Even the steam is delicious! My Favorite Restaurant Chain Part 1″ by Hidehiko Ishizuka of “Honjamaka

A restaurant where you can go to heaven alive

Hello, everyone. Am I the only one who can’t stop sweating when I hear the sound of cicadas? My name is Hidehiko Ishizuka.

Now, I would like to introduce three of my favorite restaurant chains.

The first one is “Volks,” which I go to frequently. They have a wide variety of menu items, and you can choose a single item or a set with a salad bar, but if you choose the full set, you can also enjoy a soup bar and bread. You can drink all the soup you want and eat all the salad you want. Generally, when you order a set, you choose rice or bread, but not at Volks. The premise is that you can eat all the bread you want, and then you can choose whether or not to eat rice. Naturally, I eat both. There are many kinds of bread and all the butter you can eat. I love it so much that if I were born again, I would want to be a butter person.

And the set drinks, hot coffee and iced coffee, are all-you-can-drink. The only thing that is not “all you can drink” at Volks is the main dish. In our family, we call the day we go to Volks “Independence Day. There is freedom and liberation at Volks. By the way, my favorite main dish is “Chicken Garlic Steak. I hope you all enjoy the freedom and liberation at Volks.

Next, in the ramen category, I would like to introduce “Ramen Kagetsu Arashi,” which my family and I often visit. Among the many items available, my favorite is the Arashi Genkotsu Ramen. On the surface of the umami-rich soy sauce tonkotsu soup, there is so much back fat floating on the surface that you would think it was a star in a planetarium. There is not a single millimeter of it that I dislike. The noodles are also chewy and make me happy with every slurp. This alone is enough to make me happy, but my favorite point is that each table has a pitcher of cold water. This is by far the biggest point for me. I don’t have to say “sorry” to the busy waitstaff every time I come in.

My second favorite point is the variety of items to change the taste. Chive sprouts, secret sauce, black pepper, and up to six cloves of fresh garlic are available free of charge if you ask the waiter. The garlic cloves are squeezed onto the soup with a squeezer by themselves. This is probably the only place in Japan where this is done.

My final favorite point is that you can regularly taste ramen collaborations with famous restaurants from all over the country. You don’t have to travel to get the big stars in your hometown. As a side note, I order not only ramen but also “butameshi” (buttered rice) in combination.

One more from the ramen department. You can’t miss “Ganso New Tantanmen Honpo”.

When I drive down the national highway at night, there is a restaurant so brightly lit that I wonder if a UFO has landed there. That is “Ganso New Tantanmen Honpo. Ninety percent of the people who come out of the store are rubbing their bellies and laughing. Just seeing that scene makes us happy. After sitting at the table, the tantanmen appears in front of you. The steam is already “maiyoo”. The most appetizing red soup with oyster eggs, chili peppers, and garlic added to the soup is a miracle. If this doesn’t cheer you up, nothing will. With each sip of soup taken with a bamboo ladle, you climb the stairs of happiness. There is not a single person there who cares about the smell of garlic. There are even couples who come together. For the rice, white rice is added to the remaining soup. Only at this restaurant can you go to heaven alive.

From the October 3 and 10, 2025 issue of “FRIDAY