How Jun Furukawa Spent Years Refining Ramen Broth
A memorable bowl of ramen often begins with a question that sounds simple: how can a broth carry depth without becoming heavy, loud, or difficult to finish? For Jun Furukawa, founder of MEN-EIJI RAMEN in Sapporo, that question became a long culinary investigation. His work developed around the relationship between seafood, pork bones, aroma, texture, and the final balance of a bowl.
The result is a distinctive gyokai-tonkotsu style, combining the savory intensity of seafood with the richness of a carefully prepared pork-bone soup. It is a broth with layers rather than a single dominant flavor. Each element has to support the others, from the first aroma above the bowl to the lingering umami after the noodles are gone.
MEN-EIJI’s two Sapporo destinations express this philosophy in different ways. MEN-EIJI Hiragishi BASE presents the brand’s established ramen identity, while Duck Ramen EIJI explores another direction within Furukawa’s broader approach to concentrated flavor and thoughtful composition. The Sapporo locations make it possible to experience that work in the city where the experimentation took shape.
Why Broth Became The Starting Point
In ramen, broth determines far more than taste. It affects the way noodles feel in the mouth, how toppings are perceived, how much tare is needed, and whether a bowl feels clean or dense. A strong soup can make a simple arrangement compelling, while an unbalanced one can overwhelm carefully made noodles and ingredients.
Furukawa’s approach treats soup as a living system. Pork bones provide body, gelatin, and a rounded savoriness. Seafood brings salinity, fragrance, and a more immediate form of umami. The challenge is to combine these qualities without allowing the pork to bury the seafood or the seafood to make the broth sharp and one-dimensional.
That balance helps explain why gyokai-tonkotsu has become such an important part of the MEN-EIJI identity. It is not simply a mixture of two stocks. It is a method of shaping contrast: richness against freshness, weight against lift, and a long finish against a clean first impression.
Building Depth From Seafood And Pork
Pork-bone broth is valued for its creamy texture and persistent flavor. Through extended cooking and careful handling, bones can create a soup with natural viscosity, allowing the liquid to cling to the palate. That mouthfeel gives ramen a satisfying foundation, yet it can become tiring if the soup lacks brightness or aromatic definition.
Seafood stock changes the direction of that foundation. Fish and other ocean ingredients contribute mineral notes, roasted aromas, and a pronounced savory character. Depending on how they are prepared, seafood elements can taste delicate, smoky, sweet, or intensely briny. The craft lies in extracting enough flavor to make the broth memorable while preserving its clarity.
Furukawa’s years of broth experimentation can be understood as a search for usable harmony. Ingredients must be selected for how they behave together, not simply for how powerful they taste individually. Temperature, cooking time, extraction, concentration, and blending all influence the final bowl. Small adjustments can change the broth’s aroma and texture as much as a major ingredient change.
Years Of Testing At The Stove
Experimentation in ramen rarely follows a straight line. A broth may taste impressive in a tasting cup but feel too rich with noodles. Another version may be beautifully clear yet lack the depth expected from a complete meal. A soup that works in one season may need adjustment when ingredients, temperature, or customer preferences change.
This is why repeated testing matters. The chef must evaluate the broth at several points: while it is cooking, immediately after blending, with tare, alongside noodles, and near the end of a full serving. The first sip reveals aroma and salt balance. Later mouthfuls show whether the soup develops complexity or becomes monotonous.
| Element | What It Contributes | What Careful Testing Reveals |
|---|---|---|
| Pork bones | Body, richness, and gelatinous texture | Whether the broth feels full without becoming heavy |
| Seafood ingredients | Umami, salinity, and aromatic depth | Whether ocean flavors remain clear and balanced |
| Tare | Salt, sweetness, and seasoning direction | How the soup changes once its core flavor is sharpened |
| Noodles | Texture and wheat aroma | Whether the broth has enough strength to support each bite |
| Cooking and blending | Consistency and mouthfeel | Whether the final soup stays stable from first sip to last |
Furukawa’s process also reflects the importance of restraint. More ingredients do not automatically produce a more complex broth. Sometimes removing a flavor makes another easier to recognize. Sometimes a gentler extraction creates a cleaner finish than an aggressive boil. Years of work allow a chef to identify those distinctions and repeat the desired result.
