Ichiran Ramen in Taipei beats its own record with 240-hour queue
PUBLISHED ONJune 30, 2017 9:35 AMByThanh Bui
How long would you queue for ramen?
Ichiran Ramen, a popular restaurant chain which just opened its first outlet in Taipei on June 15, has beaten its own record for longest continuous queue.
As of 11am on Sunday, customers had been queuing up outside the 24/7 noodles shop for 240 hours straight. That's 10 days!
The old record was set in Hong Kong in 2013, where people queued for 196 hours for the opening of Ichiran's Causeway Bay location, according to a report by hk01.com.
Makes sense for a place featured by Forbes as possibly the best ramen in the world.
It's estimated that the average waiting time between 6am and 10am is 35 minutes, with an average of 40 to 100 people in the queue, reported EJ Insight.
Between 11pm and 3am, when patrons of bars and nightclubs in Xinyi district occupy the area, the average waiting time is 1 hour and 40 minutes, with over 200 people in line.
With so many people queuing for such long periods, customers took to the internet to share their experiences:
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The restaurant had tents set up for patrons to weather the wait.
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Even those who woke up early still had to queue for quite some time.
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Ichiran Ramen was established in Fukuoka in 1960, and is known for its pork-flavored Tonkotsu broth.
Learning from the example of the Hong Kong location, which began with 36 seats and expanded to 93, the noodle shop in Taipei was built to accommodate 60 people.
According to Mashable, Ichiran charges NT$288 (S$13) per bowl of basic tonkotsu ramen in Taipei, which is cheaper than its other outlets in Hong Kong and New York, where the ramen is HK$89 (S$16) and US$18.90 (S$26), respectively.
A bowl of tonkotsu ramen in Japan, however, costs 790 (S$9.70).
But judging from how long people have been willing to queue, price is but a number for customers hungry for a taste of the famous noodles.
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thanhb@sph.com.sg