Tonkotsu Mazesoba KOZOU+

One of my favorite ramen shops decided to open an abura soba shop just around the corner. As soon as I heard about it, I wasted no time in visiting Tonkotsu Mazesoba KOZOU+, and ordering their tonkotsu mazesoba with a small serving of rice to mix in at the end.

お気に入りのラーメン屋さんが近くに油そば屋さんを作りました。聞いてから、すぐに「豚骨まぜそばKOZOU+」に行ってみました。豚骨まぜそばとフィニライスを注文しました。

The Bowl
The bowl was laid out nicely at first, with Dolce Porco cubes of chashu and SKW or Special Kozo Wave noodles. I mixed it around, and the whole thing tasted a bit like a mongolian grill noodle stir fry dish. Partway through I mixed in some mustard on the side, and was almost like some kind of weird sausage pasta. This was thankfully a bit lighter than normal Kozo, but still delicious.

まぜそばにドルチェポルコのチャーシューとSKW：スペッシャルKOZOUウェーブ麺が乗っていました。混ぜ込んで、モンゴル風目に為に似ている味がしました。からしがついて、かけたら、ソーセージ的なパスタの味がしました。本店の小僧よりあっさりとしましたけど、なかなかうまかったです。

Would I Go Again?
Yes.

また行ってみたいです。

Should You Go?
Yes.

一回行ってみてください。

Information
豚骨まぜそばKOZOU＋

Moeyo Mensuke

A new standard bearer has opened up in Fukushima. Though there is already plenty of ramen of high calibur in that area, Moeyo Mensuke decided to open up shop with a selection of fancy bowls. The two items available are duck shoyu, or golden shellfish shio. They both sounded good, but I had to go with the duck.

えらい店が福島でニューオープンしました。そこら辺にうまいラーメンが多いですけど、燃えよ麺助が高級なラーメンを提供しています。紀州鴨そばと金色貝そばがあります。両方食べてみたかったですけど、結局鴨にしました。

The Bowl
The base broth was a high quality refreshing shoyu with bit of woodiness and occasional bursts of yuzu citrus. The noodles were square, dark, and delicate. The chashu was simple with a bit of chew, and the duck was the most unusual part; dark and rich.

スープはさっぱりとして絶妙な醤油でした。たまにゆずの皮かなんかで柑橘な味がしました。麺が四角て茶色でした。チャーシューの歯ごたえが良くて、シンプルな味がしました。一番気になったのがやっぱり黒い濃いめの鴨チャーシューでした。

Would I Go Again?
I would, and have.

もう何回か行きました。

Should You Go?
Yes.

行くべきです。

Information
燃えよ麺助

Fukushima Ichimen

One day I'll get to all the Fukushima ramen shops. One long on my list has been Fukushima Ichimen, a basement shop with a large menu. When I entered I was recommended the seafood shio ramen, whose ingredients change when they feel like it. On my visit firefly squid happened to be one of the primary ingredients.

いつか福島を制覇できるだろう。「福島壱麺」という店にやっと行きました。入った時に海鮮塩ラーメンがお勧めしてもらいました。材料が変わるらしくて、今回ホタルイカが入っていたそうでした。

The Bowl
The toppings were unusual, but the underlying base was a simple shio, light with a sheen of oil. The noodles were thin but not slurpable in a way that welcomed chewing. Of course the main event was the firefly squid topping, which was bitter in the way squid organs often are, with a nice chew to it.

トッピングが変でしたけど、スープは脂が乗っているシンプルの塩でした。麺は細くて、すする系じゃなくて歯ごたえがいいか見やすいのでした。やっぱり目立ったのはホタルイカでした。烏賊的ににが〜くて、固めでした。美味しかったです。

Would I Go Again?
I wasn't head over heels over the bowl, but I suppose I'll show up again as Fukushima Ichimen often appears on stamp rallies.

まあまあうまかったですけど、福島壱麺がよくスタンプラリーで出てくるのでまた行くだろう。

Should You Go?
This is one for those who like the weird.

変なトッピングに今日がある人にいいです。

Information
福島壱麺

Mutahiro

Fukushima is a place I try to frequent, but there still somehow are a handful of shops that have managed to elude me. Tonight I made an attempt to go to Kineko.

