Ramen Cliff (Osaka, Miyakojima-ku)

らぁ麺 Cliff
らぁめんくりふ

Misodoro Mazesoba: 18 / 20
(味噌どろまぜそば)

This elegant ramen restaurant north of Osaka castle features ramen, tsukemen and mazemen (regular, or with miso). I had altready tried here the two former some time ago - they were good, but did not give me any lasting impression. And my only experience of mazemen so far had been the delicious Junk Garage in Saitama, so I wanted to see how this one compared - and here I am, ordering the misodoro mazesoba. Like abura soba (what the exact difference between both, by the way? I'm not sure), you have to mix the ingredients vigorously. The result was a bit similar to Carbonara pasta, with a Japanese twist.

 (sorry for the blurred picture)

Broth: Mazemen is soup-less ramen but you receive with your mazemen a small cup of delicate, enjoyable light broth, kind of shio-ramen-like.

Noodles: Linguine-like pasta. They are home made, and they are delicious (and no, the first one does not always imply the second).

Meat: Small cubes of excellent bacon-like meat, and stripes of more regular chashu.

Egg: Like at Junk Garage, a raw egg is here to be mixed with your pasta, providing a delicious viscosity to the whole thing.

Toppings: Lots of toppings: some strong-flavored menma, some thin green vegetables, some nuts, and garlic (you can ask without though). Most important, the “misodoro” part of the name referred to a brown miso sauce that gave this bowl all its power. You can also add some laiu and vinegar, to your liking. Finally, you also get a bowl of rice (never really understood why one would need rice while having already twice the recommended daily portion of carbohydrates, but whatever).

I may be biased in favor of mazemen, but this is so far surely one of the three best ramen-noodles dish I’ve eaten in Osaka. Everything was great. I may have a slight preference for Saitama’s Junk Garage, but on this side of Honshu, this is a winner.

More information on ramendb.

Other review: Friends in ramen, Ramen manager

Dokamori Maccho (Kobe, Chūō-ku)

自家製太麺 ドカ盛 マッチョ三ノ宮店
じかせいふとめん どかもり まっちょ

Jiro ramen (with all toppings): 17 / 20

Eating ramen already too often for my health, I try to avoid jiro ramen, which may be the most unbalanced kind of food on Earth. But I like jiro ramen. So an evening that I was not meeting anyone (a jiro ramen includes a massive amount of garlic…), I indulged myself in a recommended Kobe jiro-ramen restaurant.

You can order there a sad-looking “normal” ramen, or a version with toppings, or “mashi” (more of everything), or “mashi mashi” (a lot more of everything). I had the version with regular toppings, and a default tonkotsu-shoyu broth (but it seems that you can order it with a shio-tonkotsu broth, if I believe some reviews on ramendb).

Broth: It seems to me that there was more soup than in regular jiro ramen. Anyway, it was so fat at the end that you really don’t want to drink it (although I think you can order your ramen with less fat).

Noodles: Some of the best noodles I’ve found in Kansai, fat and firm!

Meat: A few slices of rough meat, as is customary in jiro ramen. Quite enjoyable actually.

Toppings: Lots of crunchy soy sprouts and cabbage. Yummy.

Overall, this was a very nice experience. It’s difficult for me to say how it fares compared to other jiro ramen, but it was really good. Make sure you’re hungry before coming here (and if you’re really hungry, you can order the extra size).

Mazemen: 15 / 20

A few weeks later, I came back to try their mazemen. So: no broth, same excellent noodles, and some thick slices of meat that looked a bit fat but were good. It was also enjoyable, but I preferred the Jiro ramen.

More information on ramendb.

Hachi (Tokyo, Shinjuku-ku) (CLOSED)

麺処 hachi
めんどころ はち

Niboshi ramen: 16 / 20

Hachi serves a niboshi ramen, a shoyu ramen and a tomato ramen that exists in various declinations (including a surprising niboshi tomato ramen). I ordered the niboshi ramen, to end my stay in Tokyo as I had started it at Nagi a few days earlier.

Broth: A powerful niboshi broth (do non-powerful niboshi exist? I start to wonder about that), slightly too salty and fat, but good though.

Noodles: A bit flat and chewy.

Meat: Three very different slices of meat: a relatively lean, firm chashu with a slight herbal/braised taste; a fattier chashu (too fat for me, actually); and a good slice of chicken. Interesting combination.

