On our first day in Tokyo we purposely hunted down Ichiran, especially since many of our friends have told us that Ichiran was one of the best ramen to have in Tokyo. Any branch will also pump out the same perfect ramen so it wouldn't matter which one that we chose. The closest Ichiran branch to our hotel was the one at Shinjuku where we had to go down one flight of stairs to the basement. 

We were queuing for about 15 minutes or so and the turn around was quite quick. I was hoping that not many tourists took unnecessary photos down at the eating area (which sometimes I was guilty of...) hehe... :-) 

When we arrived at the basement, we chose the noodle that we wanted from the ticket vending machine. It was very easy to do and you will get an option to opt for set meals as well.

When we entered Ichiran we were given a board with a piece of paper where we could state our preference of the firmness of noodle, whether we wanted some garlic and green onions, and whether we want our ramen to be spicy or super spicy. 

We then took the form with us to our booth where we gave it to the person in charge behind the curtain where we sat.

I added the Osukaran Vinegar to my order which went very well with my ramen broth.  Ichiran's noodle was quite thin and I chose the firm texture.

Hubby and I both love our Ichiran Ramen and we both agreed that Perth's standard of ramen definitely wasn't in par with Japanese ramen *yet*.  I felt that the Ichiran broth in Japan was quite thick and rich with flavour, and their noodle was definitely cooked well, especially if they had the confidence to offer customers different noodle texture. The noodle was definitely one of the big parts of ramen as it wasn't sticking to one another and very easy to slurp.

We didn't have time to try other ramen places in Japan but if you only need time for one then go for Ichiran instead, where numerous people have tried and agreed that they made amazing ramen dishes!