Nibojiro (Kyoto-shi, Sakyo-ku / Sengoku ramen event)

京都西院にぼ次朗
きょうとさいいんにぼじろう
Kyoto Saiin Nibojirou

Nibo-shio-tonkotsu ramen: 14 / 20

And one more ramen event – the ramen Sengoku! I had mixed feelings about former events such as the Ramen Expo, but I could hardly pass on this one – and which ramen-companion could be better than Ben to go there?

My choice for my first bowl went to Nibojiro, which I selected because it was a ‘nibo-shio-tonkotsu’ – an uncommon mix (even niboshi-tonkotsu is not so common, although it has been popularized by Tamagoro). I like ramen oddities, I love niboshi, so I had to try this!

Broth: The first sip was quite intense in niboshi, but surprisingly, my tongue became rapidly desensitized and the pungent notes vanished, leaving a not-unpleasant-but-not-so-remarkable tonkotsu taste.

Noodles: Contrarily to many noodles I ate at the Ramen Expo, they were quite well-cooked. Congrats, as this is appears to be a difficult feat in such a context!

Meat: A thin, lean chashu with a relatively uncommon taste, yet difficult to characterize.

Toppings: Some miso paste, ground beef and onion. So maybe after all one should call it a miso-shio-niboshi-tonkotsu-tantan-inspired ramen? In my knowledge, only Mengenso managed to push the mix of styles so far!

Overall, a good bowl, but not as exceptional as I expected it to be. I needed to continue with something more exceptional on that day…

More info on ramendb (for the regular shop, with a different menu)

Kirari (Kyoto-shi, Fushimi-ku)

つけ麺 きらり
つけめん きらり
Tsukemen Kirari

Norinori tsukemen: 19 / 20

This shop is special – this is obvious already from the outside, with people inconfortably queueing on the elevated rim of the pavement. I had been there a few months ago to try their shioton ramen, and had been so enthusiastic that it was clear to me I had to come back to try their "norinori" tsukemen. A day of plum blossom hunt in Kyoto was the occasion for this.

Broth: A very thick tonkotsu gyokai that sticks perfectly to the noodles – in a somehow similar fashion to Fuunji in Tokyo, although not as sweet (because it’s tonkotsu, and not torigara, as far as I know), and with maybe a more pronounced gyokai taste. The soup is so thick, and sticks so much to the noodles, that I basically finished all of it with my noodles (although I had order the regular, "nami" size, not the big one!) You also get a piece of lemon that you can press into the broth, but I don’t think it’s worth doing so. And I did unfortunately put too much of dashi in my soup wari, so this part was not a great success.

Noodles: Thick noodles with an egg taste, not very salted, very mochi mochi, just perfect – they were kind of hard to slurp though.

Meat: A few cubes of onctuous, delicious meat, with a very melting fat.

Egg: Two halves of a sublime egg: tasty white, whose taste is progressively submerged by the intensity of the gooey yolk.

Toppings: Many sheets of nori and some white onion in the bowl, that both fit perfectly well with the broth. Three very thick, fibrous menma, not so salted – they had a flavor that was definitely familiar, but I could not put a name on it (if you ate there and have any idea, please leave a comment below).

Look at this tsukemen, proud like a peacock making the wheel. And proud it can be: very simply, this tsukemen is perfect. Your personal preferences might make you lean towards other dishes, but like at Takakura Nijo, I cannot think of any flaw. If you are on your way between Osaka and Kyoto on the Keihan line, do yourself a favor and stop here. Icing on the cake: the employees are very friendly.

More info on ramendb.

Other review: Philoramen (for the shio-tonkotsu ramen)

Kirari (Kyōto-shi, Fushimi-ku)

つけ麺 きらり
つけめん きらり
Tsukemen Kirari

Shio-ton Ramen: 18 / 20
(塩とんらぁめん)

We were supposed to meet with my family in Kyoto's southern Fushimi area for a sake-trip, but they were delayed and I was hungry, so I waited at a nearby ramen-place which looked good. Gosh, what a great idea! This shop specializes in tsukemen, but I was more in a ramen mood, and wanted to try their rare shio-tonkotsu ramen - which I ordered with some additional nori.

Broth: A very thick but delicious broth of tonkotsu - one can actually feel the texture of bone grains at times - with some veggie aftertaste. It sticks so much to the nooodles that it felt like a tsukemen!

Noodles: Slightly soft, but well, we are in Kyoto. I must admit that this fitted well with the broth.

