Early-morning ramen at a Sokcho ramen restaurant: Ichiba Ramen

After driving on the highway from 6:30 a.m. and arriving in Sokcho at around 10 in the morning, the first place we went was Ichiba Ramen (이찌바라멘), a popular ramen spot in Sokcho.

When you come to Sokcho, you usually end up eating lots of mulhoe (cold raw fish soup) or seafood. But maybe because it was morning, I really wanted a rich, warm broth. So today, we had tonkotsu ramen, a Japanese noodle dish.

How was parking by the beach?

Here is my parking tip for Ichiba Ramen in Sokcho! There are really plenty of places to park at the nearby beach. Maybe because it was morning, there was even more space and it felt relaxed, though I am not sure what it is usually like. For reference, I do not think it even took us five minutes to walk over after parking :)”},{

A neat interior with a Japanese feel

Inside, it had a clean white-toned atmosphere. It also had a cute, almost like-Japan-had-been-moved-here kind of feeling, and the owner gave us such a warm welcome that we felt comfortable. The Japanese-inspired details throughout made the meal feel a little like a trip~

Oh, and another thing I liked here! With a child, we always need to wash our hands, and the restroom inside the restaurant was clean with an easy-to-use handwashing area. That was great too.

Tonkotsu ramen and butadon that even our child ate

Ichiba Ramen menu

We were a family of four with grandparents and a child~ I wondered a little whether our child would be able to eat it, but because the tonkotsu ramen was not spicy, our child enjoyed it too.

That milky-white broth~ Tonkotsu ramen with rich broth and tender pork on top~! It is the kind of menu that not only people in their 20s and 30s like us, but also children and people in their 60s and 70s cannot help but enjoy! It was so nutty and rich! For reference, the ramen here is made in an authentic Japanese style, and they say the broth alone takes 30 hours to prepare.

They say they simmer fresh Korean pork bones for a long time and minimize the use of artificial seasonings and commercial processed products~!

Great value, while always using good-quality ingredients.

Maybe that is why the tonkotsu ramen had such a deep yet clean flavor—it was so delicious^^ And alongside it, spicy and savory butadon (pork rice bowl) :)”},{

I could not believe you can get a bowl of butadon like this for just ₩4,500. It was the ultimate value-for-money menu. We actually ordered one more because of our child, but its slight spiciness and saltiness made it a dish adults would probably like more than a child would~! This is the butadon~ It is a teeny-tiny size. It was a decent amount for a child to finish a bowl~! It does have a little heat, so I feel it would be okay from around the lower elementary-school grades. Our child does not eat any chili flakes or gochujang (Korean chili paste) yet at all~~ so I happily ate it myself 😉

An easy-on-the-stomach early-morning ramen meal in Sokcho

There are surely already many well-known good restaurants in Sokcho, Gangwon, but this place feels like a hidden gem that is still less known~ Perhaps ramen can be overlooked a little because it is not seafood~! But if you are looking for a family-friendly place with a comfortable, good-value meal, I think it would be nice to stop by Ichiba Ramen in Sokcho, Gangwon :)”},{

It would have been so delicious to mix rice into the broth too, but there were so many noodles that I was a little sad I could not. This was Sokcho ramen that was easy on the stomach early in the morning. If you like Japanese-style ramen like I do, I would recommend it~!