Tanron / Wakamatsu (Hyogo-ken, Nishinomiya-shi)

ラーメン たんろん
らーめん たんろん
Ramen Tanron

麺処若松
めんどころわかまつ
Mendokoro Wakamatsu

Noko toritonkotsu niboshi ramen: 15 / 20

Every Sunday (if I understood correctly), Nishinomiya's ramen-star Tanron becomes Mendokoro Wakamatsu and changes its menu to only once choice: a noko toritonkotsu niboshi (thick chicken-pork-sardine ramen). I was quite glad to see that there were only six people queuing when I arrived there; twenty minutes of waiting under a leaking roof later, I was seating in front of my bowl.

Broth: A thick broth that was neither too fat, nor too salty, and covered well the noodles. Curiously, it seemed to have retained only the pungency of the niboshi, but not the rest of the characteristic taste;  quite an addictive pugency, I must say. An interesting mix for sure.

Noodles: Square, mochi mochi, eggy, delicious noodles. I ordered the nami (regular) size - a good idea, as it was already quite copious.

Meat: A thin, large cold slice of chashu, fat and average. The bowl would be better without it.

Toppings: A few menma, sweet'n salty, with the classical menma taste; some were crunchy and some not so much.

Wari soup: You can order either tori paitan (thick chicken) or gyokai (fish) broth. I ordered the latest, and got some pungent dashi, that again did not really taste like niboshi. It was not enough though and the soup remained too thick too drink though (but you can certainly order more if you want to).

An original and good soup, a bit spoiled by the very average meat, but definitely recommended. As I left at 12:20, there was no queue anymore: Sunday seems to be a good day to go to Tanron, if you don't mind having it changed to Wakamatsu.

More info on ramendb: Tanron, Wakamatsu

Hoi (Osaka-fu, Toyonaka-shi)

麺屋 ほぃ
めんや ほぃ
Menya Hoi

Shoyu tori paitan: 17 / 20
(鶏白湯しょうゆらーめん)

Shio tori paitan: 16 / 20
(鶏塩白湯らーめん)

On this Tuesday evening, I met Ben to continue our Ra-Sai. This led us this time to Toyonaka at Hotarugaike station, an area I know well for having lived nearby during one year, and famous in the ramen world for the miso-ramen star Mitsukabozu. I had never noticed Hoi before though, and the ramen festival was the perfect occasion to fix this mistake. Hoi specialize in a tori paitan that they prepare in a shoyu version (that Ben ordered), and a shio one (that I took). Let’s compare.

Broth: My broth was very good, but Ben’s one was just excellent, as it had some additional fishy (niboshi and katsuo) essence in the tare – I did not recognize the niboshi, but it gave a delicious smokey twist.

Noodles: Thin and not too hard, this enhanced the general Kyoto-ramen feel of the bowl (although they were not as soft as Kyoto noodles).

Meat: OK, here those bowls go way over the top, with three meaty toppings. First, a delicious slice of peppery, smoked duck (with a thick layer of fat, in a French "magret" style). Second, a meatball with very pleasant gingery notes. Third, a nearly raw slice of chicken breast. I must say that I was less convinced by the last one (and it’s not because it was half raw - I loved chicken tataki at Junk Story, for example), although it was an interesting experience.

Toppings: My bowl had some smoked saba with aosa nori - was it a dream or did it somehow taste like parmesan? You also get some mizuna leaves for a fresh twist, and some pleasant notes of crunchy white onion. Finally, there are some very small hanakatsuobushi on the noodles, barely seeable.

In conclusion, an excellent ramen - but I recommend ordering the shoyu version.

More info on ramendb.

bird (Osaka-shi, Kita-ku)

bird
ばーど
Bird

Assari ramen: 15 / 20

Kotteri ramen: 16 / 20

Brian from Ramen Adventures was around in Osaka this week-end, so we decided to go for some ramen together. He suggested to go to bird, a curious shop close to Higashi-Umeda that I instantly became eager to try, as they use a very special ingredient: cotton candy! Clearly, we had to try this oddity. I ordered the assari ramen, and Brian the kotteri ramen. While they were getting ready, we could discover this ovni ramen-kitchen: a cotton candy machine; some fish drying on clothespins; the soup taken out of the freezer to be cut into large pieces before being heated. Clearly, this restaurant does nothing like others! But here come our UFO-designed bowls, which we frantically shot with our cameras, as the cotton candy was melting at high speed!

Both: This smooth shoyu broth was the assari one, but it was quite thick for an assari – the chicken broth provided some significant texture. At the place where the cotton candy had melted, the broth got a significant sweetness (which Brian accidentally stole away from me – warned you, man!). Good, but nothing exceptional. Brian’s broth was thicker and more peppery – I preferred it actually.

