Kuso Oyaji Saigo no Hitofuri (Osaka-shi, Yodogawa-ku)

くそオヤジ最後のひとふり
くそおやじさいごのひとふり
Kuso Oyaji Saigo no Hitofuri

Asari ramen: 18 / 20

Contemporary artworks and rows of Corona beers in a Swiss-chalet-looking restaurant... an oshiburi brought to you as you arrive... this ramen restaurant is different, as should be clear from its name ("the last crappy old man"??). To be convinced, just look at the menu, which offers three kinds of clam ramen: asari ('littleneck clams' - not to be confused with 'assari', which means 'thin'), a thinner-taste shijimi ('freshwater clam') and a hamaguri ('common orient clam'). I chose the former.

Broth: This first spoon was a ramen-experience like I did not have had so many times in my life – one of the most prominently examples was five years ago at Ippudo, the very first sip that made me fall in love with ramen, or Nagi, which triggered my love for niboshi. Wow! Such an intense shoyu, with sweet notes and a deep umaminess from the clams that will sweep you away. The art here is not only on the wall, it is first and foremost in your bowl.

Noodles: Whole grain, a bit firm but not too much, just perfect.

Meat: Two large but thin slices of smoky chashu, quite intense in taste and with the right amount of fat – an excellent fit with the broth.

Toppings: To change from menma, an intense and sweet takenoko – gosh, that might be the best bamboo I ever had in a ramen! Some clams: they were good and a nice change, but after a while, I got a bit tired of them, especially because of the sand to be found in some of them. Maybe the only fault in this otherwise perfect bowl.

Frankly speaking, this shoyu ramen is close to perfection, and instantatly joined my personal pantheon of ramen next to places like Fuunji, Takakura Nijo, Nagi or Kirari. Even if you usually do not like shoyu ramen, you have to try this bowl. Clam-based soup might be my new love after niboshi.

More info on ramendb.

Ennosuke Shoten (Osaka-shi, Yodogawa-ku)

縁乃助商店
えんのすけしょうてん
Ennosuke Shouten

Soup-nashi Midorichan: 15 / 20
(汁なし みどりちゃん)

Awaji - such a convenient place to go! And such a depressing one too… I would have loved to live there for convenience, as it is perfectly placed on the Hankyu line between Osaka University Suita campus, Umeda, Tenroku, and on the way to Kyoto. But no, it is really much too quiet for me. Anyway, that shouldn’t be a reason not to try the local ramen.

Ennosuke Shouten specialize in a kotteri torigara ramen, but I was not so much in the mood for heavy soup, so I continued my recent soupless investigations and ordered the mazemen. Here it comes, beautifully covered by green negi.

Sauce: Both salty and sweetish, and with a strong, delicious katsuo aroma. Excellent.

Noodles: Just firm enough, they shouldn’t be more thoroughly cooked though.

Meat: Interestingly, there was some chicken minced meat with nankatsu for the crunchy touch. Why not...

Toppings: A lots of green negi as you can see, but very mild in taste. A raw egg, of course. And some bean sprouts.

Side-dish: You can help yourself with what looked like kimchi but happened to be good, spicy daikon.

Although I like nanktasu in itself, I was not really convinced by its use in mazemen. The whole thing was really good, but not as excellent as Marusho or Jikon. Anyway, you will certainly pass by Awaji some time when using the Hankyu line if you live in Kansai, so you should use the opportunity to discover this restaurant.

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Bakkoshi (Osaka-shi, Yodogawa-ku)

ばっこ志
ばっこし
Bakkoshi

Kokuyu ramen: 16 / 20
(黒油ら～めん)

Surprisingly for someone who lost his ramen-virginity at Ippudo (if one forgets a couple of poor, former canteen ramen experiences before - but you know, those are the ones that don't count), I have not reviewed so many tonkotsu ramen on this blog. One of the reasons is that my consumption of ramen being relatively high, I often turn my choice towards lighter and less unhealthy ones. But after my excellent experience at Amanojaku, I had to explore a bit more the tonkotsu landscape in Kansai. This brought me to this ramen shop just next to Juso station, in which you can order the regular tonkotsu ramen as it is, or in a ‘black’ version. That’s the one I chose.

Broth: You know the mayu, this black roasted garlic sauce that is sometimes sprinkled onto tonkotsu broth – most famously, at Ippudo? Well, they go here well over the top with that black wonder, fully covering the bowl with it. The whole thing is surprisingly sweet and pleasantly smooth. The mayu is a bit too fat to my taste though - especially towards the end, when so much of it remains that it becomes quite undrinkable. Interesting mix of strength and softness.