福島によく行きますけど、なぜかまだ行けていない店が何軒かあります。今回きねこという店に行こうと思っていました。

Time for Plan B. Another shop on my list was Mutahiro, a sardine ramen shop from Tokyo. I had enjoyed the bowl I had at the Ramen Sengoku, and was curious to try their specialty, the Wahaha Niboshi Tokusei Soba.

無理でした。もう一軒行きたかったのが東京からの煮干らーめん専門店「ムタヒロ」でした。ラーメン戦国でラーメンを食べる機会がありましたけど、店で食べられるワハハ煮干特製そばを食べてみたかったです。

A nice side dish of meat, eggs, bamboo shoots, and seaweed

肉、味玉、メンマ、海苔

The Bowl
In my imagination ramen like this is what they used for mirrors back in the olden days. The soup was brimming with oil and fat, making the greasy sardine broth scaldingly hot, salty, and delicious. The noodles were fat and curly, like in some of my other favorite sardine bowls.

Ordering the special "tokusei" meant I had no shortage of toppings. There were slick and chewy wonton skins, kind of an alternate to the noodles. Pork and chicken chashu provided different textures for the piles of fat that would come with them when being pulled from the dish, but the creamy egg with its partially protective white proved to be the best vessel for the salt and fat.

私の頭の中に江戸時代に鏡が必要な時にこんなラーメンの表面を見ました。スープが油ばかりで、激熱くて、塩辛くて、うまかったです。麺は他の好きな煮干ラーメンと似ていて、極太縮麺でした。

特製を頼みましたから具がいっぱい来ました。もちもちとしたワンタンの皮が違う種類の麺の感じがしました。豚と鶏チャーシューがあったのでスープと色々な食感の組み合わせができました。結局塩などを吸収するには、味玉が最高でした。

Would I Go Again?
I might, but given how much fat I ate directly, I can only go sparingly.

また行くかもしれませんけど、油っこくて気をつけなあかん。

Should You Go?
This is a bowl for sardine fans who can stand a little grease.

背脂と煮干が好きな人におすすめします。

Information
中華そば ムタヒロ

Gokuno Tsukemen Buttsuke Kozo

Not too long ago Kozo in Fukushima opened up, offering super rich pork ramen every day of the week but Sunday. Now they have found a way to fill in that missing day, with an alternate shop: Gokuno Tsukemen Buttsuke Kozo. The idea is essentially the same, except instead of rich and fatty ramen, they serve rich and fatty tsukemen. I love their ramen, so I was happy to try it in another form.

この前に福島にある「小僧」ができて、日曜日以外にどろどろとしたこってりラーメンを提供していました。今日曜日にのれんわけの別の店を作ったみたいです。「極濃つけ麺 豚つけ小僧」が生まれました。テーマがほぼ一緒なんですけど、ラーメンじゃなくてつけ麺を出しています。小僧のラーメンが大好きなのでつけ麺もきっと好きだろうなと思っていました。

The Bowl
Just like the ramen, the tsukemen broth was an ultra-thick pork porridge, flavorful and very umami. The noodles were short, fat, square tubes, made to be coated in pork sludge, and separated from the broth, never grew soft. Surprisingly, the side pieces of chashu were pretty simple, nicely not pushing the porkiness of bowl over the edge.

ラーメンと似ているように、つけ麺のスープはめっちゃどろっとしている旨味がよく聞いているシチューでした。麺は極太四角で、スープと分かれていたので、ぜんぜん伸びませんでした。チャーシューは意外とさっぱりで豚を飽きない感じでした。

Would I Go Again?
At time of writing, I'm thinking of going tonight, so yes.

今記事を書いているところで、今日に行こうかなと迷っています。

Should You Go?
You should definitely check this place out.

この店に絶対行ってみるべきです。

Information
極濃つけ麺 豚つけ小僧

Sanku

I met up with Philoramen on a Tuesday night, hoping to continue our stamp rally journey. When we arrived at Komi, though, this is what we found.

