Ignore friends and loved ones and concentrate on the important thing in life, ramen, with an Ichiran flavour-savour counter.

As well as serving up bowls of particularly delicious Hakata-style tonkotsu (pork broth) ramen, Japanese restaurant chain Ichiran Ramen’s other main selling point is the ramen booths in their restaurants where diners, undistracted by fellow diners or even serving staff, can focus entirely on savouring every last mouthful of their meal. While it’s long been possible to buy their ramen kits to take home home, only now can Ichiran fans recreate their very own flavour-savouring counter at home with the “Gokujo Set”.

▼ With some origami-like folding magic, the box can be used to make your very own Ichiran flavour-savouring counter.

The food-focus concept has proven hugely popular across Japan, as well as at Ichiran’s restaurants abroad. Its Shibuya branch has been named one of the ten best places to eat by foreign visitors to Japan, no mean feat for a chain restaurant, and a new restaurant that opened in Taipei had continuous queues for the first 250 hours, despite being open 24 hours a day.

▼ Great for ramen, not so great for a date if you want to chat.

▼ Ichiran’s take-home omiyage souvenir is perfect for yourself, or the antisocial diner in your life.

While the counter may be a novel way to eat your ramen at home, you could probably manage just as well with a blindfold, with the added excitement/danger of potential scalding. The other downside to eating it at home (counter or no) would be missing out on the fun of tailoring your ramen to be just as you like it. With Ichiran’s paper ordering sheet you can choose everything about your ramen, from the texture of the noodles, the amount of garlic, the richness of the broth, to whether or not you want 200 times the spiciness.

The Gokujo set, containing enough to make two big bowls of ramen, costs 3,500 yen (US$30.73) and is currently only available from Ichiran’s online store. That might seem a bit expensive, but it’s currently the only way to get one of Ichiran’s booths in your home, at least without some pretty intensive home carpentry.

Source: Ichiran via Narinari
Top image: Ichiran
Images: Ichiran (1, 2)