Yesterday I took the train to the town of Nyuzen, in the East of Toyama Prefecture for “The 14th Nyuzen Ramen Matsuri 2014”. It was the perfect day for a food festival, with the already not-so-cold winter feeling like it was coming to a definite close. The main street was lined with Ramen vendors from different areas of Japan (although many were from Toyama prefecture) averaging around 800 Yen a bowl. Ramen sounds pretty straightforward in theory, but this festival was evidence enough just how much variation is possible. My first was a miso ramen from Ishikawa, and it was super oily and a little spicy- amazing! My second was a Soy Ramen from Hokkaido which was a little lighter and more sweet.
Miso Ramen from Ishikawa Prefecture – Smokey and Oily, my favourite one!
Sea Urchin Ramen from Toyama
Spinach Ramen – perhaps the “healthiest” of all the options!
Soy Ramen from Hokkaido! Clear and a little sweet.
I managed just over one and a half bowls all together (with plenty of taste-tests from my friend’s picks), which left me in a slight food coma for the rest of the day. It was a great way to spend an afternoon, you really can’t go wrong with good food, weather, and company. They also happened to play pretty great music, including some Barry White which was an excellent soundtrack for noodle slurping. We also ran into the official Nyuzen mascot- a giant watermelon! Or, watermelon King to be precise.
Maki Mountain 
I hope I can go to this someday! In particular, I’d love to try that spinach ramen, I’d never heard of it before. I’m not even the biggest fan of spinach but that green broth looks intriguing.
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It was a unique flavour, I’ve never had anything quite like it. It didn’t taste exactly like spinach, but it definitely was a vegetable-y taste, a lot lighter than regular ramen broth!
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