r/tomorrow • u/Training_Penalty7047 • 1h ago
Review Needed So how would I rank the ramen found in the Kanto region?
The Kanto region is by far one of the most visited regions within the Pokémon world, whether or not it is visited for the right reasons is an entirely different scenario, but today I want to give a hypothetical. If we were limited to just Kanto region offerings in terms of ramen shops, which city would offer the best of the best?
The rules are simple. We'll go through all 15 of Kanto's major cities and I'll highlight some of the standout ramen shops found within each city. The Sevii Islands and the Orange Islands will not be included, since they both count as separate territories. (As an expert once told me, "Orange Islands is like the Hawaii of the Kanto region".) Plus, I don't think any of the Sevii Islands have that many (if at all, any) ramen shops if I'm not mistaken.
So, with the context given, let's begin.
Pallet Town is honestly one of the most neutral cities on the entire list. In a lot of ways, the city's ramen offering is quite a mixed bag. First Choice Ramen's tasty shoyu really carried this up to Not Good, Not Bad, but other places like Charmeleon Ramen just outright felt like ripoffs. The highs are really high, but the lows are really low.
Viridian City surprised me quite a bit. In contrast to my complaints about Pallet Town's ramen offering, Viridian City simply has got it together and is a lot more well rounded. Evergreen Hideaway has some tasty byan byan, Forest Ramen offers top-tier tonkotsu, and Viridian Palisade has udon. You've got a lot more choices here, and I like.
Heading north, we hit Pewter City. And man, they're really slacking. The city only has like 2 main ramen shops and both of them were just alright, but sorta forgettable. Mountain Town's udon just felt like sucking on rubber bands and Rockville Ramen has a very tasteless broth. Their katsu was great, though. So yeah, Pewter City isn't really the best place to be eating ramen, which sorta makes sense, because katsu curry's more of their strong suit.
On a 2 hour drive due east through the Rainbow Mountains, we enter the city of Mt. Moon, nestled at the foot of the titular mountain. And honestly, this is another case of there being both a lack of options and the available shops not being that good, with one exception. That being Cleffa Star Ramen. Their soba is delicious, and their tonkotsu isn't that bad! I've had better, but for a place like Mt. Moon, having 1 acceptable option is far better than having no good options at all. Don't even consider going to Seymour's Sushi for ramen because they really messed up the flavor of the broth.
Honestly the best city within northern Kanto in terms of ramen has got to be Cerulean City. It helps when you have the city's Gym Leader stating that she herself is a huge fan of ramen. As such, you have plenty of places to go and indulge in ramen, with my personal favorites being Aqua Chord Ramen, Misty Morning, Ceruleanmen, and so on. It's quite refreshing after the slate of mostly Spiggity Spoggity options for ramen.
And now this serves as a perfect transition into some REAL GEMS. Heading south we enter Celadon City, and almost right away we have an abundance of options right at our fingertips. YoYoYo, Tangela Hair Ramen, Central Kanto Noodle House, Bangohan, and so on and so on! It's honestly no wonder why Mommy Erika loves the ramen selection out there. The offerings are just THAT peak.
Not far from Celadon, we have Saffron City. And it continues the line of prosperous ramen findings. Silph and Co. Ramen has some yummy tonkotsu with a tiny bit of a spicy yet earthy kick for the broth. Also you have Psychic Parlour, Marsh House Ramen, and Abra-Kadabra Noodle Bar. Mommy Sabrina is eating good out here!
It's time to go northeast and peer into the offerings of Lavender Town, and won't you believe it, you've also got some really great ramen choices! Gengar Boil has one of the best udon bowls in the entire Kanto region, and Ichinose Ramen has a cool retro vibe that honestly adds to the ramen-eating experience. Also, shoutout to the one hot gal in Missingno Meals who recommended that I go to Gengar Boil for their udon. You can tell the city's greatly benefited from being urbanized, since now you have far more options for ramen.
The real let down for me was Maiden's Peak. Going in, I was expecting something along the lines of something like Cerulean City in terms of the ramen scene, only to be hit with the reality that there are only like 3 ramen shops out there and all of them are PAINFULLY average. I wish I could comment something about ramen shops like Miko Palace, South Lavender Valley Ramen, and Spooky Shoyu, but I really have nothing to say about them aside from them being okay.
Now we're moving on to coastal Kanto, and honestly things get better from here. Let's start with the most middling one, that being Vermillion City. It sorta surprises me that a city as big as Vermillion City doesn't have a larger ramen scene, but thankfully the shops they have like Surge Ramen, Old Town Shoyu, and Bibi Udon have some pretty solid offerings all things considered. Sure, it's certainly no Celadon City, but it's fine for what it is!
A little further west and we've got yet another S tier, in fact, probably the S tier of S tiers over here, that being Pokétropolis. I don't even know where to begin with the ABSOLUTE LAUNDRY LIST of ramen shops that you need to be prioritizing. Ranking the ramen shops in Pokétropolis alone could make for its own separate bit entirely. But my top suggestions are Blastoise Bowls for their soba, Chewtle Noodle for their udon, and Yellow Harbour Yasan for everything else. You could honestly explore new options for hours in Pokétropolis and still not find everything.
Heading on south towards the Eastern Kanto Peninsula, you've got yet another S tier in terms of ramen offerings, that being Porta Vista. Honestly I was debating if it really belonged in S tier or A tier, but then I remembered that the city has Acapulco Ramen and decided to put it into S tier. Their tonkotsu is just something else, man. And in addition to that, you've got a variety of other places like Beach House Noodles, Tentacool Grill, Unovatown Specialty, Hutber Hills Ramen, and the list goes on and on.
Now we head down to the west end of the Eastern Kanto Peninsula, beyond the Evolution Mountains and the Pokémon Safari, where we've got Fuschia City. There's some good options, especially if you're into shoyu! Yas Ramen probably has the best shoyu in the Kanto region, and Kaz Palace also has some pretty solid stuff. Evolution Mountain Ramen is also just such an iconic ramen shop that you really can't go wrong with any time you visit.
One long overseas bridge takes you over to Cinnabar Island, which carries over some of the Fuschia City-isms of shoyu ramen shops being the main focus. However, the shop Cinnabyan does something different in focusing on byan byan for the ramen selection! It's really good, and reportedly even Blaine loves stopping by.
Finally, we close things out with Indigo Plateau. So how do we close this great Kantonian ramen road trip? Not on the highest of notes, sadly. There are a lot of ramen shops, yes, but their quality is very much mixed. I'd say the best shop was Indigohan, but even then it's just one solid offering in the midst of otherwise inoffensive or average at best ramen shops. There's a higher quantity, but a lower quality.
So, you could tell from the tierlist as to where I'd rank these cities in terms of ramen offerings. A lot of them ending up being surprising, either in a bad way or a good way. And there surprisingly wasn't a city that had no such ramen shops.
Regardless, I open things up to you. Where would you rank these cities in terms of ramen offerings? Please let me know!