ある火曜日の夜にPhiloramenと会って、らぁ際スタンプラリーを続けるつもりでした。香味に着いたときにこういう感じでした。

It was closed. Luckily they were kind enough to leave stamps out for us.

閉まっていました。でも、貼れるスタンプが用意されました。

We were not to be deterred and were hungry for ramen, though. We decided to hop on the train and try old Fukushima favorite Sanku. I had tried the ramen on my first time, so I decided to opt for the whole wheat tsukemen this time.

でも、腹が減っていてラーメンを食べたかったです。福島に行って大好きな「三く」に行くことにしました。前回行ったときにラーメンを食べたので今回全粒粉つけ麺を頼みました。

The appetizer, potato with a sweet glaze

ラーメンがくる前に尼塩っぱい芋を提供してくれました。

The Bowl
I continue to be impressed by this stellar top-tier shop. The broth had a subtle fish flavor covering the chicken tonkotsu. The whole wheat noodles are a bit unusual, but the graininess added texture to each bite. They were long and chewy, almost like udon, which is how I like it. The chashu was pretty fatty, and more flavorful for it. In the end they gave me some rice to add to the soup, which let me soak up the last drips, if it didn't fill me to the brim.

さすが三くがこんな高級なつけ麺を出しますね。鶏豚骨スープに浅めの魚介系風味がしました。全粒粉がちょっと邪道かもしれませんけど、食感がすごかったです。長くてうどんみたいにもちもちでした。チャーシューの油が多くて、味が濃かったです。最後にご飯をスープに入れましたけど、お腹がパンパンになってしもた。

Would I Go Again?
Yes.

はい。

Should You Go?
Yes.

はい。

Information
烈志笑魚油 麺香房 三く

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

Mankai

In one of my favorite areas of Osaka, Fukushima, I saw a new shop was opening up. I've been to a number of shops shortly after they've opened, but only rarely have I had the chance to go to a shop on opening day. I headed over after work and waited on line with the rest of the crowd. Mankai offered three kinds of tonkotsu ramen: Jun Ramen, a classic tonkotsu, Shio Ramen, gyokai tonkotsu, and Tomato Ramen, which was a tomato tonkotsu bowl. As badly as I wanted to try all of them, I forced myself to go with the popular classic Jun Ramen.

好きな地域福島に新しい店ができました。最近オープンの店に何回か行ったことありますけど、オープンの日に行くのがあまりありません。仕事が終わってから歩いて行って、みんなと並びました。まんかいは三つの豚骨らーめんを提供しました。スタンダードの博多豚骨「純ラーメン」、魚介形「潮ラーメン」、トマトの「トマトラーメン」。全部おいしそうでしたけど、やっぱ人気な純ラーメンを頼みました。

The Bowl
This was a standard Hakata style tonkotsu through and through. An oily but tasty pork bone broth. Very thin noodles that were al dente, but not quite to the firmness you can get in Fukuoka. Decent chashu, mushrooms, onions, and bean sprouts. Nothing unique, but well executed.

おいしくてスタンダードな豚骨でした。油っぽくてうまい豚骨スープでした。麺が細く固めでした。うまいチャーシュー、キクラゲ、ネギ、もやしが乗っていました。ユニークな点があまりありませんでしたけど、良かったです。

Would I Go Again?
A solid tonkotsu in Fukushima with a couple more interesting blends; I'll be back.

おいしい豚骨プラス二つちょっと変わっているメニューがあるのでまた行きたいです。

Should You Go?
If you're in Fukushima, this is the tonkotsu place to go.

福島にいれば、これはベスト豚骨です。

Information
まんかい

Sanku

By now I've had ramen many times in Fukushima. It's a good area, with plenty of restaurants, bars, and ramen shops that keep me going back. But there was still one heralded shop I had never visited. So on a random Thursday I walked over to Sanku and ordered their fishy, shoyu kake-ramen.

今まで何回も福島でラーメンを食べたことあります。雰囲気がいいし、レストランとカバーがいっぱいあります。でも、有名で行ったことないラーメン屋さんがまだありました。で、ある日に三くに歩いて行って魚っぽいしょう油「かけラーメン」を頼みました。

Information
烈志笑魚油 麺香房 三く
Ōsaka-fu, Ōsaka-shi, Fukushima-ku, Fukushima, ２丁目６−５

There was a small tofu appetizer doused in soy sauce. It was salty, but pretty good.