Noodles: You know, when noodles have this very strong egg taste? Well here they were quite the opposite, as if something had been removed to them, but I’m not sure what. They were quite thick and firm, though.

Meat: Some crumbly chashu, a bit like lard, with some melting fat intersped – the kind of chashu I love!

Egg: A very liquid, kind of cold ontama, that IMHO did not bring anything to the bowl. I don’t recommend ordering it.

Difficult to rate this bowl: average noodles, great meat, pleasant broth, insignificant egg and extreme originality of the cotton candy. It’s definitely worth going there if you like discovering ramen curiosities – but I recommend ordering the thick version, without egg. The tsukemen also looked like coming from another world, could be interesting to try it some day.

More info on ramendb.

Other reviews: Ramen Adventures, Friends in Ramen

Kagari (Tokyo-to, Chūō-ku)

銀座 篝
ぎんざ かがり
Ginza Kagari

Niboshi shoyu: 18 / 20 
(煮干醤油SOBA)

Tori paitan: 17 / 20
(鶏白湯SOBA)

Kagari… this names sounds like a beginning for me. During my Tokyo stay, nearly one year ago, when I decided to start going to the most mythical ramen of the capital city, Kagari was the first ‘big name’ I tried - and like everyone, I had been impressed by their refined tori paitan. They also serve a niboshi shoyu ramen (also available as a tsukemen) that has been regularly praised, so it was now time to try it.

Broth: No doubt, the niboshi is there, but relatively light compared to some niboshi-bombs like Nagi or Ozeki; the broth gets however more and more of the delicious niboshi-pungency as you finish it.

Noodles: A bit soft.

Meat: A good, slightly sweet, light chashu; and also a slice of red and firm roastbeef, an interesting change.

Toppings: A slice of crunchy lotus. A few bamboo shoots, fresh and slightly acid, a very nice change from the usual menma. As usual, the nori fits extremely well with the niboshi – niboshi is definitely the best broth for nori in my opinion!

A refined, subtle and beautifully crafted bowl. How does the tori paitan fare in comparison?

The broth had a wonderful smoothness and tasted a bit like a high quality mushroom soup, that you can spike with ginger and dry onions. You get a few delicate chicken slices, firm and melting, sprinkled which yuzu zest. The bamboo shoots (fresh, not menma) were good and beautiful. Noodles were a bit soft for my taste here too, although such a cooking style fits better with a tori paitan than with a niboshi broth.

It's a kind of intense experience to altenate one spoon of each broth: extreme smoothness followed by pungent punch, that’s what you call a contrast! Contrarily to many people who blogged on this, my heart lies more on the punchy side and I would elect the niboshi as the real star here, but you should try both by yourself to decide.

Oh and we also ordered the grilled rice ball of rice with mentaiko consomme and fuki miso - not bad, but not a must.

More info on ramendb.

Other reviews: Japan Times, Ramen Adventures, Ramen is love, Tokyo Pig out, Dining without borders, Japan Page, Kylie eats Japan, Go Ramen. 

Mengenso (Osaka-shi, Kita-ku)

麺元素
めんげんそ
Mengenso

Shio ramen: 17 / 20
(魚元素ラーメン, 塩)

Tori paitan with spicy miso : 17 / 20
(鶏元素ラーメン, 辛みそ付き)

Naka naka ramen: 17 / 20
(中々)

Naka naka ramen with ontama and seaweed: 17 / 20

Being talked to in a (good!) English by a friendly waiter when approaching a ramen restaurant is a rare experience - so when this restaurant happens to be one of the best in the area, that’s definitely something not to be missed for the non-Japanese speaker. Accompanied by my family, we sat at one of the two tables at the back of the room. We had the shio ramen, a tori paitan with a side spoon of spicy miso, and two bowls of their signature dish, the naka naka, a mix of shio and tori paitan (we ordered one of them with some added nori, and an onsen tamago replacing the regular half ajitama). But the diversity of their dishes does not stop there, they also have a shoyu tuskemen and a shoyu ramen! Let’s start with the shio:

Broth: Where most shio are too light in taste, this one has a very intense and delicious stock taste. Press the sudachi in your broth after you’ve eaten half of it to give some pleasant citrus-twist.

Noodles: Well cooked, neither firm nor soft, just a perfect middle point.

Meat: To some extent, the letdown of this otherwise perfectly crafted bowl: two slices of lean, firm pork with some taste of brine - not bad, but not remarkable either.

Egg: Half of a perfect slightly sweet ajitama: a white part strong in taste, and a firm-but-gooey yolk that is exactly what you need for a shio broth.

Toppings: The nori gave a very pleasant marine twist. You get a generous amount of sweetish menma, which had the classical mix of texture - crunchy under the teeth, and soft inside - brought to the point of perfection! A few small shrimps, chili stripes and negi.