A Hokkaido Style With Wider Reach
Sapporo is famous for ramen, yet the city’s ramen culture is not limited to one formula. Local cooks continue to reinterpret miso ramen, shio ramen, shoyu ramen, seafood ramen, and rich pork-based styles. MEN-EIJI’s gyokai-tonkotsu belongs to this evolving landscape while maintaining a clear connection to Hokkaido’s ingredients and taste preferences.
The pairing of seafood and pork also reflects the region’s geography. Hokkaido offers a strong seafood culture alongside a hearty food tradition suited to cold weather. A broth that delivers warmth and umami feels naturally at home in Sapporo, but Furukawa’s version avoids being defined only by heaviness. Its seafood character gives the soup a sense of place and movement.
The brand’s story has extended beyond its home city through international pop-ups and collaborations. Those experiences placed the broth in new settings, where different diners and food cultures could respond to its balance. Recognition, including a Michelin Bib Gourmand, further reflects the appeal of a style that is deeply rooted in Sapporo yet accessible to ramen lovers beyond Japan.
The broader evolution of the style is explored in this account of gyokai-tonkotsu’s development, which helps place MEN-EIJI’s work within Hokkaido’s changing ramen conversation.
How To Experience The Bowl
The best way to appreciate an experimental broth is to taste it in sequence. Start with the aroma before stirring the bowl. Seafood notes may appear first, followed by the deeper scent of pork and seasoning. The surface can reveal whether the soup is creamy, glossy, or lightly emulsified, while the first sip shows how those components meet.
Next, taste the broth with the noodles. Their firmness, thickness, and wheat character alter the soup’s perception. A rich broth may seem softer with a fine noodle and more structured with a thicker one. The seasoning can also become clearer as the noodles carry small amounts of soup into each bite.
Toppings should be considered as part of the composition rather than decoration. Meat can reinforce the broth’s savory depth, while vegetables, herbs, or aromatic oils may provide contrast. The purpose of this arrangement is to keep the bowl changing as it is eaten. A well-designed ramen should offer richness, fragrance, texture, and relief at different moments.
At MEN-EIJI Hiragishi BASE, diners can encounter the signature direction that has shaped the brand’s reputation. Duck Ramen EIJI offers another expression of Furukawa’s interest in distinctive stock, carefully matched ingredients, and layered flavor. Visiting both locations can reveal how the same creative principles adapt to different ramen ideas.
Ways To Notice The Craft
A few simple habits can make the broth’s details easier to recognize:
- Smell the soup before adding anything, paying attention to seafood aroma, roasted notes, and the richness of the pork.
- Take a small sip before eating noodles so the base seasoning and mouthfeel are clear.
- Notice how the broth changes with each noodle texture, topping, and aromatic accent.
- Pay attention to the finish: a balanced soup should leave flavor behind without becoming exhausting.
- Compare the two MEN-EIJI locations to see how Jun Furukawa’s approach shifts between ramen styles.
These observations turn a meal into a closer look at culinary development. The broth is the visible result, but behind it are countless decisions about extraction, proportion, timing, and service. The finished bowl may arrive in minutes, even though its character comes from years of testing.
That long process is also why consistency matters. Experimentation is useful only when it leads to a soup that can be prepared, served, and appreciated repeatedly. A successful recipe preserves the discoveries made during development while leaving enough room for refinement. Furukawa’s work shows how a ramen shop can remain inventive without losing a recognizable identity.
Taste The Work In Sapporo
Jun Furukawa’s broth journey demonstrates that ramen innovation is built through patience. Seafood and pork bones provide the starting materials, but balance comes from repeated tasting, adjustment, and attention to how every part of the bowl interacts. Gyokai-tonkotsu is therefore more than a rich soup style; it is a record of sustained curiosity.
Visit MEN-EIJI Hiragishi BASE or Duck Ramen EIJI in Sapporo and taste how that curiosity appears in the bowl. Each serving carries the character of Hokkaido, the intensity of seafood and pork, and the experience of a chef who spent years turning experimentation into a distinctive ramen tradition.