This ramen joint is an introverted foodie's paradise

2025-04-28 02:35:15admin

Embrace your inner #ForeverAlone.

Ichiran Ramen is a Japan-based restaurant chain famous for its unique dining style. Customers eat alone, partitioned into individual sections that separate them from other diners and the staff, and orders are taken by filling out a form, all in order to limit human interaction.

And now, there's good news for New Yorkers: Last month, the introverted foodie's paradise finally opened a shop in Bushwick, Brooklyn.

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Ichiran was founded in Fukuoka, Japan, in 1960. As explained by Timeline, the chain believes that eating solo "helps people focus on their food," as it "eliminates the need for exchanging saccharine pleasantries with servers or companions."

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Additionally, by encouraging people to eat out by themselves, Ichiran is fighting the stigma that is often attached to solo dining.

Customers line up in front of a new ramen noodle restaurant "Ichiran" in New York on Oct. 19, 2016, waiting for it to open. It is the second overseas branch of the restaurant based in Japan's southwestern city of Fukuoka, known for its "Tonkotsu" noodle soup made from pork broth, after one in Hong Kong. Credit: Kyodo via ap

Ichiran has taken several precautions to ensure customers can avoid human interaction. There is no host at the restaurant – diners can walk straight inside and choose a booth. There is a button on each table that if pressed will signal a server to refill water. The paper menus are detailed – diners can indicate nearly a dozen different specifics to create their perfect bowl of ramen.

Credit: Ichiran

While the solo-dining concept is not unusual in Japan (and actually has a lot of cultural significance in the country), Ichiran's Brooklyn branch will feel unfamiliar and exciting to many Americans. And in a loud, busy city where people are often looking for any brief moment of solitude they can find, Ichiran seems like it just might fit in.