Meat: A few delicious slices of peppery, delicious chashu that kind of tasted like roastbeef.

Egg: Half an egg is included in the regular ramen, so it’s not necessary to order any more. And I must say that this egg is a model, with its melting yolk (but hard enough not to fall into the soup), and a white part infused with strong flavors.

Toppings: Some fibrous menma, with a mild but good taste - more similar to fresh bamboo than to preserved one. The nori sheets I ordered fitted extremely well with the broth and the meat. There were even some fresh garlic you could crush inside the broth.

This is the best Kyoto-style ramen I ever ate - actually, there are many twists compared to the classical Kyoto-style bowl so I'm not sure I could categorize it as such. It was a bit similar to Gokkei in Ichijoji, but whereas the latter was too thick for me, this one just had the highest level of thickness I can stand. It stayed hot quite long, a perfect winter dish that keeps you going.

Delicious, and if I was more into Kyoto ramen, I could have given it a 19 or maybe even a 20: this is flawless ramen - like Takakura Nijo, although in a very different style. Kyoto, home of ramen perfection?

More info on ramendb.

Takakura Nijo (Kyōto-shi, Nakagyō-ku)

麺や 高倉二条
めんや たかくらにじょう
Menya Takakura Nijou

Curry tsukemen : 18 / 20
(カレーつけ麺)

I was quite eager to make discover this favorite ramen restaurant of mine to my family. Being there at 11:10 to avoid the queue, we were unlucky enough to arrive just after a large group of sports kids - so be warned that it can get popular at any time. Anyway, waiting twenty minutes was not that bad for such a great place. My family ordered the regular ramen with ajitama. As for me, I wanted to try the aemen (和え麺 ; that's basically a mazemen); but it wasn’t available on that day, so I turned to a curry tsukemen I had never tried - with, of course, the famous yuzu nooddles.

Broth: A good curry taste that gives a significant twist to the usual excellent sour tonkotsu-gyokai.

Noodles: Yuzu noodles may be the greatest invention of mankind since alkaline water. Brilliant.

Meat: Some bits of meat with melting fat, very good.

Egg: A well-cooked egg, on the hard side, with a very dark yolk.

Topping: A slightly spicy mushroom and a pickled tomato with a slightly sour taste, which both fit very well with the broth. Some very fibrous menma with a mild taste.

Instead of soup wari, you get some rice in your curry sauce for a last curry-rice experience. I’m not a big fan of curry rice but this was convincing - did they also add some cheese?

I could say that this was the best curry ramen-dish I’ve ever eaten, but that would not tell much, since this is only my third one. Let’s put it another way then: this is very probably the best curry ramen-like dish I’m ever going to eat, as I doubt it could get much better than this. If you love kare ramen, you have to try this.

Oh and the ramen was simply divine, as usual. The noodles seemed to get soft a bit faster than last time tough.

More info on ramendb.

The list of all the shops.

Other review: Go Ramen!, Philoramen

Shinpuku Saikan (Kyōto-shi, Sakyō-ku)

新福菜館本店
しんぷくさいかん
Shinpukusaikan

Chuka soba: 13 / 20
(中華そば)

Chuka soba, without meat: 14 / 20
(中華そば 肉なし）

Although Kyoto station is especially famous for its ramen street ("Kyoto Ramen Koji") on the 10th floor, the ‘real’ afficionados know that the appeal of the area does not come from the sometimes-average ramen restaurants in this ramen street, but a couple of hundred meters east from the station, where two monuments of Kyoto ramen history stand exactly door to door: Shinpukusaikan and Honke Daiichi Asahi.

As we arrived there with my friend, there was a long queue in front of the latter, so we chose the former, a big room with a very canteen-feel. They serve only one kind of dark-shoyu ramen, that you can order with (or without) various toppings - as well as in a large version, and with additional meat. I was pleasantly surprised to see a version without any meat, which I ordered (with additional menma); my friend ordered the regular version.

Broth: A relatively intense shoyu broth, which was pleasant even for a non-shoyu-lover like me.

Noodles: Yellow and relatively firm at first, they got soft relatively quickly though - which is, I guess, what is required for a Kyoto ramen.

Meat: I tasted the meat in my friend's bowl, and I was very happy I didn't ordered any in mine: the slices were thin and tasteless.

Toppings: The menma were soft and mild, but relatively pleasant. Lots of negi, which for once seemed especially tasteful.

