Takemoto Shoten Ebi Mensha

A shop in Shinsaibashi was offering lobster tsukemen, of all things.

心斎橋の「竹本商店」で伊勢海老つけ麺を提供していました。

The Bowl
As you can see from the picture, the broth came scalding hot. It was strongly lobster, and super thick to match. It worked well with the fat, square noodles, clearly built for a rich broth like this. The juicy pork slice and crunchy menma all felt designed to go with the lobster flavor, and in the end, when it was a bit much to bare, a squeeze of lemon and some jelly-laden ato meshi helped finish off the last of it.

写真通り非常に熱かったです。伊勢海老の味が半端なくて、どろどろともしました。四角い極太麺はばっちりでした。ジューシーチャーシューとかりっとしたメンマも伊勢海老と合いました。最後にちょっとしんどかったですけど、レモンの一滴とジェリーがかかった後飯で食べやすくなりました。

Would I Go Again?


Should You Go?


Information
竹本商店 海老麺舎

Tori Soba Zagin

Beloved Zagin has opened a new shop! I made it my business to find an excuse to stop there as soon as I could. While this shop specializes in sardine ramen, I didn't realize that at the time and couldn't help myself from going with their fantastic chicken again, this time in tsukemen form.

大好きな座銀が新しい店を開きました！すぐに行くようにしました。この二号店は「にぼし点」と呼ばれていますけど、気づかなくて鶏系が好きすぎて鶏つけにしてもうた。

The Bowl
The soup was a frothy, milky chicken with a nice ginger sweetness. The noodles were fat, and coated themselves with the smooth substance. Just like the ramen, the tsukemen was loaded with interesting toppings. There was a crispy piece of potato, a sweet almost honeyed piece of pork, and a few small slices of chicken seasoned with yuzu.

スープはまろやかで濁っている鶏系でした。後味にショウガの風味がしました。太麺をつけたら、スープの艶が出てきました。ラーメンと同じように、トッピングが諸々乗っていました。かりかりのポテト、蜂蜜っぽい甘口のチャーシュー、ゆず味の鶏が乗っていました。

Would I Go Again?
Yes.

はい。

Should You Go?
Yes.

はい。

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鶏soba 座銀

Senba Tantanmen

Some shops in Osaka have downright unreasonable hours. Highly ranked Yashichi is only open on weekdays for lunch, but happens to conveniently be by my office. Berashio down south is just open from 11 to 1 on weekdays. Add to the list Senba Tantanmen. It's a tantanmen shop in the heart of Horie, open only for lunch while I'm working. I happened to have a random half day off, so with no other plans, I headed for Horie and ordered their Sichuan style rich tantanmen.

大阪にめっちゃ行きづらい店が何軒かあります。評価されている弥七は平日ランチのみですけど、たまたま職場に近いです。南の方にあるべらしおは平日の１１時から１３時までしか開いていません。それに船場担々麺。堀江にある平日ランチのみの担々麺専門店です。たまたま半休があったので、堀江へ向かって四川式濃厚担担麺を頼みました。

The Bowl
A bowl of red; a layer of transparent oil on top, but too murky to see inside. The soup was spicy and chunky, and I swear a sensed a tomato flavor to it, or maybe it just reminded me of tomato ramen. Floating amidst the soup were yellow translucent noodles, chewy and mixed in with the ground pork and bean sprouts. The oil wore me down a bit by the end, but the rice on the side did a lot to keep it at bay, at least until I was finished my meal and ready to lie down.

真っ赤なラーメンで上に油が浮いていました。辛くてちょっととろみがあって、中身が全く見えませんでした。ちょっとトマトの味がしたかなと思っていましたけど、トマトラーメンを思い出しただけかもしれません。もやしと豚肉を絡んでいる黄色い麺が乗っていました。最後の方に油がちょっとしんどかったですけど、ご飯と食べたらちょっとさっぱりとなりました。

Would I Go Again?
I would, if it were feasible.

行けるならまた行きたいです。

Should You Go?
This tantanmen is worth a lunch break, if you can make it.

行ければ、昼ご飯としてこの担々麺を食べてください。

Information
船場坦々麺

Ide

Some shops change owners quickly in Osaka, and some shops change so often that you can't recommend them to someone before they are gone. Ide is the shop in Amemura that replaced late night shio shop Kuramitsu. At the time of writing, Ide is already gone, however, and has been replaced by a new tonkotsu shop.

