Tenchijin

I was on my way to meet people in Namba, but had some time to kill and needed to eat.  I had passed a tsukemen shop on Sakaisuji near Nipponbashi before, but when I went there, it was closed.  I was low on time at this point, so I just found the closest ramen shop and hopped inside.

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天地人
2-4-10 Nipponbashi

The Bowl
I had lowered my expectations when heading into Tenchijin, but the bowl was actually not bad.  The broth was thin and porky, with a little bit of spice.  The noodles were fat, and the menma was kind of sweet.  The chashu had a nice charred flavor to it, and wasn't too chewy.  The wari soup was OK, and together and left the broth a bit spicy.

Would I Go Again?
It wasn't terrible, but nah.

Should You Go?
You can skip this one.

Ramen Taro

My ramen trips to Kyoto had come to an end, but that doesn't mean I didn't have time for other places.  My friends and I were planning on going to Shiga, but since those plans were rained out we went to Kobe instead.  After a few mandatory snacks in Chinatown, we tried a ramen shop I found in Ramen Walker.

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ラーメンたろう
1-10-10 Nakayamatedōri

The Bowl
Tonkotsu shoyu bowls have a special ability to weigh me down and make me feel bloated after eating them.  That's not to say that it's bad, but Taro lived up to its legacy with a very porky, murky broth.  The noodles, on the other hand, were thin and very light.  The egg and normal chashu were decent, but the best part of the bowl by far was the kakuni.  It was tender and juicy; I could have eaten just that and I would have been happy.

Would I Go Again?
It's a bit out of the way so I probably won't find myself there again.

Should You Go?
If you're looking for ramen in Kobe, this is a solid place.  Make sure to get some of the kakuni.

Menya Itadori

My friends had one last night in Kyoto, and so we yet again went searching for ramen.  We failed to find a place we were looking for by the river, but luckily I had a backup prepared.  A backup with curry.

Itadori offered a variety of curry options: curry rice, curry tsukemen, curry tantanmen, and curry udon.  Curry alone is great, but an opportunity to get curry and tantanmen in one bowl?  I couldn't say no.  Plus, I added in some pork shabu shabu as a topping.

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麺屋虎杖 四条富小路上ル
17-3 Tachiurihigashichō

The Bowl
This was an interesting mix.  I could tell it was clearly tantanmen, but there was also a strong curry flavor.  It was weird but they mixed well.  The curry was a bit light and the broth wasn't that spicy, so I would have liked it to be even richer.  The noodles were the curly, chewy kind of noodles that are standard with tantanmen.  The thin slices of pork weren't very flavorful, which was very good because there was enough flavor in the broth to make the pork taste good.

Would I Go Again?
Curry all the time?  Yes.

Should You Go?
Yeah, this place is unique and great.

Ryukishin

I made another trip to visit Kyoto at night, which meant another chance to eat Kyoto ramen.  There are a handful of Ryukishin shops in Kansai.  I had been to the one in Namba before, but never to the Kyoto branch.  I went for the tori shio ramen.

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龍旗信
157 Takoyachō

The Bowl
Ryukishin provided a solid and refreshing if not-very-exciting chicken shio bowl.  The broth was light and thin, and the noodles were thin and soft.  The chashu was especially light on flavor, but my friend ordered some of the extra chashu which was very fatty and delicious.

Would I Go Again?
The bowl was pretty good; I don't think I'll go back to the Kyoto one but I might visit a different Osaka branch.

Should You Go?
If you're in Kyoto, it's worth trying.  If you're in Osaka, it's a pretty good shio available right near Namba Parks.

Gogyo

After spending a few days in Osaka, my friends visiting from America decided to stay a few nights in Kyoto.  That meant that I'd be making nightly visits to Kyoto to hang out with them, but more importantly, that all of us would be exploring a set of ramen shops I normally don't get to visit.

Gogyo is one I picked out from Ramen Walker.  The advertised charred miso ramen hit two things I love: miso, and weird ramen.  What I had not realized when I visited is that I'd actually been to Gogyo before.  I had visited the branch in Tokyo just after arriving there over two years ago.

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京都 五行
452 Jūmonjichō

The Bowl
Black miso broth!  I could stare at it for hours.  It was rich and as oily as it looks, which means that it was scalding.  The charred flavor really came through; charred miso is exactly what it tasted like.  The noodles were medium and broke apart easily, but they carried the flavor well.  The slices of chashu were standard, but the egg was creamy and delicious.  There was an assortment of other goodies in there: ginger, cabbage, onions, seaweed, and a fishcake.

Would I Go Again?
The ramen was interesting and good.  I would check it out again, but I have more exploring to do in Kyoto first.

Should You Go?
Yeah, definitely.  It's right in downtown Kyoto too.

Ramen Zundoya

Some friends of mine came into town from the US, and I decided it was my duty to give them a sampling of good ramen in Osaka.  They hadn't had Hakata style tonkotsu ramen before, so that's where I brought them first.  I veered away from Ippudo and Ichiran since they both have branches in America, but Zundoya is a local Kansai chain.

Of course, I've been to Zundoya before, so I decided to try something crazy.  Miso and tsukemen together at last?  It's not unheard of but it's not common either - especially not in Osaka.

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ラー麺 ずんどう屋
1-5-7 Shinsaibashisuji

The Bowl
This was not just any normal miso bowl.  The bowl had a candle under it keeping it nice and hot, and rice on the side meant be mixed in for some bonus zosui.  The broth was extremely rich and hot miso.  The thick noodles and thin, fatty chashu grabbed the broth well, for one long miso-soaked meal.  It was very good, but along with the spicy miso I ate with a separate order of gyoza on the side, I was a bit miso-ed out by the end.

Would I Go Again?
This was not my first trip to Zundoya, and I'm sure it will not be my last.  The real problem is deciding what to order.

Should You Go?
Yes!  Great food, great location.