Ramen Kuni

Today's shop Ramen Kuni replaces shop Bikkuri Gamu Champon in a side street by Daikokucho. Kuni prides itself on Hiroshima kone, a cut of beef specific to the region. It is from a part of the cow's front legs, and is filled with collagen and gelatin, supposedly making it good for your skin. At any rate I was ready to try some so I ordered the standard shoyu.

今日の店「らぁ麺國」は大国町の横道の「びっくりガム・チャンポン」の跡でできました。國の名物は広島コウネという牛肉の肩バラ肉の一部です。コラーゲンとゼラチンが入っているので肌にいいらしいです。とにかく、食べてみたかったのでコウネらぁ麺しょうゆを頼みました。

The Bowl
This was on the lighter side of ramen I've had. It was a simple oil ramen, tasting mostly of bean sprouts and sesame, like a stir fry. The noodles were long and thin, but didn't add any additional flavor. The beef was fine, too, but didn't live up to the expectations I had of a place that was supposed to be famous for it. There was nothing offensive about this bowl, but nothing that lasted in my mind either.

めっちゃあっさりとしました。シンプルな油的ならーめんで、野菜炒めみたいにもやしとゴマのあじがしました。麺は細くて長かったです。牛肉はまあまあ美味しかったですけど、名物としての期待に応えませんでした。このらーめんが全然飲みやすかったですけど、あまり強い印象が残りませんでした。

Would I Go Again?
Nah.

また行かないかな。

Should You Go?
You don't need to.

他の店に行ったほうがいいかもしれません。

Information
らぁ麺 國

Bikkuri Gamu Chanpon

It had not escaped me that a few months back, a ramen place with the strange name Bikkuri Gamu Chanpon opened up right by where I used to live in Daikokucho. It piqued my curiosity, and it was close enough, but it was only open for lunch. One day out of the blue they announced it would finally be open for dinner as well, and off I was.

Bikkuri Gamu Chanpon offered a varied menu of different appetizers and bowls of ramen, but unfortunately most of that, at the time I visited, was only available during lunch. The goal of the shop was to not just offer Japanese ramen, but have their dishes inspired by various Asian foods. The recommended bowl they had at night was the tori shio ichiban shibori ramen, which they told me was vaguely inspired by Vietnamese and Thai noodle soups.

何ヶ月前に変な名前の「びっくりガム・チャンポン」という店を開くことを気になりました。前住んでいた大国町の近くにあったので行きたかったですけど、昼だけ営業していたので行けませんでした。たまたまある日に夜営業を始めることを発表したので行きました。

いろいろな一品とラーメンを提供していましたけど、ほとんど昼だけでした。日本風ラーメンだけじゃなくて、いろいろなアジア風料理からインスパイアしたらしいです。おすすめしてもらったのはベトナムとタイの麺料理みたいな「鶏塩一番搾り」でした。

Feels kind of American?

アメリカっぽいかな

The Bowl
Although at first glance the chicken ramen looked similar to creamy types like Bokkoshi, standard Japanese ramen this was not. The yellow broth had a much more sour, pickle-y taste. If I was ready for it I might have appreciated it, but expecting more standard soup I was a little taken aback. The soup was littered with other different forms of chicken, too: a flavorful meatball, very simple chicken slices, and ground chicken to top it all off.

一見でぼっこ志みたいなクリーミーなパスタ風ラーメンに見えましたけどけっこう違いました。黄色なスープはちょっと酸っぱいピックルっぽい味がしました。そんな料理を食べに行ったらわかりますけど、ラーメンの予想していましたからちょっとびっくりしました。トッピングに関してはいろいろな鶏が乗っていました。濃い味鳥団子、あっさりスライス、鶏おろしが入っていました。

Would I Go Again?
This dish didn't sit quite right with me, but I'd like to go and try their other various offerings.

このラーメンは私にあまり合いませんでしたけどほかの料理を食べてみたいです。

Should You Go?
If you're looking for something that's a little different, it's worth a look and is in a convenient location.

普通とちょっと変わっている物をチャレンジしたければ、便利なので行った方がいいです。

Information
びっくりガム・チャンポン

Muteppo

Finally, a trip to the fabled Muteppo. I had actually been there once before, and once to the shop in Tokyo, but it had been a long time and I had never reviewed the shop. Just one more full day before my brother left, so we decided to cap his second to last night off with one of Kansai's most famous shops.

ようやく無鉄砲に行きました。実は、大阪店と東京の中野店に行ったことがありましたけど、久しぶりだったしまだレビューしていませんでした。もうすぐ兄が帰ると知っていたので、関西の有名なラーメン屋に行こうと思っていました。

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無鉄砲

Ōsaka-fu, Ōsaka-shi, Naniwa-ku, Ebisuhonmachi, １丁目５−２１

The Bowl
Muteppo is the tonkotsu shop to end all tonkotsu shops. It's not just kotteri, it's super rich and super thick. Before I ever tried it it was described to me as "essence of pork", and that's a pretty fitting description. The broth is so thick and porky that the noodles float instead of sinking. All of the toppings' individual flavors are completely overwhelmed by the soup. PORK.

