Horaiken Ramen Beppu Station Location

Worst Tsukemen Ever.

This restaurant was recommended by our hostel, and there's another location but we weren't sure where it was, plus this smaller location in the station. We were already at the station and I was ready to punch someone in the face I was so hungry, so we just ate there. For some reason I ordered Tsukemen. I love tsukemen, but now I realize that any restaurant that is not specifically a tsukemen restaurant has lousy tsukemen. This is a tonkotsu ramen restaurant, but we're spoiled living in Kurume where we can eat Taiho ramen, which is cheaper and better. There were a couple guys working in the tiny place but they were more interested in hanging out than helping customers. Still it seemed like some locals were eating there. When I ordered tsukemen, the other employee was asked to search for some noodles in the fridge (freezer?) to make sure they even had chanpon. That was a bad sign. The noodles seemed very much like they were bought in a supermarket then frozen, so when I ordered, maybe they were boiled but it seemed more like they were microwaved. They were dry and sticking together so I couldn't separate them to put them into the broth one bite at a time. I ended up putting the whole ball of noodles into the broth at once to soften them up. The broth... wasn't quite right either. Instead of a juicy piece of pork, there was a burnt bacon smell and several small pieces of over-fried pork fat. It was edible because I was hungry, but made me really grumpy because it was so wrong. The broth was so oily that I just felt heavy and gross afterwards. The ramen was just okay according to my husband. He apologized repetitively for wanting ramen, but I wasn't in any condition to make good decisions. Sigh. Maybe the other location was better, I hope? Just go to Taiho - there's one in Beppu too.