What a delight! When finishing my bowl, the concentration of spices with the sweet menma formed an absolutely delectable mix. If you like shio ramen, you HAVE to try it, you won’t find much better broth around (although it's kind of a tie with Shiogensui - review to come!), and everything but the meat is just perfect.

Let me now say a few words about the other dishes, which have nothing to envy to this one.

The tori paitan has a shoyu tare and was obviously thicker, but not too much compared to your regular tori paitan - it was more creamy than thick. The chicken taste was not so present, but there were some pleasant bits of dry onions and a generous amount of pepper. The spicy miso was excellent and it was good to have it on the side, so that you can decide how much you want to add. A hearthy (but not overwhelming) winter dish.

The naka naka, which is a mix of the shio and the tori paitan, was, well, intermediate in taste. A bit creamy, with a beautiful variety of flavors.

If you choose to take the runny onama rather than the hard ajitama, you can mix it in the soup, which becomes then nicely thicker.

All these variants are excellent in their own way and I honestly cannot chose one over the others. I would just recommend, if you don’t mind spicyiness, to pay the additional twenty yen to get the spicy miso side spoon (in case you take the naka naka or tori paitan) - you can then try it and chose whether you want to add some or not. Interestingly, since the naka naka is a mix between a tori paitan with shoyu tare and a shio ramen, if you order it with the spicy miso spoon, you will then get a rare example of a spicy shio-shoyu-tori paitan-miso ramen! Try to make sense of the traditional four categories of ramen after that... Will a shop go further and add some niboshi and tonkotsu to the mix?

More info on ramendb.

Other reviews: Friends in Ramen

Strike Ken (Osaka-shi, Kita-ku)

ストライク軒
すとらいくけん
Sutoraiku Ken 

‘Straight’ shoyu ramen: 14 / 20
(ストレート)
’Sinker’ tori paitan: 14 / 20
(シンカー)

My family had just arrived to visit me for some time, and obviously our first meal together would be a ramen! I had been to Strike Ken in summer to try their delicious reimen, and it looked like a perfect place for my family's first bowl, as it famously features two very different kinds of ramen: a traditional shoyu, and a more ‘new wave’ clam-based tori paitan. Being in a shoyu-run, I ordered the former, and the rest of my family the latter. Let's start with mine:

Broth: A high quality, intense in taste, classical shoyu broth, with some pepper and herbs for a more Western finish.

Noodles: Some yellow noodles, with a more square section than the regular shoyu ramen noodles you will often find out there.

Meat: Some lean meat with crunchy fat - a nice change.

Toppings: Some thin menma, crunchy outside and soft inside. Some elegant long negi. A sheet of nori, to complete the classical 'chuka-soba' picture.

A good ramen, for sure. And classical. Maybe too classical?

Let’s see how does fare her extravagant cousin, the sinker:

I did not eat enough of it to make a full review, but the tori paitan was good (I don't have so much experience with tori paitan though), heavy on the bone texture. The shellfish was a nice change, but the chicken meat was unfortunately not that great. An original bowl, maybe slightly over-hyped, but surely worth trying - especially if you like discovering ramen oddities in a cool atmosphere.

More info on ramendb.

Other reviews: Friends in ramen, Ramen Adventures, Philoramen (for the reimen)

Fusuma ni Kakero (Osaka-shi, Kita-ku)

麬にかけろ 中崎壱丁 中崎商店
ふすまにかけろ なかざきいっちょう なかざきしょうてんがい
Fusuma ni Kakero Nakazaki Ichou Nakazaki Shoutengai

SCS ramen (with ajitama): 18 / 20

Located close to Nakazakicho station, this restaurant has always at least a few people queuing in front. I would soon realize that this was justified. Inside, the atmosphere is quite pleasant, with a two-tier counter in the middle of which the waiter can bring the dishes, and some fresh jasmine tea to wait for your dish. They usually feature a shio and shoyu ramen, but on this day, they only had one option: a special ebi (shrimp)-flavored, kotteri (thick) tori paitan (chicken ramen), with the intriguing name of ’SCS'. Let’s try it, with ajitama.

Broth: Shrimp it tastes indeed! Don’t think about ordering it if you don’t like it. The chicken taste was relatively subdued, but this broth was delightful. Also, I must say that it was not too thick, contrarily to some very kotteri chicken Kyoto-style broth (who said Gokkei?).

Noodles: Thin and firm, relatively similar to the ones you would find in a Hakata tonkotsu ramen.

Meat: Two very beautiful lean, pink slices of meat, which were simply delicious, tender and full of flavor.

Egg: A very well cooked ajitama, with a slightly sweet white part and a firm-but-gooey yellow.