Toppings: Irregular, long and slightly thick menma with a mild taste, a sheet of nori, and some komatsuna in the broth.

This was a sophisticated bowl. Not perfect, and I would rate it slightly less than Oozaki (and definitely than Nagi), but a strong contender though. Really worth trying.

More information on ramendb.

Other review: Ramen adventures

UPDATE: Too bad, if I believe ramendb, it has now closed. Wish I had tried their tomato-niboshi ramen...

Shunmen Shirohachi (Tokyo, Shinjuku-ku)

旬麺しろ八
しゅんめんしろはち

Shio ramen: 17 / 20

I continued in my shio-ramen hunt. Supleks brought me to this pleasant restaurant with a very large counter.

Broth: A stronger taste than for most shio, with maybe some herbal notes?

Noodles: Paler and with a lighter taste than the usual one.

Meat: A good, thin slice of chashu, very tender, with again some herbal taste.

Egg: Two halves of a wonderful egg - a yummy, powerful yolk, while the white had a very distinctive salty taste. Divine!

Toppings: Quite interesting and unusual toppings: a couple of pieces of daikon, some thin seaweed threads with an interesting taste and consistency, and some green leafs (komatsuna I think, and maybe something else).

So many delicious shio-ramen during this Tokyo-stay! This one is wonderful too. Compared to Hyottoko and Ginzasa, it had the most interesting toppings - and its egg is hands down the winner. The broth was good, but it was maybe slightly tastier in Hyottoko. Finally, the noodles and especially the chashu were better at Ginzasa. Make your own choice.

More information on ramendb.

Mendokoro Ginzasa (Tokyo, Minato-ku)

麺処 銀笹
めんどころ ぎんざさ

Shio ramen (with ajitama): 18 / 20

Caught in a shio-ramen frenzy, I checked ramendb and discovered that the second most highly rated shio ramen in Tokyo was conveniently located close to Shimbashi (actually, it is a bit in the middle of nowwhere, but still only 10 minutes on foot from the station). Here I go, arriving 3 minutes after the opening of the shop at 11:33. The shop is nearly already full! Quite pleasant restaurant, no counter, only 7 or 8 small tables. I order the shio-ramen with the aji-tama. Here it comes, beautifully presented.

Broth: A classical shio broth. Good, although this was not the highlight of the bowl: everything else was.

Noodles: Yellow and firm noodles, which fit well with the soup.

Meat: A wonderful thick, tender slice of chashu, perfectly salty and braised, with melting fat. Oh boy that’s one of the best chashu I ever had! It gave a delicious braised taste to the soup around it.

Egg: Well-cooked aji-tama with a tasty white part; slightly on the hard side, but this is how it needs to be here, as you don’t want the yolk to spill in a shio broth.

Toppings: A couple of gingery shrimp wantons, tender but including crunchy parts, simply delicious. A few menma, very classical. You also get on a side dish some bits of dry nori, garlic and spice to sprinkle at your convenience in the soup.

So overall, the broth may not be stellar, but all the rest is. The combination of chashu and wanton is brilliant; both shine in their own way. You should not miss this ramen. Hyottoko may beat it for the soup, but all the rest (except menma) is far superior at Ginzasa. This is a clear winner.

More information on ramendb.

Ginza Oborozuki (Tokyo, Chiyoda-ku)

銀座 朧月
ぎんざ おぼろづき

Shio-tsukemen (with ajitama): 17 / 20

This restaurant is famous for their tonkotsu gyokai tsukemen, and I had decided to order it - until I noticed that they were advertising a new recipe of shio tsukemen. Having tried the shio-tsukemen at Shiogensui in Osaka recently, I thought it would be a good idea to compare with another shio-tsukemen, this being quite rare.

Broth: Quite liquid, did not attach so much to the noodles, but enjoyable. The most interesting part was adding the wari-soup at the end - it then got a much fishier and herbal taste, a whole new dimension.

Noodles: Chewy and thick, beautifully presented.

Meat: Some tasty parts of melting chashu. Surprisingly, there were also some tako bits; as well as some clams (maybe cockles?), which may have been included in the wari-soup.

Egg: A very good aji-tama with a very liquid yolk.

Toppings: Classical menma, slightly crunchy. A small side-dish with some yuzukosho and spice that you can add to the soup - a great idea, I'm partial to yuzukosho. And finally, the hugest sheet of nori I’ve ever seen on a ramen!

