have a rule about how long it takes for our noodles to reach a guest’s table. Anything over that limit is unacceptable, which is why all seats are within arm’s length. The time? 15 seconds.  - ichiran.com

In this small cubicle, only you and your Ramen in the space. You looked at it and… it looked at you. So you had no one to talk to but to focus on your One And Only ~ Oh yes your tonkotsu Ramen, your exclusive. the Rango ‘Hola ~ I couldn’t help but noticed you noticing me noticing you….’ flashed in my mind… >.> HAHAHA 

Ok! It only took me like 8-10 minutes to finish my bowl of Ramen. It was gratifying meal but the Hiden No Tare(spicy red sauce) was like …. mhmm… just a small dab. I wonder if the chef ran out of it. It should look like a Japan Flag though. 

Oh yeah! You could further add noodles refill on your very own Ichiran Ramen Bay. The founder of Ichiran has been very delicate to female customers. That’s why he created Kae-Dama ordering system. Instead of raising their hands and shout for “Okawari”, female customers could quietly write on the paper and get refill for noodles. How sweet! This is the main reason that Ichiran has been popular in female customers.

Egg fortune-telling? Like if you can peel off the shell easily, it means you will be full of happiness? 

I have been amazed by how fast I finished my bowl of Ramen after I walked out. In food and beverages industry, many entrepreneurs have been using table turnover rate to calculate their revenues. How many times your table have been turned for a day? Business owners have been juggling between the high shop rental fees and table turnover rate. 

Of course, yorokonde is always the most prioritised in this industry. 

There is also a Ichiran customer loyalty program app available in IOS and Android.

 Can’t get enough? You can also buy some of them back home and cook it yourself.

Ichiran Ramen Shinsaibashi 

Address

542-0085

Miyaplaza 1F, 1-3-29 Shinsaibashi-suji, Chuo-ku, Osaka-shi, Osaka-fu