Between the first and twenty-eighth of October the yearly Ramen Fantasista is being held on the restaurant floor of the Tokyu department store in Nagano. It consists of three chefs or groups of chefs coming up with different ramen dishes for people to try. Last year I went, and it's nice to be able to eat some flavours of ramen that perhaps one cannot usually eat in Nagano.

The four-week event is split into two two-week sessions, with three lots of chefs in each session. Thus in the four weeks we're able to try six different flavours of ramen if we so desire.

On the third of October I went for the first time and took along a fellow ramen lover, Yuzo. Our first order was for one of the 豚骨ラーメン (Tonkotsu - quite a think strong soup) and the 醤油ラーメン (soy sauce flavoured soup). Finishing them pretty quickly, we decided we'd order the 味噌ラーメン (miso fish-flavoured soup) one to share. That way we got to try all three varieties, but it meant I left there feeling very full!

My favourite was definitely the 醤油ラーメン and I ended up going back on my own today for a second helping of that one.

Originally though I only managed to take photos of the 豚骨ラーメン (first) and the 醤油ラーメン (second), as when the final 味噌ラーメン arrived I forgot to photograph it before diving in.