Kinguemon

This post has been a long time in the making.  Kinguemon is one of the more famous chains of ramen shops in Osaka, and I had heard about it from a few different places.  One of my coworkers ate there a few weeks before, and raved about it.  I knew I wanted to go, but the stores were always a bit out of the way.  But then, the other day, I discovered there was a branch right on Dotonbori.  I'm not sure how I missed that before, but it doesn't matter.  All that matters is that it was easy to grab on my way home from work one day.

Kinguemon is known for their varieties of shoyu ramen.  There are three different kinds assigned by color: gold, red, and black, which have different blends of soy sauce in them.  But Kinguemon's original is the separate Osaka black and its mix-it-yourself seafood counterpart, Naniwa black.  I'm sure I'll visit another branch and try a different style (spoiler alert!), but this time I went with the classic Osaka black.

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金久右衛門
Ōsaka-fu, Ōsaka-shi, Chūō-ku, Dōtonbori, １丁目４−１７
Kinguemon is just off of Dotonbori, a block or two to the east of the Shinsaibashi shopping arcade.

The Bowl
This was a deep, roasty shoyu bowl, very much in the vein of Marujoe and Toyama Black.  It smelled fairly strongly of menma.  The menma in the bowl were some of the thickest I've ever hard, and actually kind of hard to chew.  The noodles were flat, but quite firm, and the chashu was just one big, tender slice.

Would I Go Again?
Yeah, I want to try the other varieties.  I'll choose another branch, though.

Should You Go?
Yeah.  It's right on Dotonbori, so it couldn't be more convenient.

Mikaeri Ramen

I've only been so far east in Osaka before, so I decided to push the boundaries.  I gave myself a decent amount of time and headed to Shinfukae for one of the few places that is supposed to be open between lunch and dinner on a Sunday.  I arrived to a restaurant with all its lights off.  I was hungry and in the middle of nowhere, but luckily I had Ramen Walker with me.  I looked up a place that was a bit farther east, and would be open after the additional time it would take me to get there.  All the way to Fuse Station, a place I've never been before, and is not even in Osaka city.

Mikaeri is a branch of a shop from Wakayama.  The ramen was available available in thin, regular or rich.  I would normally go with rich soup, but according to the menu, the thin soup has a light chicken base, the rich has a chicken and pork base, and the regular is a mix of two.  Well, when you have a tough time deciding, I say get both, so regular it was.

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みかえりらぁめん
Ōsaka-fu, Higashiōsaka-shi, Ajiro, １丁目１９−６
Mikaeri is directly south of Fuse Station, on the west side of the street.

The Bowl
The broth was a very thin and chicken-tasting soup.  There was something very familiar about the taste of it; it tasted maybe more like the broth of nabe than it did ramen.  They allow you to choose which noodles you want, and the flat noodles I ordered were easy to gulp down.  Most of the toppings were nothing special, but the one that stood out is the ball of processed chashu and garlic in the center.  I started out by sampling it directly for a delicious taste of garlicky goodness, then afterwards mixed it into the broth.

Would I Go Again?
Yeah, this ramen tasted different from others I've had before, and the garlic chashu clump was great.

Should You Go?
It's not a must-go, but if you ever find yourself east of the border it's certainly worth checking out.

Naniwa Ramen Tomoro

It was a rainy day and I was hungry, so I didn't want to go far.  Normally for my ramen trips, I try to walk somewhere far, which means that there are still a few places pretty close to me to be tried.  I looked online and found an interesting sounding place, Naniwa Ramen Tomoro.  They have something called aemen, which I had never heard of before.  Apparently aemen is similar to abura soba; it's noodles along with some toppings and spices that are meant to be mixed together and eaten.  The difference is that with aemen, you are also given a sauce to poor onto the noodles as you like.  I went with the curry aemen.

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なにわらーめん とも狼
Ōsaka-fu, Ōsaka-shi, Naniwa-ku, Motomachi, １丁目１３−９
Tomoro is west of Namba Parks and Midosuji, on the north side of the street.