The Bowl
A thin, clear, fishy broth, complete with floating fish flakes, and a whole fish inside! It was fishy but didn't overwhelm; a perfect balance. The noodles were curly and chewy, and the thick, tender piece of chashu made the bowl complete.

透明な魚っぽいスープで丸ごとの魚も入っていました。魚の味が結構しましたけど、いいバランスでした。もちもちの縮れ麺と厚くてとろけるチャーシューでいい食べ物になりました。

Would I Go Again?
Yeah, it was really good.

はい。めっちゃおいしかったです。

Should You Go?
Yes.

行くべきです。

Mitsuboshi Seimenjo

Back in Osaka! My older brother was still visiting, which means I had more ramen I had to show him. This time we headed to Fukushima to get a bowl and a drink. So many times before I had tried to go to Mitsuboshi Seimenjo with no success. But finally they were open, and in I went to get their famous gyokai shoyu ramen.

Information
みつ星製麺所
Ōsaka-fu, Ōsaka-shi, Fukushima-ku, Fukushima, ７丁目１７−２１

The Bowl
What a rich broth. It was creamy and fishy, almost like the broth you'd get with tsukemen. The flavor actually reminded me a lot of Teru, another fishy ramen shop. The noodles were medium, straight, and chewy. The toppings were as good as they looked - the smooth egg and really thick, really juicy piece of chashu.

Would I Go Again?
Yeah, it's very good and I'm running out of new places in Fukushima.

Should You Go?
Yes you should. Fukushima's a cool place so there are plenty of cool bars to get a drink at afterwards, too.

Menya Katsu

Japan, at least recently, has only two seasons.  The long winter, and the long summer.  In between those two, you are rewarded with short stop-gap periods of nice weather, three-week long periods that are normally called "spring" and "autumn".  It's during this time especially that you have to take advantage of the fact that the outdoors is as pleasant as it will ever be.

That of course means a ramen walk.  A walk to Fukushima, home of many ramen shops.  This time the goal was Mitsuboshi Seimenjo.  Unfortunately, my poor timing put me there just as it closed.  There were people inside enjoying their thick, fishy ramen, and there I was outside in front of the "we're sorry, but we've already taken the last order" sign.  That means it's time to wander around and look for another place.

Menya Katsu is right next to Fukushima Station; I wondered how I had never seen it before.  It's because it just opened six months ago.  Abura soba is a rare treat in Osaka, so I went in and ordered the standard shoyu abura soba.

Information
麺や 克
7-6-23 Fukushima

The Bowl
Abura soba bowls can really go either way based on the toppings.  A normal bowl with only the basic boring toppings like vinegar and chili oil tastes fairly generic.  Katsu offered a whole variety of free and premium toppings, so in addition to the toppings you can see in the picture, I added diced onions, spicy miso, and takana, a kind mustard greens.  They had apple vinegar on the side, too, which was pretty good and I threw on in small quantities.  The toppings really added a lot of variety, though, to be honest, the light shoyu flavor of the firm noodles was pretty good on its own.  A good flavor and a solid bowl.

Would I Go Again?
Yeah, there's no other place I know of in Osaka to get abura soba now that Menji Abura closed.

Should You Go?
Yeah, try some of the soup-less goodness.

Ramen Jinsei JET

For a relatively small part of the city, Fukushima has a lot of good ramen shops.  I've been to a few already, and there's still more high on my list.  After hanging out in Kitashinchi earlier, my friend and I decided to get food in Fukushima, and lucky for us, JET barely had a line when we passed by.  JET is a shop that primarily serves shoyu ramen, and is ranked pretty high on ramendb.  I'd passed it a couple times before, but never had the patience to wait.

Information
ラーメン人生 JET
Ōsaka-fu, Ōsaka-shi, Fukushima-ku, Fukushima, ７丁目１２−２
Ramen Jinsei JET is just north of Fukushima station on the west side.

