Asian Bar Ramai Soup Curry in Higashi-ku, Sapporo

Our list of soup curry shops in Sapporo continues to grow. To that excellent collection, we add this review of Ramai Soup Curry in Higashi-ku, Sapporo; excellent, top-shelf soup curry.

This shop is listed online as Ramai, but as you can see from the sign out front, they often call themselves Asian Bar Ramai.  This location is in Higashi-ku, about a 10 minute walk from the Kitasanjuyojo Station.  Ramai has two other stores in Sapporo, including the (very noisy) Ramai Soup Curry in Chuo-ku, and another Ramai in Toyohira (every Hokkaido soup curry chain seems to have a Toyohira shop).  Ramai also has additional soup curry shops in Asahikawa, Otaru, Tomakomai, Chitose, Hakodate, and beyond Hokkaido in Osaka City and Yokohama.

That’s a lot of soup curry.

Even though I have only had the chance to try Ramai’s particular execution of Hokkaido’s most famous food once, I can see why they are so successful.  I have personally sampled the soup at most of the Sapporo’s soup curry spots, and Ramai is at the top of the list.

The Ramai location in Higashi-ku is not impressive from the outside.  The location has an unassuming suburban feel; an old building, in another asphalt parking lot.  There are no windows, which is “unusual.”  But when I opened the door, I was hit with a warm wave of spice smell that made me instantly hungry.  The smell alone will take you from cautious to eager.

Inside it’s funky; curated and intentionally exotic, with dark-stained particle-board walls, and small electric space heaters emitting a soft blowing hum. Ramai reminds me of a low-budget amusement park; “Indonesian themed.”

All of these furnishings and paintings displayed in the store are authentic and purchased locally in Bali. The atmosphere inside the store makes you feel like you’re in Indonesia.
— A translated note from Ramai’s website

Before you enter, the Buddhist looking carvings outside send a strong message they are aiming for a particular vibe; it was their choice of beers that helped me discover their intended aethetic is Balinese.

As you pass from the scrubby parking lot into the darkened entrance, and then the lobby, there is conflict between some ethnic portrayal of Bali, and a lot techy touch-screens.

So many screens.  They have a lot of (friendly) staff, but have decided to mix their “island” vision with an aggressive implementation of self-service automation.  These things do not pair well. But, their software works well enough (if that’s what they want to be known for), and I took a ticket, and I sat down.

I was surprised there was a line.  While soup curry in Sapporo is almost comically popular during the snowy tourist season, this shop is not in an area with tourists at all (20 minutes by train from downtown).  It was close to 2 PM when I arrived, and I expected to sit down immediately.

It is my guess that most of the people waiting in the lobby were locals; and that is actually a very good sign.  A line – particularly when it’s locals – can be a sign of a good product.  While the long lines downtown are probably not worth the wait, that locals are willing wait their turn is a sign of a consistently desirable soup. I think I only waited 10 minutes (not bad at all), might be longer if you arrive at the lunch hour.

After you’re seated, you get – yes; another screen.

I really dislike these greasy touch-screen menus – they are anti-social, you can’t ask questions, they are a bad idea.  But, again, this one was easy to use.  Soon enough, I was able to order.

In the picture, you may be able to see that there are four kinds of soup curry at Higashi-ku Ramai.  There is a Vegetable Soup Curry, a “Buhhi” Soup Curry (?), a Pork Soup Curry, and Chicken Soup Curry.  You have to click on each one, and go to a separate screen, to see what those descriptions mean.

I want to show some less common aspects of soup curry in Sapporo, so I did click to see what “Buhhi” meant.  Turns out, that was also a pork soup curry, with thin-sliced “shabu shabu” style pork (it helps if you know what shabu-shabu means, and I do – it means “swish, swish”).  Of the choices presented, yes, that’s was what I wanted.

Buhhi Pork Soup Curry: Shabu-shabu Thin-sliced Pork, Kobocha, Asparagus, Eggplant, Carrot, Pimon, Renkon, Green Beans, Cabbage, Onions, Quail Eggs
— Asian Bar Ramai Soup Curry

The digital menu does a “B-” job at guiding you through the process. You pick what kind of soup curry you want, then the amount of soup, then the level of spiciness, then the toppings, then the amount of rice.

To my order, I added some broccoli (as an extra topping), a tempura shrimp, and a beer.

All told, 2770 JPY, including the beer.  That is not an inexpensive lunch, and might be more than you would expect to pay for “soup,” but in my expert opinion it was well worth it.