Ide is a branch of a tsukemen shop located in Kitahama, associated with Menya Teru and Tsukemen Senmonten Matsuura. Sounds like a thick gyokai tonkotsu tsukemen, which is what I ordered.

大阪にはよくつぶれてできる店がありますけど、アメ村にはめっちゃ変わる店が一つあります。前行ったときに「くらみつ」で井手になりましたけど今別の店になってしまいました。

井手は北浜にある店の支店です。麺や輝とつけ麺専門店まつ浦にも関係があるので、やっぱつけ麺の店です。普通の「つけ麺」にしました。

The Bowl
This was a thick and sweet bowl of tsukemen; the broth and noodles were both super thick, to a degree I don't usually see outside of Tokyo. It was a welcome change from some of the thinner tsukemen often found in Osaka, and if there was some spice added it would have resembled my beloved Enji from Tokyo, or Nagoya's Yamasho. Hidden below the surface of the soup were chewy chunks of oily chashu, and equally thick blocks of menma. A shop this good and filling shouldn't be open in the stay-up-late drunk ramen part of Amemura...which is maybe why it no longer is.

ドロドロの甘口のつけ麺でした。麺とスープはめっちゃとろみがあって、東京風のつけ麺みたいでした。大阪にある薄めのつけ麺と違ってちょっと辛くしたら東京の大好きなえん寺か名古屋にあるやま昇に似ていました。スープに入っていたのは部厚くて油っぽいチャーシューで固めのメンマでした。こんなおいしい店はしめラーメンのアメ村に存在できるのか？と考えて、なくなりました。

Would I Go Again?
I would like to, but it no longer exists. I did go to the main shop, though.

また行きたいですけど、もうなくなりました。本店行ってみましたけど。

Should You Go?
It no longer exists, so you'll have to stick with Suzume.

もうつぶれたので雀に行くしかありません。

Information
つけ麺 井手

Takaraseimenjo

I was taking a leisurely walk home from work one day, hoping maybe to stop somewhere and get dinner on the way. I spotted Takaraseimenjo in the Shinsaibashi arcade, a shop I had been to before and had a good experience, but I was not intending to visit again, at least not on this night. Then I saw what they had added since I had last been there: shrimp miso tsukemen. There are too many buzzwords there for me to ignore, so I dropped everything and went inside.

ゆっくり会社から歩いて帰る途中でどこかで食べようかなと考えていました。心斎橋商店街に宝製麺所を見かけて行くつもりじゃありませんでしたけど、気になるメニューがありました：海老味噌鯛つけ麺。おいしそうな言葉がいっぱい入ったので店に入ってしまいました。

The Bowl
The miso broth was very shrimpy, but not too thick. The noodles, on the other hand, were extremely fat, and had a good sour kick from the sudachi vinegar added to them. There was a big chunk of chashu in the soup that was very juicy. To finish the meal off, I ordered extra rice and wari-soup. The soup went well with the rice just as it did noodles, but the wari-soup watered it down a bit too much.

スープがめっちゃ海老っぽくてとろみちょっとありました。麺が極太くてすだち酢に会ってちょっと酸っぱい味がしました。とてもジューシーなチャーシューも会って、最後に割りご飯と割りスープを頼みました。スープはやっぱりご飯と一緒においしかったです

Would I Go Again?
This was pretty delicious and is now by Dotonbori, so I might stop by again.

うまくて今道頓堀に引っ越ししたのでまた行くかもしれません。

Should You Go?
Any miso fan should check it out.

味噌が好きなら行ってください。

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らーめん宝製麺所

Miyazaki Kyodo Ryori Dogyan

When looking online for a good shop to go to, I stumbled upon Miyazaki Kyodo Ryori Dogyan. Some places listed it as a ramen shop, some as an izakaya, but all praised its ramen. So I went to have a look. It turned out to be more of an izakaya, albeit one that serves ramen, similar to the other shop I went to recently, Danieru no Baai. I didn't bring any friends this time, so I ordered only their specialty ramen, Takaida-kei chuka soba. Of course, as a table charge, I received a small dish of horumon, or various innards.

