Favourite ramen shop in Japan: Yoshiyama Shotengai, Sapporo

Been just about a year since Ash and I were in Japan, and last night, the first cooler evening we've had this summer, I was thinking about a hot, steaming bowl of ramen.

Somehow, the first random ramen shop we walked into on the first day we arrived in Sapporo was both of our favourites of the whole three month odyssey. Miso ramen. Umami bomb broth. Big chunky, charred chashu. Ice cold mugs of Sapporo Classic.

Actually my favourite food of the whole trip was ramen in general, which I was not expecting.

We were there for the summer, so weren't seeking out ramen a lot; just when it was cold, or when it was complementary.

Still, after travelling down to Okinawa and all the way back up to Hokkaido, fully expecting the magic to have been down to first day excitement, neither of us could really believe when it still tasted as good as it had that first day.

Perhaps it's down to some sort of anchoring effect, but it helped reinforce a sense that I had from before we even arrived in Japan: most restaurants in Japan are pretty good. I don't think we ever had an outright bad meal. More often than not it was tasty and affordable.

You could cast around looking for different star ratings on Google Maps, but the Japanese use ratings systems differently to Americans and Europeans, so if you find a high star rating place you've maybe just found a restaurant that is frequented by tourists. Not a bad thing necessarily, just makes it harder to distinguish signal from noise.

There was a guy I worked with years ago who used to say that life is too short to queue. Mind you, he did usually want someone else to queue for him. Still, the phrase stuck with me.

If you're going to Japan, don't spend your time queuing for Instagram restaurants and top ten lists. Life is too short, and there is a lot of good food. Probably right next to wherever you are standing.