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IPPUDO’s Ramen

A signature bowl of silky tonkotsu ramen, crowned with tender chashu, fragrant black garlic oil, fresh scallions, kikurage, and a bold dollop of spicy miso.

STATEMENT

Japanese Wonder to the World.

Since it was first founded, IPPUDO has been focused on creating a new ramen culture in Japan.
And now, starting with ramen, IPPUDO plans to introduce Japan’s beloved gastronomic culture to the world.
In the hopes that people all over the world will enjoy Japanese food, and will also come to understand and love Japanese culture. And with the wish of bringing smiles to the children of the world who represent our future. Continuing to thrill the world with Japanese food.

Assorted Japanese dishes including ramen bowls with pork slices and green onions, steamed bao buns with various fillings, and drinks garnished with lemon and orange slices.

Feelings towards

“Keep changing to remain unchanged.”

Feelings towards “constantly changing”

IPPUDO still needs to prove itself for many more years before it can claim to be a long-established shop. The year 2035 will be its 50th anniversary. The year 2085 will be its 100th anniversary. It’s not easy to predict the future, but there is one thing that will “never change”. That is IPPUDO’s firm resolve in the way it serves each single bowl of ramen to each individual customer. IPPUDO’s future aim is to become a long-established shop. In order for IPPUDO to be recognized as a respectable long-established company in the years to come, IPPUDO is committed to focusing on “what will never change”, and achieving this requires constant change.
Ippudo logo featuring Japanese calligraphy with a red stamped seal above it.
Feelings towards the food.

IPPUDO has always believed that taste is not only experienced with the tongue. Naturally ingenuity is needed, which incorporates all five senses including sight and sound, but the elements of comfort and safety are also essential in taste. IPPUDO carefully selects the ingredients, prepares the water, and maintains its cooking environment in perfect condition to ensure thorough cleanliness and organization. And then, these are brought to life through the hands of a master craftsperson. That’s why we do not grudge a single minute of time spent on developing our staff. IPPUDO’s food, and naturally its ramen, was born on this unique foundation of “primary standards”.

Red bowl of ramen with creamy broth, two slices of pork, bamboo shoots, green onions, a dollop of red paste, and black garlic oil on wooden table.
Feelings towards the design

The wooden signs and hand-dyed fabric dividers reminiscent of Kyoto’s long-established stores. The woody interior such as found in a wood sculptor’s studio. The original bowls specially ordered from a pottery. The sound of jazz flowing in the background. Young men and women dressed in samue robes welcoming you in a breezy tone. Everything about this “IPPUDO – Hakata” design born in 1985 is so inventive. This spirit of the company has now been passed on to create even more innovative stores. What’s more, underlying the design is the theory of the five elements: wood, fire, earth, metal, and water (moku, ka, do, gon, sui). So please come and experience the harmony of each of the elements for yourself.

A bowl of ramen with slices of pork, black fungus, green onions, and a pink and white narutomaki, held by two hands over a wooden table.
Feelings towards hospitality

IPPUDO aims to have staff who are able to “notice attentively, think attentively and act attentively”. In other words, people who carefully observe what the customers want, surmise their needs using their past experience and make predictions when taking action. These are people who are able to evoke feelings which exceed the expectations of our customers. Reading the human mind is not something that can be explained in an instructions manual. This is the source of IPPUDO’s omotenashi (hospitality). Another is the spirit of gratitude. For us at IPPUDO, every steaming bowl is an “arigato” – a thank you, which we serve to our customers all around the world together with a smile.

HISTORY

1985.10.16

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1994

Opened its first Kanto-region IPPUDO ramen shop in the Shin-Yokohama Ramen Museum.

1995

Opened “IPPUDO Ebisu”, its first Tokyo IPPUDO ramen shop in Hiroo, Tokyo.

People queue outside a warmly lit ramen shop at night on a narrow street with Japanese signs and lanterns.

1996

Launched its signature dishes,“Shiromaru Classic” and“Akamaru Modern”.

1997

Became Champion of the “TV Champion –Ramen Master Chef Championships” aired by TV TOKYO.

1999

Defended its Champion title to become a two-time winner of the “All-Time Best! Ramen King Finals II” aired by TV Tokyo.

Bowl of ramen with slices of pork, green onions, bamboo shoots, and a pink swirl narutomaki on creamy broth.