インターネットでいいラーメン屋さんを探したら、宮崎郷土料理どぎゃんが出てきました。ラーメン屋さんか居酒屋、どっちかわかりませんでしたけど、一応行ってみることにしました。やっぱり、さっき行っただにえるの場合みたいに居酒屋のほうでした。一人で行ったので、名物の高井田中華そばしか頼みませんでしたけど、お通しのホルモンももらいました。

Nothing like delicious offal

ホルモンおいしいよね

The Bowl
As expected of Takaida-kei shoyu ramen, the broth was dark, and deep. Thankfully, though, it was less salty than other incarnations, which meant I could easily drink it all. The noodles, too, were pretty good; thick, and firm. There was one giant piece of chashu, but it didn't stand out much.

高井田系ラーメンらしいスープは暗くて濃かったです。他の高井田系ラーメンよりそんなに塩辛くなかったので、全部飲めました。麺が固めで太かったです。チャーシューの一枚があったですけど、まあまあでした。

Would I Go Again?
Yeah, I'd like to try some of their other food, too.

他のメニューも食べてみたいので、また行くと思います。

Should You Go?
It's a good place to go with friends in Honmachi.

本町に友達にいればいいと思います。

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宮崎郷土料理 どぎゃん

Menkuimen Tajisuta Danieru no Bai

Most ramen shops are small venus that exclusively serve ramen, save for occasionally a small rice bowl or beer. But some shops are restaurants or even bars that happen to have a well-reviewed bowl on their menu. Danieru no Bai was one of those, boasting a standard shoyu ramen and the more adventurous Maze Tsukemen Danieru no Panchi. Different, with a complicated set of steps on how to eat it, I had to order the latter.

普通のラーメン屋さんはラーメンしか売っていませんけど、たまに評価がいいラーメンを売っているレストランかバーもあります。麺喰いメン太ジスタ だにえるの場合は普通の心斎橋にあるバーに見えるんですけどおいしいらしいラーメンも売っています。スタンダードの醤油とちょっと変わっている混ぜつけ麺だにえるのパンチって言うメニューがありました。ちょっと面白そうでしたから、後者にしました。

The Bowl
Eating this bowl is a three step process. First, you try the noodles as they are. Then you mix it up, like a standard abura soba. After eating a third of the meal, you dip the noodles in the raw egg provided on the side. The final third you eat however you like.

This was a strong bowl; thick, chewy noodles, combined with a flavorful sauce that was a little garlicky and had a bit of kick. The egg removed the spice and made the concoction taste smoother. It was a unique bowl, delicious in both forms.

このラーメンを食べるのが三段のプロセスでした。まず、そのまま麺を食べてみます。次ぎ、混ぜて油そばっぽく食べます。で、麺を生卵につけてから、食べます。最後の分は好きに食べます。

やっぱうまかったです。麺が太くてもちもちで、ちょっとニンニクが入っているピリ辛ソースがおいしかったです。卵につけたら、辛さがなくなって、まろやかな味がしました。ほんまにユニークなラーメンでした。

Would I Go Again?
Yes.

はい。

Should You Go?
Yes.

はい。

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麺喰いメン太ジスタ だにえるの場合。

IKR51

I was back in Osaka, and received a visit from Ramen Adventures blogger Brian. We were wandering around Dotonbori at night, and random izakaya employee started talking to us. Brian asked him for a local ramen recommendation, and he told us about IKR51. There's a bit of a buzz online for this shop's shrip shio ramen, so I had been meaning to go for a while, and this was the perfect chance. Read Brian's review here.

大阪に帰って、Ramen Adventuresの作者ブライアンが遊びに来ました。うろうろで道頓堀を散歩して、居酒屋の店員に声をかけられました。ブライアンがラーメンのおすすめを聞いて、IKR51がおいしいと言われました。インターネットにIKR51の評価がよくて、私はいつか行きたかったです。ソウイウ機会があったので、ブライアンと一緒に行くことになりました。ブライアンのコメントをこちらへ。

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IKR51
3 Chome-11-27 Minamisenba

The Bowl
Wow, a light, shio, but super shrimpy bowl. There was a bit of yuzu flavor to top it off that made the soup taste different, but still let it keep its shrimpy flavor. The noodles were yellow and bouncy, good to absorb the flavor of such a light broth. The chashu and egg were pretty good too, making complete this interesting bowl.