Shio tsukemen is a tricky business: a shio broth is naturally very liquid, so how do you make it stick to the noodles? Shiogensui in Kansai decided to make it fat, and indeed it sticks well, but on the downside it is, well, a bit fat. Ginza oborozuki makes the opposite choice, letting it quite liquid; although it does not stick as well, it was still quite pleasant. And the soup wari really brought a whole new dimension to this bowl, pushing it to a 17/20 rating.

UPDATE: read my test of their (also excellent) tonkotsu gyokai tsukemen

More information on ramendb.

Menya Hyottoko (Tokyo, Chiyoda-ku)

麺屋ひょっとこ
めんやひょっとこ

Yuzu shio-ramen: 15 / 20

This tiny ramen joint is located in the underground of Yurakucho's Tokyo Kotsu Kaikan bldg, and specializes in a clear-broth ramen that you can order with additional yuzu.

Broth: A clear shio broth flavored with yuzu, sprinkled with parsil and other herbs - reminding some kind of european flavor.

Noodles: Very yellow noodles, a bit too soft for my taste.

Meat: A chashu with both firm and tender parts, including some melting fat, excellent.

Egg: Half of an OK egg.

Toppings: A few fibrous, soft and very thick menma with a mild but pleasant taste.

This was an unequal ramen, mainly interesting for the yuzu taste and the chashu. This was a pleasant experience though, and the kind of ramen that won’t damage too much your health. The location is quite unremarkable, although it is conveniently located close to Yurakucho station. Like AFURI or other light-ramen shops, this restaurant has a higher concentration of female patrons (here, on the elderly side).

More information on ramendb.

Other review: Tokyo belly

Oozeki (Tokyo, Shibuya-ku)

おおぜき中華そば店
おおぜきちゅうかそばてん

Niboshi ramen: 17 / 20

Six hours after I had my niboshi-ramen breakfast at Nagi, it was time to move to some more ramen discoveries. I had to be in Ebisu later in the evening, and I remembered that there was a very highly rated ramen restaurant there on my to-do list. Imagine my delight when I realized that it ALSO specialized in niboshi ramen. A treat for a food-comparison lover like me! Here I enter the restaurant, and order the niboshi ramen.

Broth: If Nagi gives you a punch, then this one smashes you in the face. One sip of the broth, and I felt like an army of baby sardines was jumping in my mouth to eat me alive from inside (which would be a fair punishment indeed for my carnivorism). Very impressive, although maybe a bit too much for me. The broth was also a bit fatter, and maybe saltier than Nagi’s.

Noodles: Some thin and firm, good noodles.

Meat: That was really the highlight of this restaurant for me, with two different-looking slices of chashu (at least I presume it was chashu): a softer, lighter colored one, and a firmer, darker one. Both were braised in front of me while the ramen was getting ready. The lighter one has a strong braised taste, whereas I would say that the darker one was more on the herby side. Both were excellent, with my preference going to the darker. A great experience for sure.

Toppings: Some very mellow menma, slightly on the sweet side. A sheet of nori.

With enough salt in my blood to compete in the world championship of hypertension, it is now time to count points. Oozaki was a great ramen for sure; but how great compared to Nagi? Nagi had definitely better noodles, and I also preferred the soup - Oozaki’s broth was a bit more pungent, fat and agressive. Nagi’s negi was more delicate, and the nori fitted better with the broth for some reasons. However, Oozaki had definitely a better chashu. Overall, the balance still goes to Nagi for me, also taking into account its great location and atmosphere (although Oozaki is located just next to the famous, tiny Ebisu shrine - go there to offer a coin to the fisherman god). But that’s a small edge, and I can easily imagine that some people would judge the opposite. If you like niboshi, you have to try both.

More information on ramendb.

Nagi (Tokyo, Shinjuku-ku)

ラーメン凪 煮干王 (新宿ゴールデン街店)
らーめんなぎ にぼしおう
Ramen Nagi Niboshou (Shinjuku Golden Gai ten)

Special niboshi ramen: 18 / 20

Back to Tokyo for a few days! I took the night bus and arrived in Shinjuku at 6:15 in the morning. Obviously, that was a perfect time for a ramen-breakfast - the perfect occasion to finally try Nagi's, a mythical 24-hours open joint, in the fantastic area of Golden Gai. This restaurant is famous for being always full, and indeed when I arrived there, there was a small queue (yes, on a Friday at 6:40 in the morning). A steep stair leads you to a machine offering four choices: ramen, tsukemen, special ramen and special tsukemen (you can choose either 200g or 300g noodles, for the same price). I chose the special ramen and sat in the tiny-and-so-atmospheric restaurant, among tired clubbers (on a Friday morning, really?) and other sleazy night owls.

