Noodles ── Ramen
Mobara-men
Mobara-men — ramen piled with pork belly, its name a pun on Mobara and pork belly
A local ramen from Mobara City said to shorten a phrase for a ramen piled high with pork belly. The one constant is the mountain of pork belly; broth style and toppings vary by shop, tied together only by an agreement to use vegetables grown around Mobara and Chosei.
- Origin: Chiba Mobara
- Besides shoyu, miso, shio and tonkotsu
- About 60 km southeast of Tokyo
What it's made of
The bowl is covered in a generous pile of pork belly, its fat's sweetness and the meat's own thickness catching the eye first. Broth varies widely by shop — some build a garlic-forward miso or soy broth, others layer in the aroma of chili oil. What stays constant is the amount of pork belly and an agreement to use vegetables like Chosei scallion and Shirako onion grown around Mobara and Chosei, with some shops letting you choose from several portion sizes.
How it's made
The name is said to shorten a phrase meaning "a mountain of pork belly ramen," playing on the sound of Mobara against bara for belly meat. It's said to have been devised in 2010 at the second branch of a local ramen group, as Mobara's own local ramen. What began as one shop's idea for a name later drew other shops under the same banner, growing into a loose collective. There's an agreed rule that vegetables should come from around Mobara and Chosei, while the broth itself is left to each shop's judgment.
Why it took this shape
One account holds that the name came first, born from wordplay pairing the sound of Mobara with the pork belly meant to be its selling point, and the substance of the dish grew from there. By fixing on just two shared points — the amount of pork belly and locally grown vegetables — rather than a single broth style, the dish is thought to have grown into a loose local specialty that several shops could easily join. Keeping the rules to a minimum is thought to have made it easier for new shops to join in.
Before you go
- How to read a ticket machineShops that use a ticket machine (shokken-ki) often place their most popular items in a similar spot.
- Cash-only shops are commonEspecially at ramen shops, it's common to find places that only accept cash — often through a ticket machine.
- Foods to look for in summerA guide to foods often seen in Japan around summer — eel on the Day of the Ox, hiyashi chuka, somen, shaved ice, edamame with beer, and hamo — with rough pointers for finding them.
Dishes in the same style
- Abura SobaNo broth is poured at all — noodles are tossed in a soy-and-sesame-oil tare pooled at the bottom of the bowl, said to have started at shops in the Musashino area in the late 1950s, with vinegar and chili oil stirred in partway through.
- Betokon RamenA garlic-and-chili stamina ramen said to have originated in Ichinomiya, Aichi, devised from a repatriate's memories of Manchurian cooking. Its name is said to come directly from what customers started calling it.
Ingredients and dishes from this land
Also from Chiba
- Arirang RamenA soy ramen said to have started at a single restaurant on a mountain pass in Chiba's Nagara. Named, it's said, for the legendary Arirang Pass of Korean folklore, its soy broth carries the sweetness of onion and pork, layered with house-made chili oil and grated garlic for depth and heat.
- Barappa ManjuFreshly milled wheat dough is wrapped around red bean paste and steamed on a leaf of catbrier, called barappa locally — a bun said to be made in Chiba's Hokuso area when people gathered for summer festivals or Obon, each bringing ingredients to share.
- Iwashi no Unohana-zukeSalt-and-vinegar-cured sardines are packed into sweet-vinegared tofu lees with carrot and ginger — the pale lees are likened to unohana blossoms in the name, and are also said to keep the fish from breaking apart or oxidizing; eaten at New Year's and as an everyday pantry food.
- Rakkasei MisoPeanuts too small or misshapen to sell are stirred into miso and sugar and toasted into a pantry relish — said to have started as a way for farm households to use up peanuts the market wouldn't take, in leaner years.
- SumitsukareDaikon and carrot, coarsely grated with a rough-toothed oni-oroshi grater, are simmered with leftover setsubun soybeans and sake lees — said to have traveled from Tochigi into Chiba's Higashikatsushika area, offered to the local inari shrine on the year's first Day of the Horse before being eaten. Ibaraki and Saitama carry dishes of the same name.
- Yude RakkaseiFreshly dug peanuts, still in their shells, are boiled whole in salted water — a taste unique to the growing region, since raw peanuts start hardening the moment they're pulled from the ground and need to be boiled almost immediately.