Noodles: Thin and straight: those are Kyushu noodles, no doubt about it. They could be a little bit more katame though.

Meat: Two thin slices of chashu. The first one was perfect, with just enough of melting fat, but the second was way too fat.

Toppings: Some kikurage, negi, and a sheet of nori – which, I think, does not fit that well with tonkotsu broth. There are also a few dried garlic flakes

This bowl was very good, but lacked a little bit of calibration – with a less fat chashu and mayu, it could climb to 17 or even 18.

Other reviews at ramendb.

Shiogensui (Osaka-shi, Yodogawa-ku)

本店 塩元帥
ほんてん しおげんすい
Honten Shiogensui

Shio ramen: 16 / 20
(天然塩ラーメ)

Negi shio ramen: 15 / 20
(ねぎ塩ラーメン)

Plum shio ramen: 17 / 20
(梅塩ラーメン)

For the last day of my mother’s and sister’s visit in Osaka, I wanted to make them discover what is generally known as one of the best shio ramen in the area, Shiogensui. I had been to the Amagasaki branch a few months ago to try their shio tsukemen and had found it very convincing. Now it was time for some serious ramen comparison at their Minamikata branch. My mother ordered the regular shio ramen with ajitama, my sister the negi shio ramen with ajitama, and I ordered the plum shio ramen. Let’s review all of them together.

 

Broth: Shio ramen rarely have a very strong taste, but this one was intense enough – with some dried onions, as well as a little bit of yuzu (too little in my broth, IMO). The negi broth had a distinctive negi taste, and the plum one was infused by the umeboshi, which gave to it a delightful sourness. It is impressive how the taste could change with just one item more. The plum broth had my preference, but that might be a matter of personal taste.

Noodles: Thicker than most shio ramen’s noodles, with a very good texture, they don’t get soft too fast.

Egg: Excellent, slightly on the hard side - but that’s what you need in a shio ramen.

Meat: An excellent slice of chasu, very soft, with some melting fat.

Toppings: Some thin menma, mild and sweet. The plum in my broth had a very strong, salty taste and seemed to be of a quite high quality.

This is definitely one of the great shio ramen you will find around – on a par with Mendokoro Ginzasa or Shunmen Shirohachi in Tokyo. Do not miss it. Difficult also not to compare with Ganko in Osaka, as you can get a few twists in each (shrimp or dry onion in Ganko, plum or fresh onion in Shiogensui) - but I prefered the noodles, and especially the meat here at Shiogensui; overall, I found it more perfectly crafted. Note that they also have a branch next to Kyoto station, and another one close to Kansai airport (alas, not at the airport itself but in Izumisano).

More info on ramendb.

Other reviews: Friends in Ramen, The Japan Times, Philoramen (for the shio tsukemen)

Tokiya (Osaka, Yodogawa-ku)

Pork tsukemen: 16 / 20
豚つけ

Tokiya is a respected ramen joint next to Minamikata, with a pleasant restaurant-like atmosphere. I arrived there at 14:20 on a Saturday and there were still two people queuing in front of me, so I guess it is better to avoid the rush hours. They specialize in two kinds of tsukemen: pork and chicken. I ordered the pork one, with the ajitama.

Broth: A very thick and rich tonkotsu gyokai broth, which coats wonderfully the noodles.

Noodles: Delicate, but lack a bit of a chew - very similar texture to the one you can find at Kitanozaka Oku.

Meat: Some dice of relatively unremarkable meat in the broth - they don’t bring anything to the whole dish IMHO.

Egg: A quite hard boiled ajitama. To my taste, it was overcooked, but despite this it was quite interesting to dip in the broth (something that you cannot usually do with a too soft ajitama).

Toppings: A few thin, sweet menma with a curious taste - difficult to characterize, but definitely different from the usual menma.

Bonus: You can ask for free at the end a small bowl of rice in dashi, with some ume sauce, to finish your soup (but you can also ask for a soup-wari if you prefer, which wholly transforms the thick broth).

This is a contrasted bowl, with an exceptional broth (to which it owes its high rating here), slightly disappointing noodles and relatively unremarkable meat and egg. The rice at the end was an interesting experience.

More information on ramendb.

Other review: Friends in ramen