Thursday, January 21, 2016

Ramen Kozo

Fukushima has long been a bastion of good ramen, and the Ra-sai stamp rally has been a good motivator for me to visit shops that I haven't gotten around to yet. For my fifth stamp I visited new super-porky tonkotsu shop Kozo. Just looking at the photos online had me intimidated: would this be as extreme as Muteppo? I went in and ordered the extra-thick ramen.

ラーメンの激戦区を考えたら、福島がいつも出てきます。らぁ際のおかげで、まだ行ったことがない店に行く機会ができました。濃厚豚骨専門店「極濃拉麺 ラーメン小僧」は5軒目にしました。ネットで写真を見たら、ヤバいなと思っていました。無鉄砲ぐらいこってりかな?店に入って極濃豚骨ラーメンを頼みました。

The Bowl
As I expected and hoped, the broth was a thick, porky sludge. Surprisingly, though, it was very drinkable. The noodles were short and curly, coating their wide surface area with pork and fat as I dragged them out of the bowl. Breaks from the weight of the soup were provided by the egg and slices of chashu. The chashu was a little tough, but it was lighter than most, providing a good balance to the bowl. This was a bowl not for the weak of heart, and though it hit me hard afterwards, it really managed to be drinkable despite being so rich.

期待通りスープがどろっとした豚っぽかったです。でも、意外と飲みやすかったです。麺が太縮れ麺で毎回スープから拾ったときに、油とスープが絡んでいました。濃厚の味からの休憩として味玉とチャーシューが乗っていました。チャーシューはちょっと固かったですけど、普通のと違ってさっぱりした感じがしました。小僧はやっぱりすっごいこってりでしんどかったですけど、それなりに飲みやすくてうまかったです。

Would I Go Again?
Yes.

また行きたいです。

Should You Go?
Yes.

行くべきです。

Information
極濃拉麺 ラーメン小僧

2 comments:

  1. I would definitely want to try this and Muteppou! Do you know Kozo's opening hours? Thanks!

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    1. If you're doing a tour of super thick tonkotsu, you should hit Butakin too, which I haven't uploaded yet!

      It's open from 11-15, then 18-22:30. On Sundays it opens as a tsukemen shop instead, from 11-15 and 18-21. Here are the tabelog pages that are mostly legible in English:

      http://tabelog.com/en/osaka/A2701/A270108/27077479/
      http://tabelog.com/en/osaka/A2701/A270108/27086368/

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