Overall, a relatively pleasant bowl, but nothing exceptional. There is definitely a feel of 'Showa era' authenticity in this bowl though: a simple, intense shoyu ramen in a canteen where regulars come and go. It is worth going there for the experience - actuallly, it seems that this was the first ramen shop in Kyoto that opened after World War 2. But I strongly recommend ordering the meatless version.

More info on ramendb.

Other reviews: Ramen Adventures, Friends in Ramen, The Piggly Wiggly travels

Daikoku (Kyōto-shi, Fushimi-ku)

大黒ラーメン本店
だいこくらーめん
Daikoku Ramen

Ramen: 12 / 20 
(ラーメン)

Two ramen shops have quite good grades near Fushimi-Momoyama, in south Kyoto: Daichou and Daikoku. Daichou was slightly better ranked, but unfortunately five people were queuing in front, and I had only twenty minutes to swallow quickly some ramen, before meeting my friend to chase some momiji. Thus I switched to Daikoku, a simple, local restaurant with not much choice - one kind of ramen, with more or less toppings. I ordered, well, the ramen.

Broth: I guess it was a tonkotsu-shoyu broth, decent but very conventional.

Noodles: A bit soft.

Meat: A few thin slices of a decent-if-slightly-unremarkable chashu.

Toppings: Some moyashi and negi. You can order some menma for 50 yens.

Overall, it might be better than the average ramen you would find out there, but for me it is clearly over-rated on ramendb. No necessity to stop there. I would rather try my luck at Daichou, or go to the EXCELLENT Kirari a few hundreds of meters from here (stay tuned - review to come!).

More info on ramendb.

Miyoshi (Kyōto-shi, Nakagyō-ku)

博多長浜らーめん みよし
はかたながはまらーめん みよし
Hakata Nagahama Ramen Miyoshi

Ramen: 14 / 20
(ラーメン)

Right in the centre of distinctive and elegant Kyoto, this ramen joint has a resolutely unique feel, purely Hakata yatai atsmophere. Half open onto the street, you will often see people queuing in front of this small restaurant with narrow seats, that serves only one kind of tonkotsu ramen, with various garnishes. I ordered the regular version.

Broth: Ah, the delicious smell of Hakata tonkotsu! Not too thick, smooth, it seemed to me slightly more sweetish than the classical Hakata ramen though (but I'm no expert in Hakata ramen, so it's difficult to tell), with some notes that reminded me a bit of a corn soup.

Noodles: Surprisingly for a Hakata ramen place, the default noodles cooking style was not katame - so if you like them so, make sure to explicitly order them that way.

Meat: Some thin, average chashu bits with too fatty part, which do not bring anything to the dish. The best part of them was the brown outer side.

Toppings: The menma were both spicy and sweet, very good. And like at any respectable Hakata ramen place, you can help yourself with ginger and flakes - but they were old and too soft.

A very local place with a great atmosphere - a bit too local I thought, when I saw the cook taking the money and then cooking without washing her hands… Several components (meat, flakes, noodles) were very average, but the delicious broth and the unique atmosphere push it to a 14. Plus, it’s cheap and open till 6 am.

More info on ramendb.

Other reviews: Ramenate, Ramen Adventures, Umamiart

Gokkei (Kyōto-shi, Sakyō-ku)

Menya Gokkei
麺屋 極鶏
めんや ごっけい

Niwatoridaku: 15 / 20 
(鶏だく)

This place has opened only a few years ago but it is already a myth. On three occasions already I thought of going there, and three times I stumbled on a one hour-long line. How would it be at 11:30 (the opening time) on a rainy weekday? You guessed it: a one hour-long line. I won’t come back to Ichijoji before a while, so I thought that whatever the time it takes, I’ll be waiting. One hour letter, I seat in front of my tori-ramen, with ajitama.

Broth: Imagine a three liters-recipient full of chicken bones that you would let boil until absolutely no water remains. That’s about how this broth feels. Actually, it should be called a 'sauce' rather than a 'broth'. If you were looking for the graal of kotteri-ness, don’t search anymore, here it is - although, I must say, the honour may be shared with Muttepo. I’m not a big fan of ultra-kotteri rame, but I must say that this one kind of reconciliated me with the style. At some point, I had the impression I was nearly munching crunchy bones.

Noodles: Quite soft, as they should be in a Kyoto-style ramen. Unfortunately, I’m not very fan of soft nodles. They were also a bit difficult to untangle from each other.

Meat: Some average chashu that falls into parts.

