Ramen restaurant in Sokcho with a kids' treasure hunt: Ichiba Ramen

Ichiba Ramen, a ramen restaurant in Sokcho, felt like a little trip to Japan.

• Ichiba Ramen
• 348 Jungang-ro, Sokcho-si, Gangwon-do, South Korea

Where is Ichiba Ramen, and how close is it to Deungdae Beach?

A taste of real Japan found on a Sokcho trip! Ichiba Ramen, a well-known ramen restaurant in Sokcho, sits very close to Deungdae Beach.

You can park along the road in front of the store or on the side of the building, and if there's no space, the back streets of the nearby residential neighborhood or the coastal road work too — parking isn't hard here!

Ichiba Ramen opens at 9am, so it works as a breakfast spot, and it stays open until 10pm, so you can also come for dinner with a draft beer.

I'd read beforehand that there's usually a wait, so we came right after the weekday lunch rush. That meant no waiting at all, and we could enjoy our meal at a relaxed pace.

Seating inside Ichiba Ramen and the hidden details kids hunt for

The interior is fairly spacious and clean, more like a newly opened, stylish restaurant than an old-school spot. There are plenty of tables, so turnover should be good even with a wait — worth a visit if you're in Sokcho :)

Ichiba Ramen has cute little details hidden all over the store, so it's fun just to spot them! You can tell the owner put a lot of thought into the interior, and it made waiting for the food not boring at all — my kid had a blast treasure-hunting for them.

On top of that, the restroom is super clean, so it's a great spot to eat before or after playing at Sokcho Beach or Deungdae Beach! When you're eating out with a kid, or traveling in general, how clean the restroom is really matters — and this one is fully great!

You order through a kiosk, and besides the usual ramen, there's a red snow crab roe cream ramen, which made it even better to bring a kid along.

If you download the coupon on Naver Place and write a Naver photo review, you get a free seasoned egg, jumbo chashu (braised pork), or rice — definitely worth doing!

Karaage, miso ramen and red snow crab roe cream ramen: honest review

You have to order karaage (Japanese fried chicken) at a ramen restaurant, right?! It was so crispy and good that we ended up adding a draft beer right after tasting it, haha. Dip it in mustard and the fried chicken flavor doubles — it was so good it made us happy.

I ordered the miso ramen, and doesn't it look like a traditional Japanese-style ramen just from the rich broth alone?!

Is it just me, or does the ramen's true flavor come through even more with a draft beer alongside it?!

My kid ordered the red snow crab roe cream ramen, and there was plenty of sauce, so it stayed moist and smooth until the very last bite!! 😊

The special tonkotsu ramen comes in a really large portion, so if you're a big eater, definitely order the special size.

It came with meat and bean sprouts, and the deep broth was excellent — my kid loved this tonkotsu ramen too!

And the seasoned egg in ramen is always especially delicious, right?! The seasoned egg at Ichiba Ramen was genuinely great too. (We liked it so much we ordered extra.)

It runs on a self-return system where you bring your dishes back after eating, and even the instructions sign has a fun detail hidden in it — my kid really loved that.

Ichiba Ramen, a ramen restaurant in Sokcho you can enjoy specially after visiting Sokcho Beach or Deungdae Beach, sticks to genuine Japanese-style ramen flavors that both kids and adults are bound to love, and it's open from breakfast through dinner — definitely worth a visit if you're in Sokcho.