Namae no Nai Ramenya

I had some plans in Kyoto, which meant another opportunity to try ramen in the prefecture I don't visit as often as I should. Once again by time I was limited to the greater Shijo-Sanjo area, but I found a recently opened shop that was pretty interesting.

"Namae no Nai Ramenya" means "the ramen shop with no name". Either the shop has no name, or that is the shop's name. At any rate, it was hard to find on a map, being in the basement of a random building and having no discernible sign outside.

京都の予定があったので、またあまり行かない京都符のラーメンを食べる機会ですね。今回も時間があまりありませんでしたから四条と三条の辺にしか行けませんでした。

「なまえのないラーメン屋さん」なんですけど、本当に名前がないみたです。政府にどうやって登録したかな。とにかく、看板もないので見つかり辛かったです。

Inside was a nice garden, and a vending machine that looked just like the one in Sugari, not too far from this shop. It turns out that the two shops are related, and like Sugari, this one offered motsu ramen, tsukemen, and curry tsukemen. I was feeling ramen, so I went with that.

店内には、なんかの庭がありました。それに、すがりとそっくり似ていた販売機も置いてありました。結局すがりと連携していて、すがりと同じ濃厚ラーメン、つけ麺、カレーつけ麺がありました。ラーメンの気分だったので、ラーメンにしました。

A variety of spices available to mix in.

お好みの香辛料もかけられます。

The Bowl
This was a chicken paitan that was very rich without being too thick and goopy. It was well spiced, with a bit of pepper, and mellowed out by the seafood soup. The noodles were brown and square. They looked and even tasted a bit like soba.

Unusually, there was a tomato in the ramen, a sweet interlude during the otherwise salty meal. There was a single meatball that was also quite interesting. It had a grainy texture, but it tasted more like juicy, fried chicken.

味深い鶏白湯で、こてこてしすぎませんでした。スパイスがよく効いて、魚介スープでまろやか感がしました。麺が四角くて茶色でした。見た目も、味も、そばに似ていました。

びっくりしましたけど、トマトが乗っていました。塩辛いラーメンに甘味のトマトの休憩で癒しました。肉玉もなかなか面白かったです。食感はつぶつぶですけど、味はなんかジューシーフライドチキンっぽかったです。

Would I Go Again?
I would; there are a few more shops in the same family that I might try.

また興味あります。他の連携している店があるので、それに行くかもしれせん。

Should You Go?
Yes.

おすすめします。

Information
なまえのないラーメン屋

Inoichi

I have a small handful of shops I mean to check out when I visit Kyoto. Inoichi has been on that list, but last time I tried to go there, it was randomly closed. There was room for a line, but luckily there were plenty of seats in the restaurant. They specialize in shoyu ramen, available in the dark black or light white. I decided to go for the white.

京都に一回行ってみたい店は何軒かあります。「猪一」にずっと行きたかったですけど、前回行こうとした時にたまたましまっていました。外見を見ると、列ができそうですけど、運が良くてすぐ入れました。醤油の「支那そば」が定番で、黒と白の中からあっさりとした白にしました。

The Bowl
This may have been shoyu, but if I hadn't been explicitly told, I would have guessed it was a light shio. It was thin and salty in a good way; the kind of ramen that won't wreck your stomach. The noodles were round slippery straws, good and easy to slurp. The jelly-like egg and dark, thick chunks of menma were the highlights of the toppings. Yuzu and tororo konbu were provided in addition; I'll never say no to some citrus in my soup, but the tororo konbu was a bit too close to seawater for my taste.

このラーメンは醤油なんですけど、言われていなければ、絶対塩と言っちゃいます。透き通って、さっぱりとして、お腹にすごく優しかったです。麺は啜りやすくて丸かったです。卵は特にとろけて美味かったです。メンマも気になって、分厚くて濃いめでした。ゆずととろろ昆布も置いてありました。ゆずはいつも通り好きでしたけど、とろろ昆布は昆布の味しすぎて、わたし的にちょっと苦手でした。

Would I Go Again?
It was good; I might stop in again and try the black.

おいしかったです。また行って黒を食べてみるかもしれません。

Should You Go?
If you're in Kyoto and looking for a shio-equivalent, this is a gem.

京都にいて、塩っぽいラーメンの気分なら、行ってみてください。

Information
猪一

Ramen Itsuwa

Some friends of mine were visiting from America, and I was going to meet them for some post-dinner drinks in Kyoto. That meant I had to find dinner. It was late on a Tuesday night and not much was open. I did some scouring of the ramen scene while on the train, but when I arrived, all three of the places I had looked up were closed. With no time left to spare before my friends were done with their dinner, I wandered into local ramen shop Itsuwa and ordered their yaki-miso ramen.

アメリカから遊びにきた友達と京都で会うつもりでしたけど、会う前に何か食べないとだめでした。火曜日の夜で以外と空いているラーメン屋さんがあまりなかったです。いろいろ調べましたけど、空いているはずな店でも閉まっていました。時間がなくて、適当に近くにある「ラーメン いつわ」という店に入って焼き味噌を頼みました。

The Bowl
This was a hot, syrupy concoction filled with salty miso. The bouncy yellow noodles and little bits of chashu performed their parts ably but no better, and there were the standard ramen toppings of menma, onions, and cabbage mixed in for good measure. The whole thing was fine but nothing special, and ended up being a bit overloaded in salt.

熱いちょっととろみがある焼き味噌でした。こしがある黄色い麺とおろしたっぽいチャーシューはまあまあうまかったです。メンマ、ネギ玉、青ネギ、キャベツが味噌らしくて入っていました。全体的悪くなかったですけど、飲めば飲むほど塩辛くなってしもた。

Would I Go Again?
Nah.

また行きません。

Should You Go?
Nah.

行かなくてもいいです。

Information
ラーメン いつわ

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.

Information
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.