さっぱりした塩で海老の味がすごいしたスープ。ゆずも乗っていて、味がさらにおいしくなりましたけど、まだ海老の味がしました。麺が黄色くてこしがあったので、よくそんなあっさりなスープが吸収できました。チャーシューも卵もうまくて、いい食事でした。

Would I Go Again?
Yeah, I'd like to try one of their other bowls.

他のラーメンを食べてみたいなっと思ってまた行くかもしれません。

Should You Go?
Yeah, good location and good ramen!

いい場所でいいラーメンなので、行ったらいいです。

Ramen Zundoya

Some friends of mine came into town from the US, and I decided it was my duty to give them a sampling of good ramen in Osaka.  They hadn't had Hakata style tonkotsu ramen before, so that's where I brought them first.  I veered away from Ippudo and Ichiran since they both have branches in America, but Zundoya is a local Kansai chain.

Of course, I've been to Zundoya before, so I decided to try something crazy.  Miso and tsukemen together at last?  It's not unheard of but it's not common either - especially not in Osaka.

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ラー麺 ずんどう屋
1-5-7 Shinsaibashisuji

The Bowl
This was not just any normal miso bowl.  The bowl had a candle under it keeping it nice and hot, and rice on the side meant be mixed in for some bonus zosui.  The broth was extremely rich and hot miso.  The thick noodles and thin, fatty chashu grabbed the broth well, for one long miso-soaked meal.  It was very good, but along with the spicy miso I ate with a separate order of gyoza on the side, I was a bit miso-ed out by the end.

Would I Go Again?
This was not my first trip to Zundoya, and I'm sure it will not be my last.  The real problem is deciding what to order.

Should You Go?
Yes!  Great food, great location.

Tsukemen Nidaime Misawa

I had a visitor who wanted to taste great authentic ramen, so I knew I had a duty to bring him to one of the best places.  We went to one of my Osaka favorites, Misawa, the second branch of the Fukushima-based shop.

The main item at Misawa is the gyokai tonkotsu tsukemen, preferably with ume, but I've had that a few times before so I decided to be adventurous and try the limited time sardine tsukemen.  This may sound crazy to some of you, but sardines are a common ingredient in fish-based ramen, though I've never seen a bowl this heavily based on them.

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つけ麺二代目みさわ
Ōsaka-fu, Ōsaka-shi, Chūō-ku, Higashishinsaibashi, １丁目７−２３

The Bowl
The broth supposedly had chicken at its base, but that was all but completely masked with the taste of sardines.  When I was younger I wouldn't have been able to stand even the smell, but now I found the taste pretty good, if not a bit much.  The noodles were the standard, fat Misawa noodles, and were accompanied by some extremely thick menma and pretty good tender chashu.

Would I Go Again?
Misawa's one of my favorite places, so yet.

Should You Go?
Yes.  I would recommend getting the ume-gyokai tonkotsu tsukemen, though.

Mendokoro Ishin

I've walked home through Shinsaibashi quite a few times now, and every once and a while, I see a restaurant that looks interesting and mark it down for later.  A while back I spotted Ishin, but wasn't hungry.  Tonight while walking home again, I decided to check it out.  I knew nothing about it, but the tsukemen looked good, so I went in and ordered the tsukemen with an egg.

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麺処 維新
Ōsaka-fu, Ōsaka-shi, Chūō-ku, Shinsaibashisuji, １丁目５−２
Ishin is just a block east of the Shinsaibashi shopping arcade, a few blocks south of Nagahori Dori.

The Bowl
If you look at the picture above, you may notice that in addition to the egg I ordered, there's a raw egg in the middle of the noodles.  That's because before you start dipping the noodles into the broth, you are supposed to mix the egg in, and try them on their own.  With the egg, the bowl of noodles becomes a bit like a carbonara, with thick, eggy, chewy noodles.  They were a little lacking in flavor, but then again, that's why there's soup on the side.  The soup was a thick soup that I think was a gyokai tonkotsu.  There were small cubes of chashu already inside the soup that were very tender, and the slices that came with the noodles tasted a little bit like barbecue sauce and reminded me of delicious American pulled pork.  To top it off, the wari-soup, instead of being the standard simple dashi, was a murky broth with green onions, some spicy sauce, bits of egg.

Would I Go Again?
Yeah, this place was great.  The raw egg made the noodles a lot creamier, and the extra delicious wari-soup at the end will ensure I'll be back.

Should You Go?
Yes.  It's really close to Shinsaibashi, so it's convenient, too.