2000

Elected to the Hall of Fame for three consecutive wins in the “Look at That Queue! Ramen Master Chef Championships” aired by TV TOKYO. Launched the industry’s first ramen shop brand “cup noodles” in joint development with Nissin Foods.

2002

Held an event called Shiki no ramen
(Four SeasonsRamen) at the Daimyo Headquarters, which served a one-day only “original ramen creation”

2005

Won the “World’s Greatest Ramen King Finals” aired by TBS to be crowned the first “Ramen King”.

Logo with Japanese calligraphy characters and a red seal stamp on a white background.

2007

Launched the Kiwami shinaji (Ultimate Modern)at 1,300 yen per bowl.

2010

Started its global expansion by opening “IPPUDO NY”, its first overseas IPPUDO ramen shop in New York.

2010-2011

Remodeled the Daimyo Headquarters on IPPUDO’s 25th anniversary and opened its first IPPUDO sub-brand shop,“SHIROMARU BASE” in Omori, Tokyo.

Won first place in best overall at the TokyoRamen of the Year Grand Prix.

Top-down view of a ramen bowl with sliced pork, bamboo shoots, green onions, and a spicy red paste with chopsticks resting on the bowl, surrounded by various Japanese dishes and drinks.

2011

IPPUDO NY ranked No. 1 in the 2010 “Yelp”,the US coast-to-coast restaurant review site. Opened its first IPPUDO ramen shops in Hong Kong.

2012

Hosted the “First Ramen General Election”,an “original ramen creation” contest Opened its first food-court geared ramen shop “IPPUDO RAMEN EXPRESS”. Opened its first IPPUDO ramen shops in Taiwan, China and Australia.

2013

Opened its first IPPUDO ramen shop in MalaysiaHeld an event called Shiki no ramen dai ni sho (Four Seasons Ramen Part 2) which served a one-day-only “original ramen creation”Ramen supervised by IPPUDO selected byAll Nippon Airways (ANA) for ANA international in flight meals.

Black bowl of steaming ramen with seaweed, green onions, and noodles on a tray with a black spoon and wooden chopsticks.

2014

“PARIS RAMEN WEEK Zuzutto” held in Paris, France as part of the 2014 COOL JAPAN Project gaining much acclaimOpened its first IPPUDO ramen shops in Thailand,the Philippines and IndonesiaFirst overseas expansion into Europe with the opening ofits shop in London, U.K.

2015.10.16

Revamped its signature dishes “Shiromaru Classic” and “Akamaru Modern” on the occasion of its 30th anniversary.

2016

Opened its first IPPUDO ramen shop in Paris, France.

People standing in a line with umbrellas outside the Ippudo restaurant on a rainy street in a city.

2017

Opened first store in Myanmar.‍

2018

Received the Rising Stars Award at the Japan Branding Awards 2018, which recognizes branding activities.

2019

1st store opened in Vietnam.
1st store opened in New Zealand.

World map composed of evenly spaced grey dots representing continents and major landmasses.

2020

"Ippudo Karaka men" renewed on the occasion of the 35th anniversary of the company's founding.

2023. oct.16th

Renewal of "Shiro-Maru-Gen-Men", "Akamaru-Shin-Men", and "Karaka-Men".

2023. june

Vegan ramen specialty restaurant “ippudo V” opens in DUMBO, Brooklyn, New York.

Storefront window display with the word 'ippudoV' spelled out using various fresh vegetables against a textured brown wall.

2024. Feb. 9th

Re-opened store at the Shin-Yokohama Ramen Museum.

Entrance of a Japanese restaurant with a white sign displaying Japanese characters and the year 1994, and colorful hanging fabric panels in green, black, and orange.
zuzutto logo
Founder of Chikara no moto (lit. “The Source of Power”) CompanyChair and CEO of Chikara no moto Holdings Founder of IPPUDO Born in Fukuoka prefecture in 1952.  Shigemi Kawahara

