I’d been hearing stories about these crazy ramen burgers for a while now, but have had a hard time getting my hands on the elusive snack. As they’re more of a street food, and not really served in restaurants, at least down in Kobe, finding one comes down to being in the right place at the right time. Which is just where I happened to be on Tuesday afternoon!

“Hatsumode” is a Japanese New Year’s tradition where you a visiting your local shrine, wish for a healthy and prosperous new year, and buy charms and keepsakes for good luck. And after fighting your way through the crowds and paying your respects…

…tradition also dictates that you stop and visit the streets vendors for a bite to eat as most stores and restaurants are closed for the first three days of the year.

It was on our way back out of Ikuta Shrine, there among the typical fried chicken and frankfurter tents, that I spotted the stand I had long been looking for…

RAMEN BURGER!!

Surprisingly enough, as you can see, there were no lines. No customers. What?! How were the Japanese not lining up for this mythical, mouth-watering treat?

Needless to say, the burgermeister there was happy to see me!

And given he had a little time on his hands, he was happy to show me what goes into making a ramen burger.

First, he took handfuls of pre-cooked ramen noodles and put them into these specially made grill-molds that would warm and crisp them to set them into “buns”…

Once the outsides had browned to his liking, but leaving the insides soft and chewy, but still wit tooth, he took two and moved over to his “filling station”…

As you can see, they’re pretty much the same simple toppings you’d find in your average bowl of ramen; pork, scallions and narutomaki fish cake…

You then get your choice of sauce, all based on traditional ramen soup flavors; miso soy sauce or tonkotsu (pork bone)…

Shockingly, I went for miso over my beloved tonkotsu!

And voila…

The long-awaited ramen burger was now mine for the eating…

A few other angles for your viewing, and my hazing, pleasure…

That miso runs quick!

And the narutomaki is like a fun little surprise in the middle…

The ramen burger tasted great and was everything I expected it to be. It really was just like holding a bowl of ramen in the palm of your hand. But with biting instead of slurping!

I have no idea why these little gems haven’t caught on and become more popular across Japan, but here’s to hoping they become more commonplace in the near future! In the States too. Paging David Chang…