Broth: Nagi is famous for its intense niboshi-broth, and intense it is! If you don’t like niboshi, don’t even think of entering here. The fishiness will stick in your mouth for quite a time after you left the shop. A delicious fishiness, I must say - with maybe some roastiness? Definitely unique.

Noodles: Thick, curly, very pleasant noodles. Surprisingly, there were also a few flat noodles on the bottom on the soup, more on the soft side; not as deflightful as the curly ones, but they provided an interesting contrast and final note.

Meat: A couple of slices of hard-to-chew but savory pork. Definitely woke me up.

Egg: Slightly on the hard side, but high-quality.

Toppings: Some salty-and-slightly-sweet, classical menma. A few sheets of nori, which fit extremely well with the fishiness of the soup. A few green vegetables, just so that you can say you've taken care of your health.

The combination is beautiful. This ramen has punch - a bit dozy from the night in the bus, it kicked me back to reality. This it is the kind of broth you can easily feel in love with, like deep black shoyu, or, to take a more classical example, tonkotsu. The atmospheric, casual and friendly mood - and the unique Golden Gai area - adds of course to the charm. Do not miss this place.

More information on ramendb.

Other reviews: Ramen adventures, Time out, Umamimart

Takayasu (Kyoto, Sakyō-ku)

高安
たかやす

Suji ramen: 17 / 20

This elegant (and very popular, expect to queue) restaurant is located in the Ichijoji area, Kyoto’s ramen holy land - a bit far up north, but worth the trip for any true ramen-lover. I had tried four years ago their regular chuka-soba, but it didn’t gave me any lasting impression (I’m not so much into Kyoto-style kotteri ramen). So four years later, I tried their suji ramen.

Broth: A very good tonkotsu / torigara (pork / chicken bones) broth in which the tonkotsu predominates, sprinkled with sesame seeds. The end result was not too kotteri. Too fat and salty to finish it, though.

Noodles: Very Kyoto-style: not so thin, and not so firm. They were OK though, despite my devotion to barikata (or at least katame) noodles.

Meat: Many tasty suji (tendons) pieces in the broth.

Toppings: Some tender and fibrous good menma. Some round negi. You can also help yourself of some tasty spicy leaf vegetables on the table.

I guess I would have appreciated this ramen even more if I hadn’t eaten a tsukemen at Sugari 3 hours earlier, both because Sugari is one of the most fantastic ramen restaurants in Japan, and because I was quite full after it. But I don’t go to Kyoto every day, so I had to make the most of my trip there! Anyway, this was a very good ramen. The place is also quite atmospheric, with its hip neo-70s interior design and its counter running along the walls. Very much recommended. I should come back to try again their regular chuka soba and check whether it has the same broth, in which case I can conclude that my taste has evolved in four years.

More information on ramendb.

Other review: Ramen adventures

Sugari (Kyoto, Nakagyō-ku)

和醸良麺 すがり
わじょうりょうめん すがり

19/20

Tucked in a small alley with no obvious sign, this ramen restaurant is difficult to find. You should persist, though, as this is the best ramen restaurant in the old capital I’ve tried so far (and I've lived one year there). They serve ramen and tsukemen, that you can both order with motsu. I ordered the motsu tsukemen with yuzu noodles (they have another variety of noodles too, not sure what it was).

Broth: A good tonkotsu gyokai broth; a bit on the liquid side, but it sticked enough to the noodles.

Noodles: Excellent home-made, firm yuzu noodles.

Meat: The motsu bits in the broth were just the best I have ever eaten. Juicy and grilled, they will explode in your mouth in a firework of sensations that will leave memories on your tastebuds long time after you’ve left the restaurant.

Egg: That was, to some extent, the let-down of this otherwise awesome bowl. The ajitama was good, but slightly overcooked.

Toppings: Some soft tasty cabbage in the soup, which was obviously cooked longer than the usual crunchy japanese cabbage; it was more the kind of cabbage you would find in a French countryside-ish soup. A piece of large white negi, delicately flavored, slightly sweet; two small pieces of firmer, green negi, with the same delicious flavor. And some thin, delicate, more classical negi, mixed with red chili threads.

