I haven't seen this movie in years. Was the lady trying to make ramen or was it udon (thicker noodles)?
In any event, after watching this movie I'm constantly on the hunt for good ramen and udon joints. I'll take noodles/pasta over rice/potatoes any fricking day.

thanks to Toyota factories, there are a ton of Japanese transplants in the southern states. Lexington, KY. has a large number of Japanese resturants as a direct result of the Georgetown, KY. Toyota factory.
Tachibana, Miyako, and Hananoki are incredible sushi bars / noodle houses in Lexington, KY.

we actually have a pretty cute place in memphis, tn called edo which is an east memphis favorite. their noodles aren't the greatest, but overall it's the only place to get real ramen in the south. run totally by japanese people. it's with pork and shinachiku. they also have great donburi. especially katsu-don.

The best Japanese noodles you'll ever eat in America, beyond doubt, will be in Honolulu. Neither LA nor NYC can hold a candle to Oahu's obsession with Japanese culture.
In Honolulu, we eat Saimen (ramen, scallions, bbq pork, and kamaboko). You can buy this anywhere on Oahu, including McDonalds.

I lived in Japan for two years (before I saw Tampopo), and ate many different kinds of noodles. Tampopo is right on the money in their homage to noodles, and the different kinds of noodle houses.
The closest analogy to the place of the noodle house in Japan is the American coffee shop, but even that's not a fair comparison. One of the most common things you find in the noodle shop (besides the containers holding your hashi [chopsticks]) is a container of togaroshi (ground hot peppers)to spice up your noodles, if you like. It's also common to see a television. Patrons like to sit at the noodle bar, slurp their noodles, and watch TVusually sumo wrestling, though game shows are common, too. The noodle house is also a common stop-off point for children on the way home from school; young appetites being what they are, a bowl of noodles is generally considered not harmful to the appetite, and it's usually inexpensive.
Tampopo's first noodle restaurant, a dark, dingy affair with dark wood, is probably the most common place to find. Presided over by a matron (the mama-san), the noodle house is an extension of the proprietor's home, accessible through a sliding shoji-door, such as was seen in the film. Tampopo's new place, bright and shiny, is generally considered more "commercial", but is also typical of the new breed of restaurants in Japan. Noodle houses are seen by the Japanese as an extension of the person themselves, and each "look" is largely up to the merchant. Because of the self-effacing nature of Japanese character, the plain homey-style such as Tampopo first ran, is usually more common.
The most common bowl of noodles is much like the one the "Ramen Sensei" showed in the beginning of the film: plain noodles in a soup, garnished with 2-3 thin slices of pork, and spring onions. There are also variations on this, in which a splash of soy sauce (sho-yu) is added, or dumplings, or sometimes a raw egg.
Ironically, a good place to find ramen is on the train platforms of big cities such as Osaka, or Tokyo. Such "commuter food" is common, and can be had for about 300-500 yen (about $3.50 [US]). Businessmen on the go seldom get the chance to eat a sit-down meal, so noodles are gobbled up fast, and then it's back onto the next train.
As is shown in the film, the greatest compliment to the noodle chef is to drink all the soup. Due to the common nature of Japanese noodles, you don't often see this, and a newcomer to the noodle house should not be shocked to see many bowls emptied of noodles, but still filled with the dregs of soup. This isn't an insult to the chef, mind you, but a sign that the patron was in a hurryall too common in fast-moving Japan.

Hi, glad that you like pho :Dcome to Vietnam and visit us some dayI'll show ya what the true "pho" is
I'm watching this movie nowgrhh, i want some ramen NOW!!!! drooling

I saw a cool conveyor belt Japanese restaurant down by UCLA once when I went down there for a concert but, unfortunatley, by the time we were ready to eat it had closed. It was really fun and retro-looking & it looked like the conveyor belt went all through the restaurantsoooo cool! There seemed to be a lot of Japanese customers in there which is also a good sign. I don't know the name of it but it's right next to the campus (if it's still thereit was around 97 when we were there).

Ramen rules! I prefer the original soup base with bamboo and pork. I love the bamboo they put into it - the texture is interesting like mushrooms (closest thing I can think to it).
I wish they had Japanese-style restaurant ramen in the U.S. Cup noodles suck! Also, American cup noodles aren't even as good. I miss the curry version of the same brand from Japan.
I saw some Japanese ramen shops when I was in Michigan, but they charged $9 for a bowl - it sucked. In Japan I got ramen for 300 yen (less than $3 at the time I was there).
They should get conveyor-belt sushi restaurants here too! They rocked. I only spent three years in Japan, but I loved the food.

Well,ramen became very different to Chinese one in this 50 years.
Even though it's birthplace is China,there style is very different.
You can see cooks effort and how its changed and developed in movie,too.
In china,Japanese style of ramen became very popular in this several years.
It's called "
f" which means Japanese style ramen.