If someone told me they’d eaten ramen in the morning I’d perhaps naturally assume it was either an early lunch or a late night out. A 24 hour ramen restaurant though opens up all kind of possibilities, and given the ridiculously cheap price of this one, it would be insane to turn down the chance of having this noodle dish for breakfast!

On the back of a night in Tosu (Saga Prefecture), I made an early start the next morning and headed north to Fukuoka arriving just after 8:30am. A 15 minute walk west of Hakata station took me to Japan’s cheapest ramen restaurant, just a short distance from the Hakata River.

Hakata Kawabata (9-151 Kamikawabatamachi, Hakata-ku, Fukuoka) is located at the end of a shopping arcade on the corner, and noticable for its bright red signage. It was perhaps not too surprising to instantly see the exterior showing off the cheap ramen dish.

As is fairly customary in Japan, the dishes are ordered via a ticket machine located to the side of the entrance. Fear not if you don’t read Japanese, as there is an English guide next to it so just find the corresponding button(s). The four buttons at the top are all for the super cheap ramen with the difference being your desired texture of the noodles.

One of the most popular ramen restaurants with tourists is Ichiran where you sit in your own individual and private booths but this is the opposite of that as you have to share communal tables and sit elbow-to-elbow with strangers.

A few minutes after handing in my ticket and my order was ready to be picked up from the counter. The smell was that typical rich broth aroma, and naturally for the price of just 290 yen ($2) the toppings were fairly minimal with a solitary piece of chashu meat and some green onions adding to the flavour.

This was my first meal of the day at just before 9:00 am and the verdict was quite unexpected. Of course it wasn’t the best ramen I’ve ever had but neither was it one of the worst. Far from it actually as it was much better than expected with a thick and tasty broth that is well-balanced.

That wasn’t the only ramen I had that day as later that afternoon I had some time to kill at the airport and thought I should sample one more local bowl of this delicacy. I paid more than three times the price of this local one but the overall taste really wasn’t too different. Proof that you can get good quality ramen at such a cheap price.

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