FOUNDER

SHIGEMI KAWAHARA

Founder of Chikara no moto (lit. “The Source of Power”) CompanyChair and CEO of Chikara no moto Holdings Founder of IPPUDO Born in Fukuoka prefecture in 1952. Opened “After the Rain”, a restaurant & bar in ’79.After opening “HAKATA IPPUDO” in ’85, Shigemi Kawahara established Chikara no moto (lit. “The Source of Power”) Company in ’86. It was through Shigemi Kawahara opening a ramen shop in the Shin-Yokohama Ramen Museum in ’94 that tonkotsu (pork broth) ramen gained popularity throughout all of Japan. Then, starting with IPPUDO’s foray into the New York gastronomic scene in 2008, IPPUDO has since been acting as a global leader to convey the appeal of both ramen and Japanese food throughout the world.In addition, winner of the 10th Anniversary Restaurant Award in 2014 for IPPUDO’s achievements in expanding the restaurant industry and contributions in developing a restaurant culture.Inducted into the Hall of Fame in ’97 as a three-time winner of the popular TV TOKYO program, “TV Champion – Ramen Master Chef Championships” and recognized with awards from numerous contests featuring “original ramen creations”. Author of books including Ippudo gorin no sho (“IPPUDO – The Book of Five Rings” (Chichi Publishing) and Anata no mise o tsubusanai hosoku (“The Principles Behind Not Bankrupting Your Shop” (PHP Institute)), Nanatsu no shuukan to ippudo (The Seven Habits and IPPUDO).

AWARDS

JAPAN
New York
Three consecutive wins as TV Championas aired by TV TOKYO
Yelp
Champion of the “TV Champion - Ramen Master Chef Championships”Successfully defended its title to become Champion of “All-Time Best! Ramen King Finals II”Champion of “Look at That Queue! Ramen Master Chef Championships”
Ranked No. 1 in the “TOP 10 Restaurants” of 2010
Ranked No. 3 in the “TOP 10 Restaurants” of 2011
Crowned first “Ramen King”
ZAGAT
Crowned first “Ramen King” in the “World’s Greatest Ramen King Finals”
aired by TBS
Ranked No. 1 in the 2010
Noodle CategoryIPPUDO NY:
Ranked No. 1 in 2011; ranked No. 2 in 2012
Ranked No. 1 in 2013; ranked No. 2 in 2014
“TRY Grand Prix”
Michelin
Won overall first place in the “Tokyo Ramen of the Year (TRY)
Grand Prix” 2010-2011
“IPPUDO NY” listed for six consecutive years since 2009
Trip Advisor
The New York Times
IPPUDO Nishikikoji ranked best overall No. 9 in the “2014 Restaurants
Popular with Foreign Visitors ”Ranked No.1 in the ramen shop category.
Selected as one of the top 10 recommended ramen shops.
Ramen Walker
The 2015 Best Asian NYC Restaurants Contest
Grand prix 2012.
The first IPPUDO NY shop won in the ramen category.
Restaurant Industry Press Club
Winner of the Special 10th Anniversary “2013 Restaurant Award”
HONG KONG SAR
SINGAPORE
Open Rice
Epicure’s Top Award
Ranked no. 1 for 16 consecutive weeks in the restaurant chartThe first IPPUDO Hong Kong shop won “Best Restaurant in the Tsim Sha Tsui area”.
Won Epicure’s Top Award, Ramen TOP10 sponsored by food magazine, Epicure.
Michelin
Epicurean, Hungry Go Where Peoples Choice
Listed in the Hong Kong & Macau restaurant and hotel guide.
The first IPPUDO Singapore shop won “Most Popular Japanese Restaurant”.
APAC Sabre
Women’s Weekly
Won the Asia-Pacific region’s largest industry award in the Product Media Relations category.
Selected as one of the top 10 recommended ramen shops.
CIPRA
Trip Advisor
Won an award from the China International Public Relations Association founded in Beijing in 1991 highly rating IPPUDO’s campaign.
Received the Trip Advisor Certificate of Excellence.
Weekend Wkly
Selected as one of the top 5 Japanese restaurants “customers definitely want to go to”.
U Magazine
Selected as one of the top 5 popular restaurants of "U Magazine"Won Popular Food Award 2015.
CHINA
MALAYSIA
The Beijinger
Trip Advisor
Won the Japanese food category/imported food category of The Beijinger 2015 Restaurant Awards.
Ranked 43rd out of 2,644 restaurants, received the Trip Advisor Certificate of Excellence.
THAILAND
Wongnai
Won “Best Restaurant” on the Wongnai restaurant review site.
As well as the abovementioned awards, IPPUDO received recognition with numerous other awards.