Toppings: This bowl was a wonder of toppings: some ‘rice krispies’ nicely soaked the broth and brought some additional thickness. There was also some finely shredded seaweed that brought a delicious marine twist. And in case there is not enough ‘ebi-ness’ in your broth, you can even add some shrimp oil with an intriguing syringe system.

This was simply perfect. The shrimp taste may be a little bit too overpowering for my personal taste, but I found it excellent all along. Best ramen I've tried in Osaka so far - and that’s someone who is usually not a big fan of tori paitan who says that. I don’t know how often they serve this special though, it may have been a limited offer. Don't worry, their regular ramen are also delicious (reviews soon to come!)

More info on ramendb.

Other review: Friends in Ramen (for the shoyu ramen), Japan Times.

Sakurazaka (Tōkyō-to, Shibuya-ku)

中華ソバ 櫻坂
ちゅうかそば さくらざか
Chuuka Soba Sakurazaka

Tsukesoba: 17 / 20
(つけソバ)

This ramen joint just south of Shibuya station is kind of a fame. I went there and tried the tonkotsu gyokai tsukemen with ajitama.

Broth: Quite liquid for a gyokai-tonktosu tsukemen, it maybe lacked a little bit of adhesion to the noodles. Did I taste a hint of yuzu? Anyway, it had a very pleasant spiciness. The soup wari, however, did not bring anything special

Noodles: Not so thick, not so tasty, but the right mochiness - wait a minute, didn’t I just write this somewhere else??

Meat: A very crumbly and melting, high quality chashu, quite convincing.

Egg: The regular tsukemen already comes with half an egg (not ajitama, and very average), so I ended up with 1,5 eggs! The ajitama egg had a very liquid, savory yolk. Excellent, but that was too much egg for a single dish, they should definitely remove the default half egg.

Toppings: A very large, branching menma, kind of the same you would get at BASSANOVA - a rarity in my experience.

The subtle broth combined with a very convincing chashu and ajitama make it deserve a 17 / 20 and enter into the ‘excellent’ category.

My friend ordered the shio/tori paitan ramen:

This bowl was much less convincing (Campbell chicken soup, anyone?), I strongly recommend not ordering it.

More info on ramendb.

Other reviews (it seems that there is a consensus here against the shio/tori paitan): Ramen Adventures, Ramen is love, Ramen-otaku

Kogaryu Seimen (Kobe, Nada-ku)

弘雅流製麺
こうがりゅうせいめん

Torigara tsukemen: 13 / 20

I was quite eager to try this highly rated ramen joint in Eastern Kobe, located close to JR’s Sumiyoshi station. They feature several different specialties: tsukemen, torigara tsukemen, and shoyu ramen. Although I’m not a big fan of chicken-based soup, I was curious to try they torigara tsukemen.

Broth: Surprising liquid, it didn’t stick so much the noodles, but still gave to them a strong chicken taste. The soup-wari led to a fat, smooth chicken soup, which was surprisingly similar to a mushroom soup.

Noodles: Quite thin.

Meat: A few bits of kind of hard, unremarkable meat.

Toppings: Some menma with a subtle, pleasant taste. A few green filament vegetables.

Overall, this was original and not unpleasant, but not so high quality - certainly not worth their very high ranking to me. Maybe their shoyu ramen is better.

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Choboichi (Kobe, Chūō-ku)

ちょぼいち 

Tori paitan: 16 / 20

This small ramen joint is an offshot of a restaurant specialized in chicken, and opened recently in February 2014 for the 5th season of Sannomiya station's ramen road. Very naturally, they specialize in a chicken broth.

Broth: Assari chicken broth with sesame seeds, which tastes a bit like a tonkotsu. Quite pleasant – it’s a nice change from the usual kotteri chicken broth. Moreover, you get yuzushio that you can add to the bowl for a delicious twist to the taste!

Meat: A few small, firm slices of pleasant chashu. It had the usual shape but tasted differently, could it be chicken chashu ? Also, there were a couple of meatballs, much better-tasting and with a crunchier consistency than the regular tasteless meatballs.

Noodles: Curly and OK cooking, not very firm, but not too soft.

Toppings: Some negi.

Shoyu ramen: 13 / 20

One week later, I came back and tried their shoyu ramen.

Broth: Classical shoyu, not unpleasant but a bit too salty.

Noodles: Thin and katame.

Meat: Good firm chashu, slightly sweet.

Toppings: Some green negi, a slice of kamiboko. Some thick menma with a classical mild taste, not so fibrous.

Although it was not unpleasant, this bowl was much more unremarkable than the tori paitan, except for its quality chashu. But I’m rarely excited by classical shoyu broth, so if you’re a fan, you might give it a try.

In any case, it is a good place for a tori paitan, conveniently located in sannomioya station and open during the whole afternoon (it closes relatively early though).

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