Product information
About
Ichiran's own take-home box: five servings of fine, straight Hakata noodles, a liquid tonkotsu sachet for each, and five sachets of the red chilli powder. Tonkotsu means pork bones, simmered down: the broth comes out rich but clean rather than heavy, and properly salty, most of that salt sits in the soup sachet rather than the noodles. The chilli is a dial you turn up rather than a heat that arrives. It's for anyone after a tonkotsu bowl at home, and especially for anyone who queued at one of their booths in Japan and has been chasing it since.
In Japan this sits in the souvenir aisle rather than the pantry, and it's priced like it: several times a supermarket packet, and still less than a bowl in a ramen shop. Ichiran had shipped over 60 million servings of it by March 2025.
The pack reads 一蘭ラーメン 博多細麺ストレート (ichiran ra-men hakata hoso-men sutoreeto).
What you're getting
- It gets close to the shop, and it is not the shop. That is the honest version, and it is also how to enjoy it: the best bowl you can make at home, rather than Fukuoka in a saucepan.
- Very fine, dead-straight noodles, 博多細麺 on the box means exactly that, Hakata thin noodles, and you pick the firmness rather than the packet picking it for you.
- You never drain them. The water the noodles cook in becomes the broth: cut the heat, stir the soup sachet into the same pot, pour the lot into a bowl. One pan, about five minutes.
- Nothing on top. No chashu, no egg, no spring onion: the box is noodles, broth and chilli. Sliced spring onion and a soft-boiled egg get you most of the way there, and both are an ordinary supermarket trip.
- This is the thin straight one. Ichiran sells a curly-noodle box and a vegan box in Australia too, in near-identical packaging, so when it arrives, check the bottom of the box: the right one spells out "Hakata-style Thin Straight Noodles" in English.
- Allergens: contains wheat and soy, and the maker says the same plant also runs buckwheat and yam products. It is a pork-bone broth and it contains chicken, so it is not vegetarian, vegan or halal. Read the pack's own label before you rely on ours.
It is a stovetop job rather than a cup: you need a saucepan and 450 mL of water per serving, and the soup sachet is a liquid concentrate, not a powder. The red sachet is properly hot.
Allergens
The maker declares:
- Allergens
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- Wheat
- Soy
- May contain
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- Buckwheat
- Yam
Not ingredients — these are made or handled on the same equipment as this product, so traces are possible. We list every shared-equipment allergen the maker declares.
- Dietary notes
-
The soup is made with pork and chicken, and the pork is the broth itself rather than a topping, so there is no way to leave it out. It is not vegetarian, halal or kosher.
The printed label on the pack is always the authority on ingredients and allergens, not this page — please read it in full before you rely on our summary. If you are unsure about an ingredient, contact us.
Details
- Maker
- Ichiran
- Prefecture
- Fukuoka
- Made in
- Japan
- Net contents
- One box, 645 g, five 129 g servings: five noodle bundles, five liquid soup sachets, five red-powder sachets
Our guide
How to eat it
- You never drain them: the water they cook in becomes the broth. Boil 450 mL a serving, add one bundle, cook it to the firmness you'd order in the shop (two minutes for firm, two and a half for standard, four for soft), then cut the heat, stir the soup sachet into the same pot and pour the lot into a bowl.
- These noodles are fine enough that ten seconds shows, so stand over them. If the first bowl tastes thin, use a little less water next time: the method is written one bowl at a time, so two servings want a pan with room rather than crowded fine noodles.
- Add the red powder a pinch at a time. A whole sachet in one go is a lot of heat, and there is no taking it back out.
Good to know
- The last of the broth is worth keeping: tip a scoop of hot rice into it while it's still hot and you get a second small bowl out of the same sachet.
- Keep the box somewhere cool and dry, out of the sun. All five noodle bundles sit in one bag, so seal it once you've opened it.
In their own words
What Japanese buyers say
What do the numbers mean?
Counts of how many reviews mentioned each thing, not a score. One review can mention several. Every quote is our translation, with the original Japanese beneath it.
