Matsuzaka Gyumen (Osaka-fu, Suita-shi)

松坂牛麺(吹田店)
まつざかぎゅうめん
Matsuzaka Gyuumen (Suita-ten)

Matsuzaka Gyumen: 16 / 20
(松坂牛麺 )

Speak of an isolated ramen place! Seriously, who would think of opening a ramen shop one kilometer west from the far up north Yamada station? If he wanted quietness, that’s a miss: even on a Thursday evening at 20:00, a few people were queuing to eat there. What’s the reason? Not the elegant interior with a long, modern wooden counter. Neither the pleasant sencha nor the hot oshiburi that you get when you arrive. Certainly not the robotic waiter and waitress. No, the reason is simple: people come here for the unique-in-the-world carpaccio-ramen – locally known as the Matsuzaka Gyumen!

Broth: As you see it on the picture, you get served the broth separately from your bowl, and can then pour it as you like – in particular, on the beef meat that you see in the middle. Ingenious! The broth is a light but intense shio, very appreciable.

Noodles: Kind of whole grain noodles, which stick a little bit to each other and break easily under the teeth.

Meat: For me, the nice thing in pouring the broth by yourself is that you can choose how much you want to cook your meat. Rare? Just pour a bit of broth on it and the rest all around. Well-done? Just pour everything on it. You also get a few bits of fat hormon (offal).

Toppings: Some mizuna, as well as a slice of lemon that you can press in your broth for some enjoyable zing.

 

At 1030 yens, this bowl is not cheap, but all along worth it. If you’re broke, you can still switch to their other option, a kasu-ramen that I would really like to try some day. This ramen place is far away from everything, but it is unique in its style – or nearly unique, since there is a twin shop in Nishinomiya. If you like ramen-oddities, don’t miss it!

More info on ramendb.

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)

Jikon (Osaka-fu, Daito-shi)

麺や 而今
めんや じこん
Menya Jikon

Aesoba 'kimutaku': 17 / 20
(キムラ君 / キムタク)

This ramen restaurant was scored #8 in Osaka-fu on ramendb when I tried it, but is quite out of the way - about 800 m from Konoike Shinden station, east of Kyobashi. Whatever, I had some time on this Sunday! I planned to arrive at 13:30, to avoid the queue (the shop is open for lunch till 14:30), but as I arrived, there were still about 10-15 people waiting. Thirty minutes later, I could enter into the fresco-decorated restaurant. They specialise in a niboshi ramen, and also serve a highly praised shio ramen, but as I had tried a few mazemen recently, I wanted to continue my comparison and ordered their aesoba (the ‘kimura kimataku’).

What a profusion of colors! A real mazemen hanabi. The noodles were firm and thick enough, and it had an interesting variety of toppings: mizuna, white negi, daikon tsukemono, kimchi, and some fishy salty mix. There was some ground meat with subtle spices. The whole thing was spicy, but not too much, and I think there was some japanese pepper as I could feel my tongue slightly numbed. When mixing all this, the fishy taste was at first a bit too overpowering, but then blended nicely into the rest. The takuan (daikon), in particular, brought some very pleasant sweetness. The Korean twist given by the kimchi was interesting as well.

Overall, an excellent dish, and a nice change from the Taiwan mazemen I’ve been used to lately. I’ll definitely have to come back to try their niboshi ramen. It seems that they are slightly understaffed though, as some seats were unoccupied when I entered, and stayed so for at least ten minutes, despite the queue outside.

More info on ramendb.

Other reviews: Kansai scene

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. 

Katōya (Ramen Expo / Shiga-ken, Otsu-shi)

幻の中華そば加藤屋県庁前もり〜んの章
まぼろしのちゅうかそば かとうや
Maboroshi no Chuuka Soba Katouya

Shoyu niboshi ramen: 17 / 20

Haven eaten quite my share of ramen in Tokyo during my recent stay, I was thinking to eat only one bowl at the Ramen Expo. However, after finishing the curious Naniwa ramen club bowl, the temptation was high, and the small size of the bowls convinced me to try another ramen that looked very tempting, a niboshi shoyu from Shiga. From outside, both the broth and the noodles looked relatively similar to the former one:

Broth: Ah!!! That’s what I like. A dark shoyu, very strong niboshi broth, yummy! That’s definitely one of my favorite kind of broth.

Noodles: They looked quite similar to the former bowl's noodles: relatively straight, slightly thicker than usual, yellowish - to say it short, very typical ‘chuka soba’ noodles. But definitely more firm. Despite this, the taste of the broth sticked well to them.

Meat: A smoky thin slice of beef: both original and delicious.

Toppings: The two thick and fibrous menma in this bowl really puzzled me: they were so hard to chew that they definitely seemed undercooked. Could it be that the conditions to prepare a ramen were not optimal at the EXPO 70 park? I can believe so - wait for my reviews of later bad experience at ramen fairs!

Except for the menma, this bowl was a great success, appealing to my love of strong niboshi shoyu. Excellent. It looks that this restaurant has quite a few shops across Kansai, and even one in Osaka, but most of them seem to specialize in some kind of jiro ramen - you can only find the niboshi at their Shiga shop.

Also, I could taste a little bit of Daruma’s ramen that Ben's friend ordered. I’m no expert in Hakata ramen, but it seemed to me slightly thicker and stronger in taste than the regular ones - I may prefer such broth in a thinner version. The meat was remarkably fibrous and delicious, and overall I would give it something like a 15 / 20.

Finally, Ben had a bowl of Do-miso - I tasted a bit and it looked like quite a decent bowl, spicy and with thick, short and good noodles. Wait for his test to know more about it!

More info on ramendb.

Miso Matador (Tōkyō-to, Adachi-shi)

みそ味専門マタドール
みそあじせんもんまたどーる

Miso tsukemen: 15 / 20

Matador and its beef-ramen in Kita-senju is a myth, but unfortunately a bit far away in the northern area (although conveniently located for tourists who want to enjoy Kita-senju's budget hotels). I was finally looking forward to try it... before I realized it was closed on Monday. Fortunately, the best app in the world (supleks ramendb, obviously) informed me that they have a spin-off restaurant that specializes in miso-ramen - sounded like a good alternative! I ordered the miso-tsukemen, a rarity in the ramen world (the only two I tried so far were at Kururi and Suzuran). 

Broth: A sweet-ish miso broth with many tomatoes, slightly spicy. It was pleasant both before and after adding the wari-soup.

Noodles: Firm and good.

Meat: Some pleasantly flavored minced meat, next to the noodles. It was a good idea they were not served in the broth, as the miso taste would probably have overpowered their subtle notes.

Toppings: Some nori sheet, which did not fit so well to the broth IMHO.

So it was a pleasant surprise, recommended for sure, although not exceptional. Compared to my memories, the broth was stronger and more pleasant than in Suzuran, and not as intense as in Kururi (which may be a good thing – Kururi's aftertaste is too strong for me, although most ramen-fans seem not to mind) – but I had quite a few bowls since then (euphemism), so it's a bit difficult to tell. I'm not sure if they use beef bones also in the tsukemen, as they do in the main Matador restaurant, and also apparently here for the miso ramen; but for sure, I could not taste anything special in this respect. Anyway, if you fancy a miso tsukemen (and also miso ramen, if I believe the other reviews), that's definitely a place to go.

More info on ramendb.

Other reviews: Ramen Adventures, Ramen Love