Sumire

A couple months earlier I went to visit Tokushima, and my friend there told me that in Kyoto there was a place called Ramen Koji, a single place where there are branches of many favorite ramen shops, similar to Ramen Stadium in Fukuoka.  That alone made it my goal to go check it out.  Then he mentioned that his favorite ramen place was a Sapporo Miso chain called Sumire, that happened to have a shop in Ramen Koji.

Since then, I've always meant to go, but while Kyoto is fairly close to Osaka, it still takes about an hour each way, which along with last train makes it hard to go on a weekday.  Finally, though, a friend from Tokyo came to visit, which was a more than good enough excuse to go check out Kyoto, and stop for ramen before leaving.

They just added two places to Ramen Koji bringing the total to eight, and with this post I've been to but one of them.  I hope that number will increase as I write this blog.

Information
すみれ
Kyoto Station
Sumire is in Kyoto Station's Ramen Koji, on the tenth floor of the Isetan building.

The Bowl
It had been a while since I had a miso bowl.  For some reason everything I have had recently seems to be tonkotsu or shoyu...
I welcomed the change with Sumire's rich miso broth, which was a little grainy and held thin, springy noodles.  There were tons of toppings; crunchy menma, small cubes of chashu and ground pork that was interspersed with the noodles.  At the end the broth was a bit salty, but the left over pork and bean sprouts that added to the last drop's flavor more than made up for it.

Would I Go Again?
Yes, it was great, but I'd probably try one of the other seven shops in Ramen Koji first.

Should You Go?
Yes, it's right in Kyoto station and you really can't go wrong.