The Bowl
I followed the instructions of the staff and started by mixing just the noodles and toppings together, and then added the curry sauce to my liking as I ate.  The mix was generally a little light in flavor, though the spicy oil provided a bit of a kick.  The noodles were very firm, and stuck to each other, making it easy to grab a bunch at at time.  There were several pieces of chashu, and they were very good.  The curry sauce was delicious, but it was thin, so it gave only a light curry flavor to the mix.  After I finished all the noodles and toppings, I proceeded to drink the remaining spicy curry broth.

Would I Go Again?
Yeah, this place was really interesting.  They had a couple other aemens and even some ramen that I'd like to come back and try.

Should You Go?
If you like abura soba, it's worth a visit.  It's a little out of the way, but it's fairly unique.

Kitakata Ramen Bannai

It was a random Sunday afternoon and I decided to walk somewhere far.  I took a look at the map, and picked Harinakano.  I knew nothing about it, but found a ramen place in the area, and was off.  It took a while to get there, but I was surprised how much stuff was there.  Not to say it was an exciting downtown by any means, but there was a nice shopping arcade with a bunch of restaurants and a few bakeries.  The ramen place I had looked up, Kitakata, happened to be a large chain, which was less than exciting, but I didn't walk all this way for nothing.

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喜多方ラーメン　坂内・小法師
Ōsaka-fu, Ōsaka-shi, Higashisumiyoshi-ku, Komagawa, ５丁目１５−１１
Kitakata is just west of Harinakano station, right at the entrance to the shopping arcade.

The Bowl
I don't have high expectations of large chain ramen shops, and Kitakata did nothing to change my opinion.  The broth was a mediocre chain-style clear tonkotsu broth.  It wasn't terrible, but it should have been a lot better for all the fat and salt in it.  The noodles were curly and chewy; these were probably the best part.  The menma and medium-thick chashu were also kind of mediocre, though there were quite a few slices.

Would I Go Again?
Nah, once is more than enough.

Should You Go?
No, and definitely not worth the far trek to Harinakano.

Menya Taku

A rainy day is no excuse not to trek out for ramen.  If anything, it's more of a reason to go.  I did some research and picked a place in Horie.  When I got there, I realized that it looked familiar.  Very familiar.  I wasn't 100% sure, but it really looked like the spitting image of Men Life Taku, where I went shortly before I left for the holidays.  I came all this way, so I stepped inside and ordered a bowl of ramen.

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麺や拓
Ōsaka-fu, Ōsaka-shi, Nishi-ku, Kitahorie, ３丁目５−２
Menya Taku is south of Nagahori Dori in between Nishinagahori Station and Yotsubashi Station.

The Bowl
If I have to end up at a branch of a shop I've been to without meaning to, I'm glad it's at least one I love.  Once again the soup was not that thick, but very rich with gyokai and chicken flavors.  Good chashu, medium sized noodles, and thin, crunchy menma.  Last time I wasn't in love with the eggs, but I liked them a lot better this time for whatever reason.

Would I Go Again?
I did, and I still would.

Should You Go?
Yes, to either here or the Namba branch.  Both are a little out of the way, but worth making it out to.

Mendokoro Ishin

I've walked home through Shinsaibashi quite a few times now, and every once and a while, I see a restaurant that looks interesting and mark it down for later.  A while back I spotted Ishin, but wasn't hungry.  Tonight while walking home again, I decided to check it out.  I knew nothing about it, but the tsukemen looked good, so I went in and ordered the tsukemen with an egg.

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麺処 維新
Ōsaka-fu, Ōsaka-shi, Chūō-ku, Shinsaibashisuji, １丁目５−２
Ishin is just a block east of the Shinsaibashi shopping arcade, a few blocks south of Nagahori Dori.