さすが無鉄砲がめっちゃこってりでした。スープ煮麺が浮くほどドロドロでした。スープの味は豚の源みたいでした。味が濃くてトッピングでもスープの味がしました。

Would I Go Again?
Yeah, just not on a night where I have to do anything afterwards.

また行きたいです。でも食べてから動けなくなります。

Should You Go?
YES!

イェス！

Tachiki Ramen

After a long walk home where I attempted to go to several shops all of which were closed, I decided it was finally time to try the oft-neglected local ramen shop close to where I live.  I've passed Tachiki Ramen all the time, but never felt like going in.  It's a small place that's never packed, and has a huge menu with tons of different types of ramen.  The sign outside advertises their banmen, a kind of ramen I'd never heard of which the owner told me is soup-less, like abura soba.  But I saw curry ramen on the menu and couldn't help myself.

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樹ラーメン
Ōsaka-fu, Ōsaka-shi, Naniwa-ku, Motomachi, ２丁目８−１１
Tachiki Ramen is on the west side of Midosuji north of Daikokucho Station.

The Bowl
The problem with small places that offer up every single kind of ramen is that it means they specialize in none of them.  The curry ramen was some watered down curry broth mixed with the stock noodles.  The broth was piping hot, and extremely salty.  The noodles were pretty thin and stuck together.  The egg was also really salty, and the meat, which I wasn't sure if it was beef or pork, was mediocre.

Would I Go Again?
The curry ramen was not surprisingly underwhelming, but on the other hand it was really cheap.  I'm genuinely curious about the banmen, so if I do go back, I'll be getting that.

Should You Go?
No, this is just a random local shop; there are probably similar better places near wherever you live.

Menya Norio

One of the most convient ramen shops to me used to be this Korean-style ramen and tsukemen shop called Kankara.  I love my spicy food, so I was excited to first go there, and disappointed to find out that it was mediocre.  Then a couple months ago, Kankara never seemed to be open any more.  Just recently a sign came up advertising for a new shop, or specifically, a new branch of a chain called Norio.

Norio has a few branches around Osaka, and though I've passed a couple of them while walking around, I've never been excited enough to actually go inside.  But if there's a new shop close to me, I have to check it out at least once.  I've never been to a ramen shop when it's opened before, so I headed over to Norio on its opening day.

While small ramen shops tend to offer just one or two styles of ramen, chains like Norio offer a whole bunch of styles.  I decided to go for the tokusei ramen, which was torigara gyokai.

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麺屋のりお
Ōsaka-fu, Ōsaka-shi, Naniwa-ku, Nanbanaka, ３丁目７−２０
Norio is on the east side of Midosuji, in between Nanba and Daikokucho Stations.

The Bowl
I may be the first in line to hate on chains, but I'm also willing to admit it when a chain is decent.  Norio was pretty good.  Not as good as what I normally expect from good ramen, but certainly better than some of my other chain encounters.  The broth was very oily, but the chicken and gyokai tastes stood out.  It tasted like a more oily, less rich version of Menya Taku's bowl.  The noodles were medium and curly.  The other toppings: menma, chashu, and the egg, were all passable but nothing special.

Would I Go Again?
It's so close to me and they have a wide menu, so maybe.

Should You Go?
You don't need to.

Naniwa Ramen Tomoro

It was a rainy day and I was hungry, so I didn't want to go far.  Normally for my ramen trips, I try to walk somewhere far, which means that there are still a few places pretty close to me to be tried.  I looked online and found an interesting sounding place, Naniwa Ramen Tomoro.  They have something called aemen, which I had never heard of before.  Apparently aemen is similar to abura soba; it's noodles along with some toppings and spices that are meant to be mixed together and eaten.  The difference is that with aemen, you are also given a sauce to poor onto the noodles as you like.  I went with the curry aemen.

Information
なにわらーめん とも狼
Ōsaka-fu, Ōsaka-shi, Naniwa-ku, Motomachi, １丁目１３−９
Tomoro is west of Namba Parks and Midosuji, on the north side of the street.

The Bowl
I followed the instructions of the staff and started by mixing just the noodles and toppings together, and then added the curry sauce to my liking as I ate.  The mix was generally a little light in flavor, though the spicy oil provided a bit of a kick.  The noodles were very firm, and stuck to each other, making it easy to grab a bunch at at time.  There were several pieces of chashu, and they were very good.  The curry sauce was delicious, but it was thin, so it gave only a light curry flavor to the mix.  After I finished all the noodles and toppings, I proceeded to drink the remaining spicy curry broth.

Would I Go Again?
Yeah, this place was really interesting.  They had a couple other aemens and even some ramen that I'd like to come back and try.

Should You Go?
If you like abura soba, it's worth a visit.  It's a little out of the way, but it's fairly unique.