Egg: Well-cooked, gooey on the hard side; however, it did not fit with the whole thing and I don’t recommend ordering it (and the soup alone is heavy enough!).

Toppings: Some slabs of menma, with a very unified (rather than fibrous) texture, crunchy and mild.

Eight minutes after I started my dish, I’m hurrying out of the shop to let other hungry ramen-addicts enter. I would say there was at least 1h15 minutes queue at this point.

I’m going to make enemies here by giving it ‘only’ a 15 / 20 (which is actually a pretty good grade). I can easily imagine that kotteri-fan could give it a 20 / 20. Fine for me, but I’m not into soft noodles and thick broth. Despite this, the experience was quite pleasant. I wish I would have ordered it in the black version though (with some roasted garlic liquid), I may have liked it even better (you can also order a red – spicy version, or a fish-version, which, I imagine, must be totally different?) Also, the restaurant has a quite pleasant atmosphere, with its short counter, one regular table, and one floor-table. And overall, this was a much better experience in my memory than the nearby Tentenyu, which also specializes in Kyoto-style ramen.

More info on ramendb.

Other links: Reina Loves eating

Takakura Nijo (Kyōto-shi, Nakagyō-ku)

麺や 高倉二条
めんや たかくらにじょう
Menya Takakura Nijou

Ramen (yuzu noodles) with ajitama: 19 / 20
(味玉ラーメン)

The adventure at Takakura Nijo starts before entering, right in the queue, when you smell the delicious scent escaping from the aircon system. As I entered, I had a strong impression of déjà-vu: those golden teapots… this atmospheric lounge music… those two kind of noodles (yuzu and regular)… Of course, it is a Sugari-lookalike! The atmosphere is a bit less fancy here, but they indeed belong to the same chain. I ordered the ramen with ajitama, and chose the yuzu noodles.

Broth: An excellent tonkotsu gyoukai broth, relatively thin but intense in taste, without being overwhelming, on the sour side. Delightful and original at the same time.

Noodles: Absolutely delicious yuzu noodles. They were slightly on the soft side, but despite my addiction to barikata noodles, I loved them.

Meat: One slice of braised chashu, perfectly balanced, firm enough but with just what is should have of melting fat, and a powerful - but not overwhelming - taste.

Egg: A very well cooked ajitama, on the hard side, which fits perfectly well with the rest.

Toppings: One thick, fibrous, firm menma with a very balanced mild, salty taste. A cherry tomato with a pickled taste.

You can also help yourself with some sanshou (japanese pepper), and some garam masala that for some reason tasted like cinnamon and fits DIVINELY well with the broth.

Let me put it shortly: this is the most perfectly crafted ramen I ever ate in my life. Period. They even beat their brother Sugari by having a better cooked egg (although you may prefer Sugari if you're more into motsu than into chashu). I don’t see how this bowl could get any better - except maybe by moving to the even more atmospheric Sugari. Obviously, this is subjective, you may not like this kind of broth and find it too sour. But for me, this is perfection made ramen. I’ll keep the 20/20 rating for the day some ramen will fall from heaven on Earth. But this one may as well have been.

More info on ramendb.

The list of all the shops.

Other review: Go Ramen!

Shinjuku Menya Fuka (Kyōto-shi, Shimogyō-ku)

新宿めんや 風花 (本店)
しんじゅくめんやふうか
Shinjuku Menya Fuuka (Honten)

Yasai shio ramen: 14 / 20
(野菜塩ラーメン)

This restaurant south of Karasuma station in Kyoto specializes in shio ramen of different kinds. I noticed they had a purely vegetable version of shio ramen, which was a welcome healthy suggestion after all the ramen I had been eating lately.

Broth: A good shio broth, with a very hot, fatty upper layer - beware!

Noodles: A little bit curly, and slightly too soft for my taste.

Toppings: Lots of various tasty braised vegetables.

Not much to say here, but a good ramen, that would be perfect for a flexitarian (some bones must surely be used to make the broth, but the bowl does not include any meat or eggs).

More info on ramendb.

The shop's website.

