Menya Norio

One of the most convient ramen shops to me used to be this Korean-style ramen and tsukemen shop called Kankara.  I love my spicy food, so I was excited to first go there, and disappointed to find out that it was mediocre.  Then a couple months ago, Kankara never seemed to be open any more.  Just recently a sign came up advertising for a new shop, or specifically, a new branch of a chain called Norio.

Norio has a few branches around Osaka, and though I've passed a couple of them while walking around, I've never been excited enough to actually go inside.  But if there's a new shop close to me, I have to check it out at least once.  I've never been to a ramen shop when it's opened before, so I headed over to Norio on its opening day.

While small ramen shops tend to offer just one or two styles of ramen, chains like Norio offer a whole bunch of styles.  I decided to go for the tokusei ramen, which was torigara gyokai.

Information
麺屋のりお
Ōsaka-fu, Ōsaka-shi, Naniwa-ku, Nanbanaka, ３丁目７−２０
Norio is on the east side of Midosuji, in between Nanba and Daikokucho Stations.

The Bowl
I may be the first in line to hate on chains, but I'm also willing to admit it when a chain is decent.  Norio was pretty good.  Not as good as what I normally expect from good ramen, but certainly better than some of my other chain encounters.  The broth was very oily, but the chicken and gyokai tastes stood out.  It tasted like a more oily, less rich version of Menya Taku's bowl.  The noodles were medium and curly.  The other toppings: menma, chashu, and the egg, were all passable but nothing special.

Would I Go Again?
It's so close to me and they have a wide menu, so maybe.

Should You Go?
You don't need to.