Ramen Jin

One day I'll make it to all of the ramen shops in Nishinakajima. Today I made my way to Ramen Jin, a shop with a variety of options that specializes in my favorite style: miso. I ordered their recommendation for first timers, Miso no Gyakushu.

いつか西中島のラーメン屋さんを全部行きたいです。今日「らぁめん甚」という店に行きました。いろいろなメニューがありますけど、お気に入りの味噌が専門です。初めてのお客さんにオススメしてもらった「味噌の逆襲」にしました。

The Bowl
Wafts of miso and ginger came my way as the bowl was placed in front of me. The sharp miso in the oily broth was a blend of Hokkaido, Shinshu, and Kyoto miso. The noodles were robust, and curly, the kind I like to see in a bowl like this. The chashu on the other hand was tough, and only saved by the fact that it was covered in tasty soup.

どんぶり鉢が来た時に味噌と生姜の香りがすごかったです。濃いめの味噌が北海道、信州、京都の味噌のブレンドらしいです。麺がよくできて味噌ラーメンらしいちぢれ麺でした。チャーシューはちょっと硬かったですけど、スープと一緒に食べたら、美味しかったです。

Would I Go Again?
Overall this was a fine bowl, but not one I see myself making a return trip to.

うまかったですけど、また行く機会がなさそうです。

Should You Go?
I would recommend this place except to those in Nishinakajima looking for that miso fix.

西中島にいて味噌が欲しい場合にいいかもしれません。

Information
らぁめん甚

Osugi Seimen

Just at the end of 2014 a new shop Osugi Seimen opened up in Nishinakajima. Having studied at Mitsuboshi Seimenjo, the chef decided to make thick chicken ramen. The two different offerings were chicken x chicken thick ramen, and chicken x fish wafu ramen. I am always tempted by good chicken and fish broths, but I was told to get the chicken x chicken for my first time.

２０１４年の１２月に西中島で「大杉製麺」という店ができました。チェフがみつ星製麺所で終業して、独立しました。二つのとりらーめんを提供していました。鶏×鶏 濃厚ラーメンと鶏×魚 和風ラーメンがあって、和風ラーメンが気になりましたけど、一回目で濃厚ラーメンがおすすめと言われました。

The Bowl
Out came the double chicken. A thick chickeny paste, it had a slight smokiness, and tons of meaty flavor. The noodles were thick and curly, but required some force to dig them out of the swamp that was this bowl. The bowl packed a punch, and the onions, greens, and fried onion added just a bit of sharpness to keep the bowl edible. The chashu, too, would have been great on its own, but its succulent texture combined with the broth made it heavenly. By the end I did actually run out of stamina, but with a bowl this good, I don't care.

ダブル鶏が出てきました。すっごいとろみがあるスープで、ザ鶏みたいな負けられない肉の香味がしました。麺が縮れ極太麺でスープの沼から拾いづらかったです。味が強かったですけど、ネギ、野菜、フライドオニオンでちょっと辛さがして、飲みやすくなりました。チャーシューもそのままでおいしいですけど、スープをかけると食感がちょうどよかったです。最後にやっぱり味が強すぎて食べきれませんでしたけど、満足しました。

Would I Go Again?
Yes.

また行かなあかん。

Should You Go?
Yes.

行くべきです。

Information
大杉製麺

Uroko

The ramen selection in Minamigata keeps expanding. The shop of the day is Uroko, which means "scale", a shop that specializes in shio ramen.

南方のラーメン屋さんが増えていますね。今回鱗という塩ラーメン専門店に行きました。

Congratulations flowers from Menya Taku, Menya Marusho, and Jinrui Mina Menrui, among others

麺や拓、麺やマルショウ、人類みな麺類からの記念花

The Bowl
Uroko brought to the table a very mild shio, easy to drink, though covered in chunks of pork fat. The uneven noodles looked handcut, and they were the star of the dish, providing a different texture with each bite. Sitting above the fat and salt were bonito flakes, which gave the ramen tuna flavors on top of the shio.

鱗のラーメンが飲みやすいあっさり塩でした。背脂がいっぱい入っていました。麺お食感がちょっと変わっていて、手作りかなと思っていました。けっこううまかったです。上に鰹節が乗っていたので、ちょっと魚系味になりました。

Would I Go Again?
It was a pretty good shio, but I have other places in Nishinakajima I would visit first.

おいしかったですけど、西中島に他の行かないとだめな店が何軒かあります。

Should You Go?
It's not a bad choice if you're in Nishinakajima.

西中島にいるならいい店です。

Information
らーめん鱗

Hanamichi

A couple years ago I swung by a shop called Hanamichi in Abiko. I ordered their shoyu ramen, which was a pretty solid bowl. Well on this night I find myself in Shin Osaka, looking for dinner. Another branch of Hanamichi happened to be close by, so I decided to find out what the miso I didn't get to try all that time ago was like.

二年ぐらい前にあびこにある「はなみち」という店に行きました。醤油ラーメンを頼んで、おいしかったです。今回新大阪にいて何か食べたかったです。はなみちの支店が近くにあったので食べる機会がなかった味噌を食べてみようと思いました。

The Bowl
The strong miso tare flavor came through in the bowl, though it clearly had a tonkotsu base. The underlying soup was porky, garlicky, and salty, all in just a little bit too high quantities. The curly noodles fit the bowl pretty well, hot from the grease but with a bit of chewiness to them. The chashu too was mixed - there were a couple of small slices that were mostly fat, but also melted in my mouth. It was a solid bowl overall, but a bit on the salty side.

