Bakkoshi

A while back I visited Bokkoshi when it opened in Namba, a delicious almost pasta-like chicken shop. The original shop it's based on, though, is Bakkoshi, a tonkotsu shop in Juso.

だいぶ前に、なんばでできた「ぼっこ志」の鶏白湯専門店に行ってきました。でも、本店は本当に十三にある「ぼっこ志」とんこつ専門店です。

The Bowl
The first experience I had in tasting the bowl was the milkiness of the white broth, along with the thin oil coating it. The flavoring itself was standard tonkotsu, and inside were Hakata-style thin, al dente noodles. The chashu was salty and strong; good in small quantity but I would have had trouble with any more. Overall this was a creamy take on run-of-the-mill tonkotsu.

最初の一口の体験でミルク的な真っ白のスープと薄めの油の食感がしました。味自体は標準のとんこつで、中には硬めの博多風麺が入っていました。チャーシューは濃くて辛くて、入った少量がちょうどよかったです。全体的に、よく見るとんこつの若干クリーミー系でした。

Would I Go Again?
It wasn't bad, but I'm not about to make a trip to Juso for it.

おいしかったですけど、十三までまた行かないかな。

Should You Go?
I would aim for Bokkoshi or newer shop Bukkoshi before trekking out to Bakkoshi.

ばっこ志に行くより、先にぼっこ志かぶっこ志に行くのをお勧めします

Bukkoshi, Bakkoshi, Bokkoshi

ぶっこ志・ばっこ志・ぼっこ志

Information
ばっこ志

Kuso Oyaji Saigo no Hitofuri

I've been in Osaka for a while now, but there are still some ramen shops I haven't made my way to. Some shops I've known about even for a long time, but just haven't gotten around to visiting. The shop of the day is Kuso Oyaji Saigo no Hitofuri, which means "The smelly old man's last swing". It's a ridiculous name, but not much more so than the other associated shops, Jinrui Mina Menrui and Sekai Ichi Himana Ramenya.

Kuso Oyaji Saigo no Hitofuri specializes in clam ramen, and so their menu consists of three different varieties. They are all shoyu, but of different levels of richness, and with different kinds of clams: asari, hamaguri, or shijimi. They all looked good, but for my first trip I followed Goldilocks's lead and went with the asari one: not too rich, and not too light.

大阪にしばらくいますけど、まだ行ったことないラーメン屋さんがかなりあります。知っていますけど、行く機会がない店が多いです。今回「くそオヤジ最後のひとふり」という店に行ってみました。すごく変な名前なですけど、姉妹店の「人類みな麺類」と「世界一暇なラーメン屋」の名前もめっちゃ変わっています。

くそオヤジ最後のひとふりの名物は貝のラーメンです。具体的に、あさり、はまぐり、としじみのラーメンがあります。メニューそれぞれ濃さが違います。はじめて行ったので、真ん中にあるあさりにしました。

This is a shop you have to wait on line for

この店は絶対並ばなあかん

Some fashionable noodle art

ヌードルアート

The Bowl
In keeping in tradition with the sister shops, the bowl carried a solid shoyu with slabs of chashu covering large portions of it. The soup was sharp, with the light clam flavors providing a subtext to the shoyu. The noodles were flat and grainy, but picked up a measured balance of the clam and shoyu.

Of course what would clam ramen be without actual clams? The clams were almost a reverse of the soup itself: light and refreshing with just a feint hint of the dark broth. The chashu was thin, and since it wasn't fully dunked into the broth, was able to retain its own spicy pepper seasoning. There was also a straw-like bamboo shoot, that had an almost citrus-pine taste to it.

姉妹店と同じように、濃い醤油のスープとでっかいチャーシューの何枚かでした。スープは茶色で濃いめですけど、あさりの風味がしました。つぶつぶとした麺は平打ちで、あさりと醤油の味がバランスをとれました。

あさりラーメンにはもちろん、あさり自体が乗っていました。スープの逆みたいに、あさりは微妙な醤油香りがしました。チャーシューは細くて、スープに浸していなかったので胡椒が味わえました。シトラスっぽい竹の子も乗っていました。

Would I Go Again?
Yes.

はい。

Should You Go?
Yes.

はい。

Information
くそオヤジ最後のひとふり

Yokanise

It's been a while since I've been up to Juso.  Back last summer, I went to see the Yodogawa fireworks, but  I sadly did not have time to get ramen then.  There are a few places in the area, including a couple that are open all day on Sunday, so I decided to head north of the river.

The shop of the day was Yokanise, a tsukemen shop that serves up a mean gyokai tonkotsu.  It's actually been quite a while since I had gyokai tonkotsu, so I was happy to get some.  Yokanise had a limited time curry tsukemen, and I had to work very hard to keep myself from ordering it, but I was able to pull through and order the negi tsukemen.

Information
麺や よかにせ
Ōsaka-fu, Ōsaka-shi, Yodogawa-ku, Jūsōhonmachi, ２丁目８−４
Yokanise is west of Juso Station on the north side of Juso Suji.

The Bowl
Well, negi, the white onions piled on top of the noodles above, was in the name of the dish, and it delivered on that.  The fat and chewy noodles also went with some menma, and the chashu that was already in the broth.  The soup was a frothy gyokai tonkotsu that tasted a bit porkier than others I've had, and had a bit of spice to it too.  The small chashu pieces in the broth tasted a bit different from standard chashu, but were very flavorful.  On the side was this special fruit vinegar with onions in it.  It was sweet and sour and really cut into the spice and richness of the soup.  I preferred the original taste of the soup when dipping the noodles, but the onions went well with the wari-soup.

Would I Go Again?
Yeah, this place was quite good.  I'm still interested in that curry tsukemen, too...

Should You Go?
There are plenty of good gyokai tonkotsu shops closer to central Osaka, but Juso's not that far, and Yokanise is good.