Sunday, October 28, 2012

Masutani

A while back, a friend told me about a new campaign Yahoo started running called the Ramen Ambassadors.  They were recruiting foreigners in Japan who have a passion for ramen.  Well, I applied and I got in!  I've advertised on facebook already, but check it out if you haven't already!

One of my duties as Osaka's ambassador was to make a video as a promotion.  As Osaka's ambassador (most of the others are up in Tokyo), I decided to go around Osaka and Kyoto and show off different landmarks and nearby ramen shops.  Of course this meant that I had to stop somewhere to eat ramen too.

It had been a long time since I ate in Kyoto Station's Ramen Koji.  Since this was for the video, I decided the best place to go was Kyoto's famous chain Masutani.  They are famous for their shoyu broth with a chicken soup base.

I'll post details below, but check out my promotional video here!

Information
ますたに
901 Higashishiokōjichō

The Bowl
The soup was a fatty, oily shoyu.  It was a little garlicky, and generally reminiscent of the Jiro-style.  The thing about Jiro-style bowls, is that they are usually more about quality than about quantity.  Without the quantity, Masutani felt like a fairly generic chain-y bowl.  The noodles were thin, straight, and springy, and the chashu was pretty mediocre.

Would I Go Again?
No way.  There are better places in Kyoto Station and better representatives of Kyoto.

Should You Go?
Nah.

1 comment:

  1. I completely agree. I went there with my wife, who's from Kyoto, and so expectations were high. It was too salty, period, point blank. It seemed they put in 1.5x the amount of noodles, which is great if you have a huge appetite, but after waiting 30 minutes in line, I wasn't impressed. Reminded me of Rai-rai tei 来来亭

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