To some, ramen noodles were a staple of university diet, but to many others it's a rich noodle dish with many deliciously awesome variations. So it makes sense that in Japan many ramen shops take unique approaches to stand out from the crowd of restaurants that specialize in the extremely popular item. Macho Men ramen, however, really takes things to the next noodle level!

The shop's name is an appropriate pun. Macho (マッチョ) can obviously mean what it does in the West, but in Japan can also be read as a pun for the word "much." Men (麺) on the other hand, means "noodle" in Japanese, so many ramen shops in Japan use this dual reading for "noodle" and the plural of "man" as a pun when naming their restaurant.

Macho Men is located in Niigata, and serves up ridiculously stacked ramen bowls to combat the prefecture's cold winters. Garlic, bean sprouts, cabbage, bonito flakes, fat, and spice are all available as free toppings, and tea and rice are also complementary. There are also "arrangements" that let you increase the volume of your ramen based on topping themes. Pictured below is the monster known as "Macho-Maji."

That's actually a fairly normal bowl at this house of ramen horrors (or delights). In fact, it's child's play compared to the behemoth and star attraction of Macho Men.

While a standard bowl of ramen, with free toppings, will run you somewhere in the 1000 yen range ($7 USD), the "Meat Rock Climbing" meat monster above is listed at 6,500 yen ($52 USD). So yeah, a challenge like that is for serious ramen-slurpers only!

It's not just the prices though...check out the sizes on some of these!

3 Kg (6.6LBS) of ramen? I think the good people of Niigata will be just fine warding off the winter cold! And if they need a few extra layers of fat, why not try an appetizer?

This is a medium size, for the record.

Yum.