The Bowl
JET's shoyu ramen was a fairly classic and delicious bowl.  The broth was oily and peppery, in just the right amounts.  The noodles were medium and firm, and there were thin strips of menma as well.  There was one big piece of chashu that you can see took up a good amount of the bowl.  It was fatty and chewy, but tasty.  This reminded me most of the non-black shoyu ramen available at Kinguemon, another Osaka classic.

Would I Go Again?
Yeah.  There are some other places I want to try in Fukushima first, but I would go again.

Should You Go?
Yes.  There's usually a line, but I got there pretty late and it was easy to get in.

Taiyo no Tomato

Not too long ago, my friend and I attempted to make a trip to Taiyo no Tomato, a ramen shop that specializes in a rather unusual tomato broth ramen.  We failed and got to Tsukemen Misawa, which is hardly a failure at all.  Nonetheless, we were determined to get our tomato ramen, and so a return trip was in order.

We got there and saw that they were having an Evangelion-related campaign.  If you're unfamiliar, Evangelion is a Japanese animated TV show that came out over 15 years ago, and the country has been obsessed with (at least in small corners like pachinko parlors) ever since.  One of the main pieces of Evangelion merchandise you can pick up are figures of the two main girls, quiet, light-blue-haired Rei, and spunky red-haired Asuka.  At Taiyo no Tomato, the girls were celebrated with two bowls of ramen - a light soymilk ramen for Rei, and a slightly German-themed tomato ramen for Asuka (who is German, as you can undoubtedly tell by her name).  Along with an order of tomato gyoza, my friend ordered the Rei and I got the Asuka.

Information
太陽のトマト麺
Ōsaka-fu, Ōsaka-shi, Fukushima-ku, Fukushima, ５丁目１３−１８
Taiyo no Tomato is in a side street just southwest of Fukushima Station.

The Bowl
Taiyo no Tomato dishes out ramen that's like none other.  In fact, it should sooner be compared to an Italian restaurant than a ramen shop.  The soup was a hot and oily tomato broth; a thinned down version of what you might find on a lot of pasta.  Similarly, the noodles were thin, and very similar to spaghetti.  The toppings found in the bowl included celery, onions, yellow pepper, eggplant, and in German tradition, sausage and potatoes.

Would I Go Again?
Taiyo no Tomato is not the only tomato ramen place, but it is a good one.  I would have liked the Asuka bowl better with cheese in it, but that just means I'll have to order cheese next time.

Should You Go?
You really can't go wrong.  This is good on a day when you feel like pasta, but want ramen anyway.

Tsukemen Misawa

There's a lot of good ramen shops in Fukushima, and the area's been on my radar recently since the new issue of Ramen Walker has a whole page dedicated to it.  It's a bit out of the way, but my friend and I met in Umeda and were down for a walk.

We decided to try Taiyo no Tomato, but when we got there, it looked like there would be a wait, and we had somewhere to be so we gave up.  Next on our list was Ramen Jinsei JET, one I had been meaning to go to for a while since it's the 14th highest ranked shop in Osaka by ramendb, as of writing.  There was a line of maybe ten or twelve people, so it was on to the next shop.

One of the first places I tried in Osaka was the second branch of Misawa in Shinsaibashi.  I remember it being very good, and my friend hadn't tried it, so we headed for the main branch in Fukushima.  They serve gyokai tonkotsu tsukemen, with the option of getting umeboshi, or dried Japanese plum, on top of the noodles.  Of course I went for the one with the umeboshi.

Information
つけ麺 みさわ
Ōsaka-fu Ōsaka-shi Fukushima-ku Fukushima５丁目６−１１
Misawa is just south of Fukushima Station on the east side of Naniwa-suji.

As with some other tsukemen shops, Misawa has a recommended way to eat their tsukemen, as pictured above:
- First mix the onions into the broth to your liking
- After you've eaten one third of the noodles, squeeze the sudachi into the soup
- After you've eaten the next third of the noodles, put kuro-shichimi, the black spice pictured above, on your noodles to your liking
- When you're done with the noodles, pour in the wari-soup and ask for a yaki-ishi, a hot stone that reheats the remaining broth

The Bowl
The broth was a classic but delicious gyokai tonkotsu.  It was a bit sweeter than a number of other places I've been to, and dipping the noodles in the umeboshi before the broth made it even sweeter.  The flavor of the soup changed quite a bit as each of the ingredients was added; it went from oniony to citrusy, and finally to just a little bit spicy.  As you might have guessed, the final form was my favorite. Also inside the bowl was a fishcake, large, flavorful menma, some very good chashu, and interestingly enough, a shiso leaf.