The shrimp arrived with white crispy bits emanating off the body, like deep-fried leaves off a stubby branch.  I’m not sure what that was on the outside of the shrimp; it looks like coconut, but it was not.  That shrimp was a little greasy, not something I would order again.

But that pork “shabu shabu” soup curry, though…

Look at that, beautiful.  Even at a quick glance, you’ll see there are many more kinds of vegetables than the soup curry at other shops.  It’s all served in a textured, ceramic bowl. While the atmosphere was a little too “theatrical” for me, the food was looking good.

My first bite was a bit of cabbage, and; wow, spice flavor, intense.  It’s not necessary or fair to compare Ramai to Soup Curry Garaku (having started, I’ll add that I’m not entirely sure which shop I like more), but the spicy-broth flavor was on a similar level as the famous spice of Garaku.

It was a big bowl of soup; I started with the vegetables first, and worked my way down into the broth.

The orange kobocha squash was thinly sliced, and very tasty –  mix of savory root vegetable and squash sweetness.  The renkon was dry (maybe baked?), and added some leathery texture and earthy contrast to the electric spice mix of the broth. I loved the cabbage, as always (the role of cabbage may be the most under-rated aspect of soup curry).

Although it was less obvious, I think there was some real contribution of sliced onions to the soup curry – clear, stewed, thickly populating the bottom of the bowl.  They may be a regular ingredient in the soup, or perhaps part of the preparation of the pork?

And the pork; as you can see, this is a different kind of soup curry:

The thin-sliced pork was wonderful. A light-brown, tan color, I thought I was looking at mushrooms at first.  I have tried bacon soup curry, the thick-sliced, (“melty”,) braised pork belly soup curry, and sausage soup curry, but I had never seen this kind of thin-sliced pork done in the soup curry tradition. Not only was the flavor wonderful, but it was interesting to eat – unlike any other kind of soup curry I have ever had; instantly one of my favorites.

Finishing the dish by fishing the broth up from the bottom with a spoon; a rich, tomato-y broth. Fully warmed, inside and out, a comfortable, satisfied feeling.

With extra attention to the vegetables, a choice of meat, and an explosively flavorful broth, this is an exceptional soup curry. Fantastic.  I loved it.  Can’t wait to go back.

Along with my meal, while I could have had an Asahi Dry, I choose the Bintang beer, and: proper respect to that beer.

Bintang Beer is a lager beer from Indonesia (a product of the Heineken company). The Bintang was light, citrus-y, and a wonderful compliment to the soup. Good beer. Bravo.

It’s been a little over 24 hours since I had the meal in the pictures in this review, and I am still raving about Ramai Soup Curry.

The location, this particular shop, is kind of weird.  The exterior is unattractive. Inside it’s cave-like, and that didn’t help me to enjoy the experience.  Their choice of no windows is also weird. But the view from that corner location would admittedly not be great; parking lots, sounds of automobiles from the road way, drab Sapporo buildings – perhaps creating a “soup curry cave” is an unusually, but effective creative choice? I don’t personally need the theme at all, but if “very Bali” was important to them, a “clean and well lit” version of Bali may have been a better way to express that idea.  I really don’t like screens in restaurants at all (they are a cold emanation of profit/efficiency, none of which feels good to the customer), and they are particularly out of place in a themed restaurant.

But the soup is good, so maybe the quirks are inconsequential?

It is also true that the particular seat I was given (at the very back of a dark “hallway”) was probably less attractive than almost anywhere else in the restaurant (I think I got the worst seat in the house, just like when I was at Soup Curry King).  On my out, as I glanced into the “main room” (the main hallway?), it seemed to me they have nicer seats to offer.

All that is true, and yet… I really like this place. Weird, but great food.

This review may sounds a bit “mixed” at times, but the final verdict is:

Highly recommended.  Well done, Ramai.

For more Sapporo Soup Curry see:

— The Ramai Soup Curry Chuo-ku shop, in Chuo-ku, Sapporo
— Soup Curry Garaku Main Store
— The newer Garaku Soup Curry Sitatte Shop near Sapporo Station
— Okushiba Ekimae Soseiji Soup Curry in Chuo-ku, Sapporo
— A wonderful experience at Okushiba-chan Grandma’s Soup Curry in Miyanomori, Sapporo
— Central Store Soup Curry King in downtown Chuo-ku, Sapporo
— Soup Curry Treasure
— Okushiba Soup Curry, Ekimae Soseigi shop in Chuo-ku, Sapporo
— Dehli Soup Curry (Indian flavors)
— Miredo Suage4 Soup Curry shop in Chuo-ku, Sapporo
— Picante Soup Curry Maruyama