Ichiran/Hong Kong

Ichiran on Jaffe Road in Causeway Bay is the first Hong Kong outpost of Japanese ramen chain Ichiran (small wooden booths). It opened in the summer of 2013 and still sports long lines. The ramen was exactly the same as in the Tokyo branches, a long wait outside and little wooden booths inside. Menu paper in multiple languages.

Ichiran also opened a factory/store/museum "Ichiran-no-Mori" in Itoshima, Fukuoka in July of this year.

http://fukuoka-now.com/2014/07/ichiranfactory/

Ramen Champion/Hong Kong

It had been at least a year since I did any serious ramen hunting in Hong Kong so on my most recent trip I decided to go to the (then recently-opened) Ramen Champion in Hong Kong, near the Jordan MTR station. Ramen Champion is a "ramen themepark/stadium" in the basement of an office building, loosely based on similar setups in Japan. Shops rotate frequently, the ones present at that time included:

Taishoken
Bario
Minami Aoyama
Dotechan
Bishamon Rei (毗沙门 零)
Muso (無双/无双)

Bishamon Rei and Muso are still there. Note the picture of Yamagishi-san on the display board in the first attached photo. I was able to eat at Minami Aoyama and Bario over the course of two days. Of the two I found Bario (the last picture below) the better, much like many of the Jiro-like clones - but very garlicky with the sour raw bite that comes from a huge amount of fresh garlic. All these shops generally seem to want to project that they are Japanese, or descended from shops in Japan.

There does not appear to be an English web site for Ramen Champion. However decent English is generally spoken throughout the place as in most areas of HK. There is also a Ramen Champion in Singapore. Check the link below for the shops that are currently there:

http://ramenchampion.com.hk/#contact

    
 
 

Hong Kong Ramen #1

Although I know much less about ramen in HK then I do about ramen in Japan, I have started to go to ramen shops frequently enough on my trips to HK over the last few years to see that:

1 - a small ramen culture is starting to appear (in a city that is well-known for food and devotion to it)
2 - more ramen shops are appearing, some due to the Japanese influence (every time I go to HK I swear I see more Japanese signage and shops)
3 - the quality of them appears to be increasing

As of today I have been to:

Yokozuna (Mongkok)
Santouka (TST)
Kakurega
Butao (Causeway Bay)
Hide-Chan
several places in the Sheung Wan area
Ippudo
Ippei-an

Kakurega is the best so far.