A Tasty Ramen Shop Near the Flower Park

Hello, my fellow ramen lovers!
It has been quite a while since I last talked about ramen, so I’m excited to introduce a ramen shop that I recently visited. I already knew about this shop because they originally started as a food truck. They still travel to events with their food truck, but now they also have a restaurant near Ibaraki Flower Park in Ishioka. Today, I’ll be talking about Ramen Kitchen Genki.

Ramen Kitchen Genki (Food Truck)

As I mentioned before, Ramen Kitchen Genki started out as a food truck. I first tried their food at the Village Market Tsukuba when they were set up at Tsukuba Central Park. At the time, the food truck only had two menu items: maze soba and ramen.
As I’ve said before, I love maze soba. It’s the bad boy of the ramen world that breaks all the rules. I tried their maze soba, and it was rich and oily in just the right way, topped with grilled renkon (lotus root), tasty chashu, and incredible noodles. I always loved ordering it because it consistently hit the spot. Since then, the food truck’s menu has expanded.
A few weeks ago, I saw RKG at an event in Ishioka, where they were serving chicken wings. The wings made my hands extremely messy, but they were cooked to perfection and coated in a special sauce.
I told the owner of RKG that I would visit the restaurant soon, and finally, I was able to make it there on a Wednesday during Golden Week.

Ramen Kitchen Genki (Restaurant)

RKG is located in Ishioka near Ibaraki Flower Park. It’s just a short one-minute drive from the flower park, or about a ten-minute walk. I recommend coming by car or bicycle since there are no train stations nearby. You can also come by bus, but the bus will drop you off at the flower park, and you’ll need to walk the rest of the way.
The day I visited RKG, the owner was hosting a small event, a morning market featuring plants from different shops. My favorite coffee van, Coffee Bar Stove Nomad, was there, along with my favorite onigiri chef, Koujistand 2nd Store Aya.
I ended up oversleeping and missing the plant section of the morning market, but I still managed to grab a rice ball and a coffee from both of my favorite spots while I waited for my name to be called. The restaurant already had a line, and everyone was waiting to get in.

The Menu

RKG has a large menu. Unfortunately for my non-Japanese speakers, the menu is only available in Japanese. They serve ramen, maze soba, and tsukemen. There are also side dishes like gyoza and chashu rice bowls, and you can even order chashu by the gram to take home.
Most of the ingredients are local and fresh. RKG makes duck soup ramen, miso ramen, and more. The menu is really interesting and I can't wait to give all their menu items a try.

Inside

When I walked into Ramen Genki, the first thing I noticed was its old wooden cabin atmosphere. Everything had a personal, handcrafted feel that I immediately appreciated.
The second thing I loved was how the restaurant promoted the local area around Ishioka. Different vegetables and regional products were available for sale inside the shop. They even carried banana chips from one of my favorite Filipino companies that regularly attends events around Ibaraki.
After taking in the cozy interior, a staff member escorted me to a stool at the wooden countertop near the kitchen. I decided to try Ramen Genki’s tsukemen and also ordered some chashu to take home.

Ramen Genki Tsukemen

After waiting a little while, my tsukemen arrived, and it looked beautiful. After checking out the chashu, noodles, and renkon (lotus root) in the separate bowl, I decided to taste the soup first before dipping anything in.
The soup was salty and thick, with what tasted like a chicken-based broth and maybe even some duck mixed in. It was difficult to pinpoint exactly, but it was rich and deeply flavorful.
Once I started dipping the noodles, the first thing I noticed was just how perfect they were for this tsukemen. They had the ideal thickness and chewiness to stand up to the salty, thick soup. The best part was grabbing some cooked renkon along with the noodles and slurping everything together with the broth. I loved every bite of those noodles and soup.
The chashu was also quite good. Personally, I would have preferred it a little softer so it could soak up even more soup, but I still loved how meaty and flavorful it was. Overall, this tsukemen was excellent, and I would happily order it again.
I’ve now had both the tsukemen and maze soba at Ramen Genki, so next time I’ll definitely try one of their ramen bowls. After finishing my meal, I thanked the owner for the lovely food and headed down the street toward the bakery near Ibaraki Flower Park. (More on that next week)
Before leaving, I also picked up 200 grams of chashu to take home for dinner later that night.

Ramen Genki's Chashu

Unfortunately, Mrs. Ibaraki Eats could not join me on this ramen adventure, so to make up for it, I brought home 200 grams of chashu for dinner. She wanted to make chashu don, a chashu rice bowl, and I happily obliged.
I cooked up some rice, heated the chashu, and topped everything with plenty of negi (green onions) before we dug in together. She absolutely loved the chashu from Ramen Genki. She mentioned how meaty it was and appreciated that it was not overly oily, while still having enough fat to give the white rice underneath an extra boost of flavor.
I was more than happy to enjoy the chashu again for dinner. Having it over rice made for a simple but incredibly satisfying meal. I’m already planning to buy some more of Genki’s chashu in the future and maybe experiment with it a little, perhaps cooking it with different spices or sauces, or even adding something extra to make it spicy.

Overall, my experience at Ramen Genki was excellent. The food was delicious, the atmosphere was warm and inviting, and the chashu was fantastic. They even had music from Jamiroquai playing overhead, which I absolutely loved.
Even though Ramen Genki is tucked away out in the countryside, I hope to visit again soon, and next time, hopefully Mrs. Ibaraki Eats can join me for the full experience.

So, if you are around Ibaraki Flower Park and are looking for a fantastic bowl of ramen, may I suggest a trip to Ramen Genki? Who knows? You might see us there, enjoying a delicious bowl of ramen while buying some more chashu to take home.
Enjoy!

For more information on Ramen Genki, check out their Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/ramen.kitchen.genki?igsh=MTl2cWo4NG81OWZsMg%3D%3D

For the older blog posts, check out the WIX Ibaraki Eats.

https://regaladom24.wixsite.com/website