Onsen and Torigara Ramen

Last weekend was totally sacrificed for a friend of mine who was leaving town. Among the hectic chore of helping him pack and send his stuff home, we did find time to sneak a trip to an onsen about an hours drive from Hanamaki. Matt had been rambling on about this place for quite a while and was determined to go there before he left. If your curious the onsen is called Airinkan(愛隣館)


Airinkan was a little bit classier than your ordinary run of the mill Hanamaki onsen. As soon as you get out of your car you’re escorted by staff to one of the many onsen baths on site.


A dip in the onsen will cost you 800 yen but its well worth it. This place is by far the most scenic onsen I have ever been to.

Later that night after an intense session of rehydration we made our way to a
ramenya called Housuke 宝介.


Houske boasts a very extensive menu, but prides itself on torigara ramen.

So, being the sucker that I’ am I instinctively went with the ramen that was written in the biggest font. I also payed the extra 100yen for all you can eat pickles and rice.

They were a bit stingy when cutting the charshu, but none the less it was pretty good. It was actually so tender that you couldn’t even pick it up with your chopsticks (or maybe that was just me).

The dashi was very light and from what I could tell had a soy sauce base of sorts. It lacked the sort of complexity that I was expecting though…


My mate’s tsukemen on the other hand was apparently a pretty good feed. So, if you go there I recommend you order anything that isn’t heavily promoted…