Fukuoka already has no shortage of established food souvenirs. Still, as someone who travels overseas several times a year, I am always looking for something new to bring along. Something that actually feels like Fukuoka. So I was curious to attend the launch of a new snack that looks set to become exactly that. Introducing: RAMEN CLUB x Hakata Ippudo Shiromaru Motoaji and Hakata Ippudo Akamaru Shinaji
If you are talking about Fukuoka, you are talking about ramen. More specifically, tonkotsu ramen. When I first arrived here in 1990, colleagues took me to a small shop in Daimyo that was starting to get attention. That shop was Hakata Ippudo. Today, it is a global brand with more about 312 shops across 16 countries and regions, and widely credited with helping redefine ramen as a premium experience. So it is no surprise that Ippudo is still pushing into new territory. This is something else.
After attending the press event and tasting it on site, what stood out was not novelty. It was intent. This has been carefully thought through and built from the ground up.
The development process is unusually detailed. Rather than starting from scratch, the team adapted equipment from a traditional karinto factory they had taken over. The noodles are fried using a three-stage temperature process, which gives them a lighter, sharper crunch than typical snack noodles. The first bite is surprisingly crisp, more delicate than expected but very pronounced. You quickly learn not to take too much at once!
Seasoning is handled differently as well. Instead of coating the noodles before frying, they are fried plain and then finished with a soup-based seasoning. The aim is to let the flavor absorb into the surface rather than sit on top.
As one of the developers explained during the presentation, “We don’t season the noodles before frying. We add real soup afterwards, so the flavor melts into the surface.”
The result is more integrated, but also quite concentrated. This is something you take in small, considered bites rather than by the handful.
At the launch, Hidenobu Tomita (right), Executive Officer at Chikara no Moto Company, and Shintaro Naganuma (left), Representative Director of COC Co., Ltd., outlined the thinking behind the collaboration.
Naganuma described the broader goal clearly. “We wanted to create something that could become a proper local souvenir, not just a snack people eat every day.”
That intention comes through in the final product.
The two flavors, Shiromaru Motoaji and Akamaru Shinaji, are based directly on Ippudo’s core ramen offerings. Ippudo provided ingredients and detailed input throughout development, particularly when it came to translating tonkotsu flavor into a dry format.
The Akamaru version is especially interesting. The spicy miso and aromatic oil are layered in stages, and the team intentionally allows slight unevenness in the coating. You notice that immediately. The flavor shifts subtly from bite to bite, which gives it something closer to the progression of eating an actual bowl of ramen.
The toppings show the same level of care. Green onion, benishoga, kikurage, sesame, and roasted nori are all included, not as decoration, but as functional elements. Each adds a distinct note. It is this attention to detail that stands out. A lot of thought has gone into how each component behaves in a dry format.
It also explains why this does not feel like a typical collaboration product. There is a clear attempt to translate the structure of ramen, noodles, soup, and toppings, into a completely different medium without losing its identity.
This is not positioned as an everyday snack. It is clearly intended as a premium souvenir. Something to enjoy properly, maybe even plated or paired with a drink. The packaging reinforces that, with gift-ready 5-pack and 8-pack boxes, and individual packets designed like small ramen bowls. Just do not make the mistake of adding hot water. This is not instant ramen!
What you have here is something rooted firmly in Hakata’s food culture, backed by a globally recognized ramen brand, and developed with a level of care that goes beyond the usual. It feels like it will catch on quickly.
More importantly, it is the kind of thing you can take overseas and say, with confidence, this is Fukuoka!
Available at: JR Hakata Station (Ippin Nishi-dori), 1-1 Hakataeki Chuo-gai, Hakata-ku | 08:00–20:30