Tokyo’s Ramen Retsuden Festival

The Wall Street Journal has a tasty story about the Retsuden Ramen festival in Tokyo. The festival unfortunately ended today, but it sounds pretty fun. I didn’t quite follow from the story if you could sample anything without buying, it sounds instead like you pay per bowl, so basically it’s like having a bunch of great vendors in one spot (like a Taste of City X event).

I enjoyed this description:

Ramen fans queue up to buy a “one-bowl” ticket for 800 yen (about $9) at the entrance to the event, held in a public square in front of a large office building, and then select the shop they want to try. It’s a tough choice, as the nine shops at the event at any one time are all dishing out top-quality ramen.

We tried a bowl of Mr. Aoyama’s ramen, which combines several classic influences in a thick, porky soup, topped with slow-roasted pork belly, greens and grated yuzu, an Asian citrus fruit. Despite the fresh citrus undertones, the bowl packed a delicious, meaty punch — like consuming a pig in liquid form.

mmmmm… liquid pig…