- What they like
It's delicious, but it is absolutely not the same as the shop. Still, there's no Ichiran near me, so this is plenty.
美味しいですが、全く店と同じではないです。ただ、家の近くに一蘭がないのでこれで充分です。
- What they grumble about
I'd imagined the restaurant's taste, so I was let down. The smell was the same as the shop, but the taste… hmm. For this price I'd just go and eat there.
お店の味を想像していたので残念でした。匂いはお店と同じでしたが味はうーん。このお値段出すなら食べに行きます。
mentioned in 9 of 20 reviews we read
- What they like
It's tonkotsu, yet the soup isn't heavy — clean-tasting, and still full of savour.
とんこつなのに、スープが重たくなく、さっぱりしているのにうまみがしっかり
mentioned in 4 of 20 reviews we read
- What they grumble about
At the stated volume it comes out thin; just under 350 mL is safer.
水は書かれてる分量だと薄くなるので350弱が無難。
mentioned in 3 of 20 reviews we read
Our tip: The maker's figure is 450 mL a serving — taste it before you top up, and pull the water back if you want it stronger.
- Good to know
Does your box have a white sachet, a green sachet and a red sachet? If so, it's vegan.
- What they like
For an instant product this is astonishing. Pricey, but nothing replaces it. Seriously good.
インスタント的な物でコレは凄い、割高だが代わりが居ない。本気の美味さ
mentioned in 7 of 20 reviews we read
- What they grumble about
All five servings come packed in together, so once you open the bag you have to get through the rest before it goes stale.
麺が5食分すべて一緒に入っているので一回開けたら他も早く食べなければいけなくなる。
mentioned in 1 of 20 reviews we read
- What they like
The red secret powder especially lifts both the heat and the umami — it's the best part.
特に赤い秘伝の粉は辛味と旨味がアップして、最高です。
mentioned in 5 of 20 reviews we read
- What they grumble about
The powder is spicy to the point you'd think it was some ethnic dish.
粉がエスニック料理かってくらい辛い
mentioned in 2 of 20 reviews we read
Our tip: It comes as its own sachet, so the dose is yours — add half, taste it, then decide.
- What they like
The ultra-fine noodles are especially good… they feel great as you slurp them.
極細の麺が特に美味しい…すする時に口触りが良い
mentioned in 4 of 20 reviews we readfrom mognavi
- What they grumble about
The tonkotsu flavour came through lighter than I'd pictured — a bit underwhelming.
想像よりも豚骨感が薄く感じられイマイチ
- What they like
There's a branch near me, but it's always queued and a bowl there isn't cheap — so I buy this to eat it easily at home instead.
家の近くに店舗がありますが、常に行列、1杯の価格も高いので、安価で気楽に食べられるよう購入
mentioned in 5 of 20 reviews we read
- What they grumble about
Adding the entire sachet would have made the soup way too spicy
from tokyoexcess
- What they like
it's surprisingly close. Of course, fresh ramen at the restaurant is superior — it's not possible for any shelf-stable version to taste identical
from themanual
Real quotes from Japanese review sites, translated by us. We show no star rating from those sites.
The maker
Where it comes from
- Ichiran
- Fukuoka
- Founded 1993
Ichiran built its name in Fukuoka on two ideas it still runs on. You eat at a partitioned counter facing the kitchen, on your own: the company calls it the flavour-concentration counter, and it is the thing the shops are built around. And you don't order out loud: you tick a paper sheet for broth strength, richness, garlic, spring onion, chashu, chilli and how firm you want the noodles, and the bowl comes back exactly as you marked it. That same sheet is printed on the side of this box.
The company was incorporated in 1993, and by the end of 2022 was running about 85 shops, with New York, Hong Kong and Taipei among them. It describes itself, plainly, as a company that keeps researching tonkotsu ramen.
This box is made by Ichiran itself, at its own factory in Itoshima, just west of Fukuoka.
Product facts here are checked against the maker's own page: ichiranstore.com (opens in a new tab)
Often bought together
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Ichiran Ramen Hakata Tonkotsu — Thin Straight Noodles, 5 Serves
$38.99
You are on this one
