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.

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

Oto (Tōkyō-to, Adachi-ku)

麵屋 音
めんや おと
Menya Oto

Niboshi-shoyu soba: 13 / 20
(煮干醤油そば)

After having (re-)tried the fantastic Nagi and En, I was in the mood for more niboshi-ramen comparison. I was in Kita-senju, and this happened to be the specialty of this shop in Kita-senju, so there was only one thing to do:

Broth: Very thick broth, with some yuzu peel, but the niboshi flavor was very light – too light for my taste.

Noodles: Firm and slightly brittle.

Egg: Half of a hard-boiled egg. Seriously, Oto-cook, what's the point?

Meat: Some braised, firm chashu, not bad at all.

Toppings: Some menma with a strong taste, crunchy at places and soft at others.

Although this was not unpleasant, I would recommend this ramen only to the kotteri ramen fans. Which I'm unfortunately not.

More info on ramendb.

TOKYO UNDERGROUND RAMEN Ganja (Tokyo-to, Toshima-ku)

TOKYO UNDER GROUND RAMEN 頑者
とうきょうあんだーぐらうんどらーめん がんじゃ
TOKYO UNDERGROUD RAMEN Ganja

Kotteri tsukemen: 15 / 20
(濃厚 つけめん）

Arriving early with the night bus in Tokyo at Ikebukuro, I wanted to use the time I had there to maximize the number of ramen I could sample. Therefore, I was happy to discover that a relatively highly praised ramen shop was opened from 10 am. I tried their kotteri (thick) tsukemen (it is their default option, but they also offer a ‘light’ tsukemen that seems to be shoyu-based), with ontama (alternatively, you can go for a more classical ajitama).

Broth: Kotteri it said, kotteri it was: that may have been one of my thickest tonkotsu gyoukai broth ever (the divine Fuunji is out of competition, as it is chicken-based). It sticks exceptionally well to the noodles, but lacks a little bit of taste - fortunately, there is a little bit of powder on top of the bowl to add some punch. As usual, the soup-wari pushed the taste towards more fishiness.

Noodles: Flat and thick noodles, with a good, classical taste of eggy tsukemen-noodles.

Meat: A few meat-‘allumettes’ in the broth (sorry for importing some more French words into food vocabulary, but I don't know the equivalent in English, I don't think that 'meat-match' would sound so great...), nothing exceptional here.

Egg: The ontama was very runny, I was not sure how to combine it with the dish. First I tried to dip the noodles in the ontama before re-dipping them in the soup - it made an even thicker coating, not unpleasant.  Then I mixed it with the soup, but it didn't really bring anything. I would rather recommend to stick with the classical ajitama (in case it is good, I have no idea about that), or to order your dish without egg.

Toppings: A few fin and alumettes-shaped menma, very salty and crunchy, with a mild aroma.

So overall, a good tsukemen, and one that - I presume - some thick-broth-fan may fall in love with, but for me it did not reach exceptionally high levels. They also have a tantanmen-mazesoba that I’d like to try some day. Not that the settings were quite pleasant, with one side of the counter facing a large mirror, and the other side facing a wall of big stones.

More info on ramendb.

Other review: Go Ramen!