Aji No Karyu is mostly notable for being the ramen joint that Anthony Bourdain went to during the Hokkaido episode of No Reservations. That’s certainly the reason I wanted to try it.
I got a bit worried, however, when I showed up at a bit after 11:30 on a Monday and the place was completely deserted. Between that and the mixed reviews online, I was getting the sense that this probably wasn’t a particularly great restaurant.
And yet I felt oddly compelled to check it out. The Bourdain factor is strong.
I will say that it mostly filled up by the time I left, though I’m fairly certain that the crowd was 100 percent tourists. Certainly, there were none of the suit-wearing salarymen that generally flock to a good ramen shop during a weekday lunch.
Though there’s a variety of ramen on the menu, I went with the one topped with butter and corn. The menu (English, of course) doesn’t specify if it’s shio, shoyu, or miso; it turned out to be shio.
It’s fine? I guess? It might be the most middling bowl of ramen I’ve had in Japan, but I didn’t hate eating it.
To be fair to the late, great Bourdain, I didn’t order the exact thing he ordered. It had been a while since I watched that particular episode, and I forgot that his bowl also came with crab and scallops. On the show, his bowl was made with miso — mine was not (or if it was, it was the blandest miso on the planet). Maybe the miso would have transformed this from ho-hum to great; I’ll never know.
The flavour of my bowl was about as one-note as it gets. It had a vague porkiness/greasiness, a hit of salt, a garlicky punch, and… that’s about it. The butter melts almost immediately and adds a vaguely buttery flavour, but it’s mild.
The noodles are fine. Nothing stands out about them, but they have a decent chewy texture. And the chashu was tough, but also basically fine.
As for the corn, it works surprisingly well; it adds nice pops of sweetness that contrasts well with the salty soup. It also adds some interesting flavour to a dish that is otherwise quite deficient in that regard.
Unless you’re an absolute Anthony Bourdain die-hard, you can very safely give this place a pass.
Location: 3 Chome Minami 5 Jonishi, Chuo Ward, Sapporo, Hokkaido 064-0805
How to find it: It’s on the south end of a narrow alley with about a dozen ramen restaurants. There’s a photo of Anthony Bourdain posted outside, so it’s hard to miss.