This ramen restaurant is not only the best one I’ve tried in Kyoto, it is also the most beautiful: a long counter in a beautifully decorated machiya, a mix of modernity and tradition, an atmosphere halfway between the contemporary lounge and the classical, exclusive Kyoto restaurant. This place is awesome. If you like motsu, it would be a crime to miss it; same if you like yuzu (I love both). With a better egg, I would have rated this place 20/20. Don’t lose a second, if you’re in Kansai, run there NOW. You don’t know what tomorrow will be made of.

More information on ramendb.

Other review: Ramen adventures

Shiogensui (Hyogo, Amagasaki-shi)

尼崎 塩元帥
あまがさき しおげんすい

Shio tsukemen: 17 / 20

This ramen restaurant, located along a road in a relatively isolated area, figures among the best rated in Hyogo. It looked accessible from the Hankyu station - and it certainly is, if you don’t mind walking 20 minutes in an unremarkable area. The reward: the opportunity to eat a rare shio-tsukemen (they also serve a recommended shio ramen, as well as some other flavors: shoyu, etc.). I had only tried one shio tsukemen, the famous Hirugao in Tokyo station, and it was already 4 years ago. I needed to try this.

Broth: A salty and fat broth, that will spread over the noodles and give them a tasty, oily coating. Quite good, and flavored with yuzu. You can also finish it with some soup-wari - a bit too salty and fat, maybe, but still good.

Noodles: Very mochi mochi, quite good, and generously served.

Meat: A few cubes of awesome chashu, one of the best I have eaten so far in Kansai.

Egg: A good ajitama, very well cooked, although on the hard side.

Toppings: A few thin menma stripes and negi, as well as some red chili threads in the broth.

Overall, a very recommended restaurant. As I was writing this post and wondering if this restaurant is really worth going so far out of the way, I realized that they had another shop in Minamikata, much closer to central Osaka! But if you are driving between Kobe and Osaka, this Hyogo shop may be accessible. In any case, I recommend this chain, this is a rare opportunity to try a shio-tsukemen - and a very good one actually.

More information on ramendb.

Other reviews: Friends in ramen, Japan times 

Mokkosu (Kobe, Chūō-ku)

もっこす

Chuka soba : 8 / 20

This very local restaurant serves a simple ramen to seemingly regular customers. It had just a few recommendations on ramendb, but only good ones, so I was curious to try it. I ordered the chuka soba.

Broth: Quite bland, not even sure what it was made from.

Noodles: Thin straight noodles, nothing special.

Meat: 6 or 7 slices of tasteless chashu. I left half of it.

Toppings: Some moyashi and lots of negi.

There were quite a few condiments on the side, so you can give your best to try to change this tasteless soup into something more interesting. I half succeeded, but was still disappointed by the result. Ramen hunting brings its lot of good surprises, as well as some bad ones. Although its working-class and casual atmosphere is quite pleasant, I really cannot recommend this place; I’m quite puzzled that it go so positive reviews. The only positive thing I can say about this bowl is that it enabled me to enjoy better other ramen, by contrast.

More information on ramendb.

Another (more enthusiastic) review: Go Ramen

Kitanozaka Oku (Kobe, Chūō-ku)

北野坂 奥
きたのざか おく

Motsu tsukemen (with ajitama): 16 / 20

The stairs going down to the basement corridor leading to this restaurant may not be very welcoming, but you should really overcome this first impression. You will soon enter into a very spacious and pleasant, high-ceiling, kind of New York-loft-style restaurant serving ramen and tsukemen, that you can order with offal (motsu / もつ). I had the motsu tsukemen with an egg (aji-tama), and my friend the motsu ramen.

Broth: A good (if a bit thin) tonkotsu gyokai broth.

Noodles: Home-made noodles with a delicate taste, lacking a bit of a chew though.

Meat: The motsu bites are really the highlight of this restaurant. Grilled and mouth-melting, they are simply excellent! (at least, if you’re as much into motsu as I am)

Egg: The egg was very well cooked, though not totally homogeneously - but overall, the yellow was gooey in a yummy way. The white part had a strong shoyu taste.

Topping: Thick menma with a classical menma taste. Some white negi.

You can help yourself with red chili, sanchou and black pepper - I think that the latter fits the best with the motsu bites. This is one of my best ramen-experience in Kobe, I definitely recommend it (but look at my review of Sugari in Kyoto for an even better Kansai motsu experience).