Ramen Zundoya

I was walking home and needed dinner, so I did a little bit of searching for a ramen shop that was not too far from Midosuji.  Ramen Zundoya came up, a shop that has a number of branches in Himeji, but only a few months ago opened its first and only Osaka branch.  It looked like it had a Hakata-style tonkotsu bowl, and it was right in the middle of Shinsaibashi, so I went to check it out.  I ordered the normal ramen with an egg.

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ラー麺 ずんどう屋
Ōsaka-fu, Ōsaka-shi, Chūō-ku, Shinsaibashisuji, １丁目５−７
Zundoya has its own giant plaza just a couple blocks southeast of Daimaru in Shinsaibashi.

The Bowl
Zundoya's ramen was a classic Hakata tonkotsu very similar to beloved Ippudo and Ichiran.  The broth was maybe a little salty, but quite rich.  They let you choose the amount of oil, the kind of noodles, and the hardness; I got the  normal amount of oil and started off with a set of hard curly noodles, and then added an extra set of hard thin noodles.  Both noodles were actually fairly thin, but while the curly noodles were soft and tender, the thin noodles were much firmer and more like what I would expect from a Hakata ramen shop.  The egg was alright, and the chashu, though it broke apart very easily, like the broth was extremely flavorful.

Would I Go Again?
I've always been a fan of shops like Ippudo and Ichiran, and Zundoya was comparable - maybe even better.  There was something about the broth that made it seem like it was a bit stronger than the other two, though to be honest it's hard to compare directly since it's been well over a month since I've last eaten at a shop like this.  I'd go here again.

Should You Go?
If you're looking for a place a little less well-known than Ippudo or Ichiran, stop by here.  Located in Shinsaibashi, it's one of the most accessible ramen shops in Osaka, is new and clean, and has a large menu full of options.

Menikkon

Tonight's walk brought me through the heart of America Village, the area of Osaka that is meant to be somewhat modeling America.  It doesn't look anything like the US, not even in one of those ridiculous-mocking ways.  But it's a cool place to walk around, has a number of clothing shops, and even has some good ramen.

I found Menikkon in Ramen Walker.  It was advertised for having a rich katsuo (bonito) ramen and a good egg, so I ordered both.

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麺一献
Ōsaka-fu, Ōsaka-shi, Chūō-ku, Nishishinsaibashi, １丁目７−２
Menikkon is in America Village, just a block north of the triangle park.

The Bowl
The soup base was a classic shoyu, but the soy sauce taste was overpowered by the fishiness of the katsuo.  Bowls this fishy I'm used to having as rich tsukemen, but this was comparatively quite light.  The noodles were thin, there were thins trips of menma and a fairly ordinary slice of chashu.  The thin onions stood out as being especially delicious, but my favorite topping was the egg.  After bursting it open with my chopsticks, the yolk poured out like the filling of a cream egg, and it tasted even better mixed with the soup.

Would I Go Again?
This was a very good shoyu bowl.  The closest I've had to it is the slightly fishy Rakunijin, but still Menikkon was a bit richer and more fishy.  I'd visit again.

Should You Go?
It's a good shoyu bowl in a great location.  You should go.

Tsukemen Suzume

My tsukemen-loving friend and I were looking for somewhere to eat, and a pretty good place in America Village came to mind.  I had been to Suzume once before, and I remembered it being solid, but I wanted to refresh my memory, show my friend, and blog about it.

Last time I got the spicy tsukemen, but this time I held out and ordered the store-recommended gyokai tonkotsu version.

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つけ麺 雀
Ōsaka-fu Ōsaka-shi Chūō-ku Nishishinsaibashi２丁目１１−１１
Tsukemen Suzume is in America Village, just a block south of the triangle park.

The Bowl
The noodles were, in standard fashion, thick, chewy, and curly.  The broth was a rich, medium-thickness gyokai tsukemen.  It was very flavorful, and tasted good with the very tender menma and chashu that was hiding inside.

Would I Go Again?
I was glad I went a second time, and I would go again.  It may not be the best gyokai tonkotsu in Osaka, but it was very good, and I would even say that I liked the spicy miso tsukemen better.

Should You Go?
Yeah, sure.  It's in a good location, so drop by after some shopping in America Village.  Just make sure you don't splash on any of the nice clothes you buy there.