Sunday, September 30, 2012

Men's Room Kamitora

Men's Room Kamitora, a strange shop with a strange name.  "Men" means "noodle" in Japanese, so it's less strange than it sounds at first, but not really.  I had first gone to the Higobashi branch of Kamitora just days after arriving in Osaka last year.  It was solid but not amazing, and far out of the way, so I never had a reason to go back.  I found out there was a branch in Namba, which I figured I would hit up whenever I was too lazy to trek any farther.  A day with a ridiculous typhoon is that kind of day, so off to Kamitora I went.

Kamitora's specialty is Hakata-style tonkotsu ramen, and they have a few different varieties.  The recommended one was the "black tiger ramen", so I went with that one.

Information
麺’s room 神虎
Nanbanaka, 2丁目2−18

The Bowl
Look at that glimmering fat!  This bowl is called the "black tiger" because it's full of ma-yu, a combination of Chinese chili oil and roasted garlic.  And that flavor didn't let up.  I could taste the fatty pork, but even more strongly I could taste all the garlic.  The noodles were thin as is standard in Hakata-style; they weren't very hard, but the kaedama I ordered was better.  There were a couple of slices of chashu, one was thick, tender, and juicy, but the other was chewy and dry.  Overall the bowl was nothing special, and in particular was too overwhelmingly covered in garlic (like some others I've had before).

Would I Go Again?
Nah, I think I've had my fill of Kamitora.

Should You Go?
There are better tonkotsu places in Osaka.  You can skip this one.

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