I also tasted my friend’s ramen. The fishy taste was quite strong for a ramen, and the noodles a bit softer. It was quite creamy. I also recommend it, although the tsukemen may have my preference.


UPDATE (August, 17th): I came back and tried their spicy ramen.

Karai ramen (I don't remember the exact name): 12 / 20

The broth was here much less pleasant, with nothing much more than spicyness and a somewhat undefinable taste. The noodles were definitely too soft. Chashu was thick and very tender, a nice surprise. The egg was definitely overcooked that time. The thick, salty menmas were pleasant. I strongly recommend sticking with their tsukemen (with motsu, if you like it).

More information on ramendb.
Other review: Go ramen

Makotoya (Osaka, Kita-ku)

ラーメン まこと屋 福島店
らーめん まことや

Tomato ramen: 14 / 20

This ramen chain features mainly a beef ramen, but also prepares a tomato ramen. I had bad experiences in the past with tomato ramen, but this one was recommended, so I gave it a chance. That was a good idea.

Broth: A hot, spicy (very peppery!) and thick tomato broth, with bits of coagulated egg. Quite good.

Noodles: Katame as I ordered, and just fine, but they did not strike me as being especially high quality.

Toppings: Some cabbage, negi, thin crunchy menmas, and unidentified green leaves.

This was a good ramen, the best tomato ramen of my 3-4 experiences. Most tomato ramen I tried tasted like bland western tomato soup, but this one is really a nice japanese twist on the recipe. I’ll have to come back to try their beef ramen.

More information on ramendb.

Mannen (Osaka-shi, Chūō-ku)

まんねん
Rating: 14/20

This ramen restaurant is easily recognizable by its 'happy pig' sign:

Which pig would not be happy to be eaten indeed?
I chose the toroniku ramen (とろ肉ラーメン), which seemed to feature some high quality meat (I’m picky about the quality of the meat - what’s the point of eating meat if it’s not excellent?).

Broth: A classical tonkotsu broth. Not bad, but not stellar.

Noodles: Thin noodles, mine were too soft - I should have ordered them katame.

Meat: There were many (too many!) thick pieces of meat with large cartilaginous part. I love cartilage, and I thought it was quite good. But really, that was too much.

Egg: Half an egg is included in this ramen, really nothing special.

Toppings: Very homogeneous menma (I could not feel the usual fibrous texture of menma), with a quite mild taste. Some white negi beautifully presented on top, with a little bit of spicy red sauce - interesting and tasty mix. Some green negi in the broth.

The strong asset of this bowl was really the meat - if you like collagen, you will like this. The rest was reasonably good, but not so special.

More information on ramendb
(here again, this is a chain, so you can find quite a few other restaurants in town)

Other reviews: Friends in ramen 1, Friends in ramen 2

Kinguemon (Osaka, Kita-ku)

金久右衛門梅田店
きんぐえもん

Rating: 17 / 20

This award-winning ramen chain specializes in “black ramen”, a deeply colored shoyu ramen, which I ordered with thick noodles, the shop’s recommendation.

Broth: An intense, inspiring taste of shoyu. I am generally not a big fan of shoyu ramen, but this broth is one of the best shoyu I've ever tasted.

Noodles: Good katame linguine-shaped noodles.

Meat: One thick slice of excellent chashu, with just what it should have of mouth-melting fat. One of the best chashu you will find around!

Egg: The egg is good, but has a quite mild taste, and is cooked a bit irregulaly: some parts of the yellow are perfectly gooey, whereas other parts are overcooked.

Toppings: Some negi, and two crunchy, thick menma. You can also crush some fresh garlic in the soup; although it does not blend as well as in e.g. a tonkotsu ramen, it is not bad.

Overall, this was a very good ramen, and surely the best shoyu ramen I’ve eaten in Osaka so far. In my memory, it was better than Kyoto station's Toyama black, although I should try both of them on the same day sometimes to be sure. Definitely recommended.

More information on ramendb
(this is a chain, so you can find quite a few other Kinguemon restaurants in Kansai)

Other reviews: Friends in ramen, Ramen adventures, Sukimatime

Glossary links

For a definition of ramen-related terms, look at ramenramenramen's, ramentokyo's or friendsinramen's excellent glossaries, or at this quite good article.