豚骨スープの味が濃かったですけど、味噌たれの味も感じました。スープは塩辛くてけっこうニンニクが入っていました。縮れ麺がもちもちで熱いスープと合いました。チャーシューは油っぽかったですけど口でとろけました。全体的にうまかったですけど、ちょっと塩っぱい方でした。

Would I Go Again?
Maybe, but I wouldn't go out of my way for it.

また行くつもりじゃありませんけど、近くにおなかが空いたら行っちゃうかもしれません。

Should You Go?
It's not a bad bowl if you're in the area.

店の近くにいるなら行ってもいいです。

Information
麺匠はなみち

Menya Fujin

I've been a few times to eat in Nishinakajima, and usually I'm pretty happy with what I get. Once again I met my friend who lives in the area and we headed to another tsukemen place on my list, Menya Fujin. We went for their standard gyokai tonkotsu tsukemen.

何回か西中島でラーメンを食べたことあって、いつもおいしかったです。今回もその辺に住んでいる友達と会って一緒につけ麺を食べに行きました。麺屋風迅に行って、魚介豚骨つけ麺を頼みました。

The Bowl
This was as standard a gyokai tonkotsu as you get, which means it was decent without being anything special. The broth was pretty salty and thin, but the noodles were thick and chewy. Menma, onions, kikurage, and barbecued chashu accompanied the noodles.

普通の魚介豚骨だったので、まあまあおいしかったです。スープはとろみあまりなくて塩辛かったですけど、極太麺がもちもちでした。メンマ、オニオン、キクラゲ、炙ったチャーシューも乗っていました。

Would I Go Again?
Nah, there's much better tsukemen in the area.

もっとうまいつけ麺がその辺にあります。

Should You Go?
You can skip this one.

行かなくていいと思います。

Information
麺屋 風迅

Shiogensui

Shio ramen isn't my favorite style. I love kotteri ramen, and so when I choose between a light, thin shio bowl or a thick bowl of gyokai tonkotsu tsukemen, I usually go with the latter. But my brother was visiting me, so I needed to introduce him to shio ramen.

Shiogensui always shows up on lists of the best ramen shops in Osaka, but since it's kind of out of the way I've been too lazy to go there. With my brother in town and a friend who lived in the area, there was no better chance to check it out. We went in and all ordered the tennen, or natural, shio ramen.

Information
本店 塩元帥
Ōsaka-fu, Ōsaka-shi, Yodogawa-ku, Kikawahigashi, ３丁目６−２４

The Bowl
Wow, the bowl really lived up to its hype. The reason I don't usually love shio ramen is that it tends to be lacking flavor. Shiogensui did not at all; the broth was light, but it was delicious. The noodles were medium, soft, and soaked up the soup like sponges. The menma were pretty light as well, and the one big slice of chashu was juicy and great.

Would I Go Again?
Yeah, it's out of the way, but it might be the best shio I've ever had.

Should You Go?
Yes you should.

Jinrui Mina Menrui

As many of these posts begin, I decided to meet with a friend of mine for ramen.  This is the same friend of mine I went to Tokiya with, which meant we were heading over to Nishinakajimaminamigata (yes, its as annoying to say in Japanese as it is in English).  It's a bit out of the way so I don't get around there much, but there are actually quite a few ramen shops in the area.  A famous shio shop called Shiogensui is there, but on this night we decided to hit up popular, new Jinrui Mina Menrui.

Information
人類みな麺類
1-12-15 Nishinakajima

The Bowl
Jinrui Mina Menrui offers a shoyu broth, and is known for their ridiculously thick pieces of chashu.  Just look at that photo above.  That's thicker than a slice of bread!  If ramen wasn't already grossly unhealthy I might feel about about eating it.  The broth was pretty standard but decent, and the noodles were short, fat, and straight.  The menma and chashu were both thick, and pretty good.

Would I Go Again?
Everything about this place was solid, but nothing was better than that.  The chashu was good, but not so good to make me want to come back.  Besides, I still need to go to Shiogensui.

Should You Go?
There are better shoyu bowls closer to town, and better other kinds of bowls over there.  Only go if you're really into giant pieces of chashu.

Tokiya

Ever since I started my job in Osaka, my boss has been talking my ear off about Tokiya.  The lines, the fame, the thick porky goodness.  It's in a bit of an inconvenient location, and the last time I tried to go there I had read that they had changed their hours.  I used this as an excuse for a while, but then randomly a friend of mine who lived in the area invited me to grab a beer and have some tsukemen.  (Check out his post on Tokiya, too!)

Tokiya offers a rich pork tsukemen and a light chicken tsukemen.  They recommended both to us, based on what we like, and since I'm a thick-soup kinda guy I went with the pork.

Information
時屋
5-1-4 Nishinakajima

The Bowl
Man, they said it was rich and that was no joke.  After just a few noodle-fulls of the super-porky broth I could already feel myself start to get full and weighed down.  It was so flavorful and frothy though that I didn't mind at all.  The noodles were fat and chewy, the perfect kind for a soup like this.  The egg was melty and great, all the toppings were in fact, but the chashu really stood out.  There were fatty, tender chunks of pork waiting already in the soup, and one really thick, peppery piece sitting out with the noodles.  At the end, instead of getting wari-soup, they gave us a dish called dashi-kake gohan.  I've seen places that give you rice at the end, but I've never seen anything quite like this.  They told us to pour our soup onto the rice, and eat it.  It was light, and a refreshing way to end this amazing meal.

Would I Go Again?
I'm a convert.  This is now one of my favorite places in Osaka.

Should You Go?
Yes!