Ramen is a Japanese noodle dish. It consists of Chinese-style wheat noodles served in a meat-based broth, often flavored with soy sauce or miso, and uses toppings such as sliced pork, nori, menma, and scallions.amen, the iconic Japanese noodle soup, is one of those foods that, at first slurp, inspires fanatical devotion. Ubiquitous, ultra-inexpensive bricks of instant ramen may have been, for many Americans, the original frame of reference for the dish, but the more time-intensive original has made its way to the U.S. food scene.