The Bowl
If you look at the picture above, you may notice that in addition to the egg I ordered, there's a raw egg in the middle of the noodles.  That's because before you start dipping the noodles into the broth, you are supposed to mix the egg in, and try them on their own.  With the egg, the bowl of noodles becomes a bit like a carbonara, with thick, eggy, chewy noodles.  They were a little lacking in flavor, but then again, that's why there's soup on the side.  The soup was a thick soup that I think was a gyokai tonkotsu.  There were small cubes of chashu already inside the soup that were very tender, and the slices that came with the noodles tasted a little bit like barbecue sauce and reminded me of delicious American pulled pork.  To top it off, the wari-soup, instead of being the standard simple dashi, was a murky broth with green onions, some spicy sauce, bits of egg.

Would I Go Again?
Yeah, this place was great.  The raw egg made the noodles a lot creamier, and the extra delicious wari-soup at the end will ensure I'll be back.

Should You Go?
Yes.  It's really close to Shinsaibashi, so it's convenient, too.

Junpuden

Finally, a trip to Junpuden.  Junpuden is a place I spotted in Ramen Walker and ramendb, and have wanted to go to for a long time.  It's in Sakai, which is in Osaka prefecture but south of Osaka city, so I've never had any reason to travel there aside from ramen.  In addition, Junpuden is closed on Sundays, which makes it even more annoying to go to.  But this weekend gave me a Monday off, which was enough to get me to make the trip.

Now if you're wondering what it is that made me travel far out of my way to get ramen, the answer is simple: curry.  I've gone out of my way to eat curry ramen and tsukemen before, and I will again.  Junpuden offers both, in addition to tantan men/tsukemen and super spicy tsukemen.  If you eat the super spicy tsukemen, you get your picture on the wall.  I was not brave enough to try that this time, but maybe if I'm back.

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純風殿

Ōsaka-fu, Sakai-shi, Sakai-ku, Kitakawaramachi, ２丁２−２５

Junpuden is just north of the shopping arcade on the west side of Sakai Higashi Station.

The Bowl
Thick noodles, and thick broth, just the way I like my tsukemen.  The broth was barely a soup, it was practically a bowl full of curry sauce.  But that made it very good for the noodles to pick up.  There was a little bit of spice to it, too.  Aside from the noodles and sauce, there were a few pieces of chashu and menma too.  The chashu was in thick pieces; not particularly fatty, but they tasted very good covered in curry.

Would I Go Again?
Absolutely.  I want to try the tantanmen, and one day it would be fun to lose to try the super spicy tsukemen, too.  I hear they even make you drink all the broth.

Should You Go?
If you like curry.  It's far, but it's good.

JUNK STORY

It was just a couple days after getting back from New York, so I was pretty tired from jet lag and work.  Luckily, though, my time in New York got me used to the cold, and the temperature in Osaka felt warm in comparison.  Nothing better then than an energizing walk to a ramen shop.  I had read about Junk Story in Ramen Walker, but never had an excuse to go that far out of my way.

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JUNK STORY 谷町きんせい
Ōsaka-fu, Ōsaka-shi, Chūō-ku, Kōzu, １丁目２−１１
JUNK STORY is on the north side of Sennichimae Dori just west of Tanimachi Kyuchome Station.

The Bowl
JUNK STORY is known for their shio chicken ramen, and this bowl offered a light shio broth with a bit of a chicken taste along with a light fried onion flavor.  The noodles were medium-thin, and very light.  Following with the chicken theme, instead of chashu in the bowl there was lightly seared chicken tataki.  It tasted a little bit of yuzu, and was very tender.  I've never had chicken tataki in ramen before, and it went with the soup surprisingly well.  The egg also creamy and very good.

Would I Go Again?
If I liked shio more, I would definitely go again.  As it is, I'll probably only make it out there if I'm bringing someone else.

Should You Go?
If you can.  It's not a must eat, but if you're in Tsuruhashi and not in the mood for Korean food, JUNK STORY is only one station over.