Gundan (Kyōto-shi, Sakyō-ku)

ラーメン軍団
らーめんぐんだん
Ramen Gundan

J-mazesoba ninniku: 15 / 20
(J-まぜそば にんにく)

This ramen restaurant may not be the most famous of Ichijoji, but got pretty good reviews, and I was curious to try it. However, they specialize in a very kotteri (thick) ramen and tsukemen, which did not sound like a great idea less than four hours after my tonkotsu-shoyu ramen at Bishiya. So I went with the J-mazesoba, thinking that it may well be lighter; oh but by the way, what could the ‘J’ mean?... It is only when I saw the pile of bean sprouts on top of my gigantic bowl coming towards me that I got it: ‘J’ stood for ‘jiro’. I wanted to have something not too heavy, and I ended up with a jiro ramen, probably the heaviest dish in the universe... well, whatever, I’m not going to let that go to waste.

Sauce: No broth obviously, but a pleasant, very garlicy sauce, that coated nicely the noodles under a garlic fat layer. The more I ate, the fatter the broth was, until it was definitely too fat and I gave up.

Noodles: Thick, firm and curly, good noodles.

Meat: A very large, thick part of pork, crumbly (not unlike some tuna in a can), with a quite light, but pleasant taste.

Toppings: As usual in jiro ramen, there was a large pile of toppings: crunchy cabbage sprinkled with chilli powder, bean sprouts, and lots of garlic mixed in the sauce.

The mix of bean sprout, thick delectable noodles and garlic has definitely a lot of appeal to me, and I've never been disappointed by a jiro ramen - admittedly, I haven't tried much either, maybe 5 or 6 in total. This one was comparable in quality with the few ones I've tried before, but the sauce was definitely too fat after a while, hence the ‘only’ 15 rating. Oh yeah, and that was definitely too much meat.

Note also that if you are a fan of jiro ramen, there is another one in the same street, Yume wo katare, just before the corner with Higashioji dori, which is kind of a local fame (it was actually there that I ate my very first jiro ramen, four years ago).

More info on ramendb.

Bishiya (Kyōto-shi, Sakyō-ku)

びし屋
びしや
Bishiya

Tonkotsu-shoyu ramen: 16 / 20
(豚骨醤油らーめん)

Coming to Ichijoji in Kyoto for lunch on a saturday during the momiji season (and possibly during any season) is not really a good idea. Crowds of hungry ramen lovers swarm in front of all the ramen restaurants - at least, the good ones (the queue in front of Takayasu was daunting!). I wanted to try a relatively recent restaurant which opened a couple of years ago, but there was still a one hour waiting time at 14:15 (and, as I would discover later, the same waiting time later at 17:15 - impressive!). Not very patient in nature, I chose to try a ramen shop that did not get so many reviews, but only good ones, Bishiya. As the name indicates, it specializes in Yohohama-style iekei ramen (all iekei shop finish by the 屋 kanji, which reads "-ya"). As it happened, I had tried iekei ramen only once - at nothing less than the founding restaurant of the style, Yoshimuraya, in Yokohama. Since the queue in front of Bishiya was somewhat shorter than in front of the other local celebrities, I decided to give it a try. This was a good idea.

Broth: A thick tonkotshu-shoyu broth, delectable although quite salty (nothing unexpectable when you add shoyu in a tonkotsu broth…). The juice perfectly coated the noodles in a fatty layer. You can add some pepper, which I would recommend - it fits well with the broth.

Noodles: Slightly thicker than the regular tonkotsu noodles, good quality.

Meat: A slice of thin chahsu that falls apart a bit - not too bad, but could be better.

Toppings: Some spinach - not so tasty, but I guess it’s nice to have some vegetable (although that’s more of an excuse). Some kikurage, negi and a slice of nori.

Difficult to compare it with Yoshimuriya, as I tried it already some time ago, but it lived up to the expectations. One could say that it is not surprising, since Yoshimura has put his recipe in open access, but I've heard several ramen experts complaining about the general low quality of iekei ramen across the country. I cannot imagine anyone complaining about this one, though.

More info on ramendb.

Ryukishin (Kyoto, Nakagyo-ku)

龍旗信 (京都店)
りゅうきしん


Shio reimen: 16 / 20

Just before meeting some friends for Yoiyama, I had to eat a ramen at one of my favorite place around Karawamachi, namely Ryukishin (see here for my former review of Kansai airport's Ryukishin shio ramen). I ordered a tempting seasonal shio reimen (cold noodles).

Broth: A subtle, shellfish-flavored cold broth.

Noodles: Firm and good.

Meat: A slice of bacon with a very mild taste.

Toppings: A profusion: salad and coriander, a couple of cherry tomatoes, a very well cooked and savoury aubergine, chili stripes, and a few bits of light-tasting crab.

A very refreshing experience with a delicate taste. Recommended.

More info on ramendb.

The website of the chain.

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