Contact

‘Shigemi’ is a pseudonym, a hommage to a famous ramen-master (not too difficult to find out who) – I’m not japanese, and my nihon-go abilities are actually quite low.
Also, I am not an English native speaker, so please forgive my language mistakes. Suggestions of corrections are much welcome.

You can contact me at: philoramen@gmail.com

Rating system

I rate each ramen I ate on a scale from 1 to 20. This is a purely subjective scale, the rating being a measurement of how much I enjoyed the ramen. Thus, the usual disclaimer applies – do not consider it as any kind of objective rating.

A more stable rating system could be from 1 to 5; you can easily convert:

From 17/20 to 20/20 → 5/5: Loved it

From 13/20 to 16/20 → 4/5: Liked it

From 9/20 to 12/20 → 3/5: Neither liked it nor disliked it

From 5/20 to 8/20 → 2/5: Disliked it

From 1/20 to 4/20 → 1/5: Hated it

Originally, I started rating bowls on this 5-points scale, but found out that it was not fine enough to distinguish my enjoyment of different bowls; thus, I turned to the 20-points scale. However, such a scale is less stable in time and more sensitive to external circumstances, so I may very well end up giving different ratings to the same ramen on different occasions. This is not a problem: my subjective appreciation of a ramen can very well evolve, and as I said, the rating does not measure anything but my subjective appreciation.

Ramen is not the healthiest food on earth, so I try to pre-select the ones that I have a good chance to enjoy. Therefore, I mainly go to restaurants that are somehow recommended, and the sample of ramen you will find here is skewed to the upper quality; but there are plenty of bowls out there that I would rate lower than 10/20. Make sure to stay clear of them.

Finally, like everyone, I have my preferences. I love assari* (thin) tonkotsu broth and tantanmen, I enjoy very much gyokai tonkotsu tsukemen and niboshi ramen, I always welcome high-quality shio and miso ramen, but I’m rarely enthusiastic about classical shoyu ramen or kotteri (thick) chicken-based broths (a shame for someone who discovered ramen in Kyoto, where this is a local specialty, but so it is). Also, despite not having eaten so many mazemen and jiro ramen, I loved all the ones I tried. Finally, I strongly prefered firm (katame or barikata) noodles to soft ones. My ratings are likely to reflect these preferences, so keep that in mind when you’re reading my blog.

* for a definition of ramen-related terms, follow one of the links of the glossary section.

One sip and fifty-five bowls

One sip… That’s what took me to fall in love with ramen in Kyoto, four years ago. One sip of Ippudo’s tonkotsu broth. As soon as the velvety soup hit my tongue, I knew I had discovered something important, a new world full of surprise and satisfaction, a quest to fulfill. I then started exploring the ramen galaxy at a lazy pace, two or three bowls a week, without much structure, trying the ramen restaurants I would find on my way – although I did of course make a couple of pilgrimages to Kyoto station’s ramen street and Ichijoji, Kyoto's ramen mecca. My experience of the Tokyo scene remained limited to a few mythical bowls like Suzuran, Tetsu or Tomita, which were another eye-opening experience.

Then I left Japan for a few years, and came back six months ago, in Osaka. This time, I took on my quest with a bit more structure, using extensively supleks’ ramendb app on smartphone to find the best ramen shops around. But it is only when staying in Tokyo for my work that my love for ramen reached a new dimension, slurping down 55 bowls there, hunting the most recommended ones on English-speaking blogs – special thanks to the fantastic Ramen Adventures! – in the quest for the best bowls around the capital city. Ikaruga, Rokurinsha, Yakumo, Gogyou, Warito, Kikenbou, Soranoiro, Kagari, Hanamichi, Daiki, Fuunji, Kururi, Tsuta, Ushio, Bassanova, and so many others – even pushing up to Saitama and Hachioji to try Junk Garage and En… At last, I had the opportunity to try all these mythical ramen.

And when back to Osaka, I realized that the international blogging scene on Kansai ramen is quite restricted compared to Tokyo’s – mainly limited to the excellent Friends In Ramen, and a few recommendations from otherwise Tokyo-based blogs. Although I'm not a culinary expert by any means and I don’t plan to invest much time in this blog (I have a quite demanding job, a job that happens to be my passion), and even if my ramen consumption has now came back to more moderate levels (fortunately for my health), I thought I could provide a few alternative insights on ramen in Kansai - or elsewhere.

So here is my blog. On this special day, I dedicate it to my sister, hoping it will enable her to vicariously enjoy all these ramen. Bon appétit !