Would I Go Again?
This was my third time to a Misawa branch and I'll likely be back.  It seems that there's a third branch now, so maybe I'll check that one out.

Should You Go?
With its unique tsukemen and it's great locations in Fukushima and Shinsaibashi, there's no reason not to.

Ramen Jackson's

Has it been a year already?  Upon arriving in the train station from my trip to Mino to see the autumn colors, I noticed that there was a new set of travel and food guides on sale.  In particular, the new Ramen Walker had come out!

Well, I did the only thing one could do in that situation, and picked it up.  Later that evening, to christen it in, my friend and I hit up one of the new places which I had not yet heard of.

Information
ラーメン Jackson's
Ōsaka-fu Ōsaka-shi Fukushima-ku Fukushima５丁目１６−２０
Jackson's is a little south of Fukushima Station, in an alley to the west.

The Bowl
Another day, another gyokai tonkotsu.  Jackson's was rich, thick, and syrupy.  It stuck to the large menma and thick, grainy noodles very well.  One of the more delicious parts of the bowl was that there were a couple different kinds of pork; a couple thick pieces of chashu and an ultra-rich piece of kakuni. I could have just eaten that kakuni and been happy.  The wari-soup at the end was a bit fishy, with a citrus note.

Would I Go Again?
Ramen Jackon's was one of the better gyokai tonkotsu places I've been to, but there are so many and it wasn't mind-blowing and there's other places in Fukushima, so it's hard to say I'll be back.

Should You Go?
It's a very good gyokai tonkotsu place up north, so it's worth checking out.  I'd say the same things I said about Monjiro, but Jackson's is better, so come here first.

Monjiro

It was a Saturday, and I woke up too late to go anywhere far.  These are the best days to go on a long walk with a bowl of ramen as the goal.  A look in Ramen Walker told me that there was a gyokai tonkotsu (seafood/pork bone) tsukemen place near Fukushima Station.  I hadn't been in that area since I moved here, and I hadn't had a good gyokai tonkotsu bowl for a while, so I decided to check it out.

The shop had both a spicy version and a normal version.  As always I was tempted to go for the spicy one, but an employee there convinced me to go for the normal.  I went for the tokusei tsukemen, which is regular tsukemen with extra toppings.


Information
紋次郎
Ōsaka-fu Ōsaka-shi Fukushima-ku Fukushima １丁目６−４
Monjiro is a bit south of Fukushima station, in an alley just east of the big Eneos.

This one happened to come with tamago-don which I didn't expect.  Bonus!

The Bowl
It was a very classic gyokai tonkotsu.  I love all gyokai tonkotsu and this bowl was no exception.  The soup was a little thin, which isn't ideal for the noodles, but it actually made it really easy to drink at the end.  The soup on its own was so good that I only put a little bit of wari-soup at the end.  The noodles were fairly thick.  The regular doesn't come with that many, but with the toppings, soup, and tamago-don, I was pretty stuffed afterwards.  Already in the broth were strips of pork, which were thick, juicy, and flavorful.  The pieces you see that I dipped myself were also pretty rich, but not quite as good as the ones in the broth.  The egg was made just perfectly so that the yolk was a delicious jelly that absorbed the flavor of the soup well.

Would I Go Again?
This was a very solid gyokai tonkotsu bowl.  It didn't do anything I hadn't seen before, and it's not as good as the best versions I've had, but everything worked well and the toppings especially were great.  I would definitely come back here if I was in the area or hankering for a good gyokai tonkotsu, and I'm especially curious to try the spicy version.

Should You Go?
If you're in Osaka and looking for gyokai tonkotsu tsukemen, here's your place.  If you're from Tokyo where gyokai tonkotsu tsukemen shops grow on trees, you can probably pass on this one.