Ramen Niboshi Yujiro Lab

Briefly lived Niboshi Yujiro Lab in Tenroku offered a variety of niboshi bowls, of which I went with the standard-sounding shoyu.

短い間しかなかった「煮干し裕次郎Lab」がいろいろな煮干しラーメンを提供しました。私は標準っぽい鶏煮干しラーメン　醤油にしました。

The Bowl
This bowl's DNA was more niboshi than shoyu; it was grainy and speckled with fish powder. It was pretty strong and salty, but the noodles brought a mellower taste with them. The yuzu peel was the premier topping, and along with the vinegar it was able to balance out the bowl to a place where it was quite drinkable.

ボールの味は醤油より煮干しのほうが効いていました。つぶつぶとした魚粉が散らばっていました。全体的に濃いめでしたけど、麺を食べたら若干あっさりとなりました。トッピングの中でゆずの皮が気に入って、それとお酢でバランスが取れてスープいっぱい飲めました。

Would I Go Again?


Should You Go?
This shop is now closed.

この店がもうなくなりました。

Information
らーめん 煮干し裕次郎Lab

Saba 6 Seimenjo

Saba 6 at time of writing has blown up. It was successful and bought by a company that has expanded to all corners of Osaka. When I first visited, though, it was just a single shop, serving mackeral shoyu ramen.

書いている時点に「サバ６製麺所」がすごく広がっています。成功できて、買った会社がいろいろな大阪市内の場所で支店を作っているらしいです。でも、私は最初行ってみたときに、福島本店しかありませんでした。行って、サバ醤油そばを頼みました。

The Bowl
Saba is my favorite fish, so I was primed to love the shime-saba style swirls of flavor haunting this otherwise light and hot shoyu bowl. The noodles were fat and short, picking up a perfect balance of mackeral and oil. The chashu on the other hand did not keep the saba flavor, but was light and fruity on its own.

サバが一番好きな魚なので、〆サバ的な香りの熱々の醤油ラーメンはすぐお気に入りになりました。麺は短くて太くて、油とサバの味をちょうどよく吸収しました。その一方、チャーシューはすっきりとしたフルーティーな風味でした。

Would I Go Again?
Yes.

また行きたいです。

Should You Go?
Yes.

行ってみたほうがいいと思います。

Information
サバ6製麺所

Ramen Kohei

A new shop, Kohei, opened in Tenjinbashisuji Rokuchome. It's produced by the same people as Jinrui Mina Menrui, but is not affiliated with the northern shop. I visited shortly after they opened, so while they had plans to offer a variety of dishes, at the time they only had cold ramen.

天神橋筋六丁目に新しい「浩平」という店ができました。人類みな麺類と同じ人がプロドゥースしたらしいですけど、姉妹店じゃありません。いろいろなメニューを提供つもりだったらいいですけど、できてからすぐ訪問したので冷やしラーメンのみでした。

The Bowl
This was the closest thing to a dessert bowl of ramen I've seen. Served in a glass bowl with a small metal spoon, it was a delicate dish with a sweet and syrupy seafood soup. The noodles were round and had the perfect amount of bite - they didn't have any hot soup causing them to wear out if I couldn't eat them in time. The dish was filled shiso and mitsuba, giving it an herbal scent.

ぱっと見るとデザートと感じがしました。グラスの丼鉢で提供して、スプーンが金属でかわいかったです。スープは甘味がして、タイのデザートのシロップぐらいとろみがありました。麺がすごく歯ごたえがよくて、スープが冷たかったので伸びませんでした。しそとみつ葉もいっぱい入っていたので、ハーブ感もすごかったです。

Would I Go Again?
Yes, I'd like to try their other dishes too.

他のメニューを食べてみたいのでまた行ってみたいです。

Should You Go?
This place is worth checking out.

行った方がいいです。

Information
らーめん浩平

Menya Kuroko

Tenroku is home to a large number of restaurants, ramen shops and non-ramen shops alike. Menya Kuroko is a shop just north of the main arcade, specializing in tonkotsu shoyu, a blend not found too often in Osaka. Their main dish is the Kuroko Ramen, a tonkotsu shoyu with garlicky ma-yu.

ラーメン屋さんも他のレストランも天六にいっぱいあります。商店街からちょっと離れている「麺屋黒琥」という店の名物はあまり大阪で見ない豚骨醤油です。定番は「黒琥ラーメン」というマー油入り豚骨醤油ラーメンです。

The Bowl
As they delivered the bowl to me, I could smell the charred soy sauce and garlic coming. The broth was a bit salty, but the ma-yu was mixed in well, making it feel like a vital component to the soup's charred edges, as opposed to a topping as it often seems like. The noodles were thicker than you'd expect, but as in Takaida-kei ramen, they did their job sucking in the sodium around them. There was a single wide slice of pork that tasted like a sweet piece of bacon.

丼鉢が来ながら焦がしたニンニクの香りがすごくしました。スープはちょっと塩っぱいめでしたけど、マー油がよく混ざりました。麺が思ったより太い方でしたけど、高井田系ラーメンと同様に塩分を吸収しました。甘味のベーコンのチャーシューが一枚も乗っていました。

Would I Go Again?
It was pretty solid, but I have so many other places to visit in Tenroku I'm not sure I'll make it back.

美味しかったですけど、天六に店がすごく多いのでまた行けないかもしれません。

Should You Go?
I recommend this place for anyone who loves that charred garlic flavor.

焦がした風味が好きな人にお勧めします。

Information
麺屋 黒琥 -KUROKO-

Seishundo

I always try to keep a keen eye open for new shops. In April, I noticed a new shop would be popping up right in the already populated area of Tenroku. It was a creation of Ashita, the creator of late shop Nunpoko and collaborator on Strike-ken. Seishundo provided only miso ramen, serving from 10PM and on. I arrived at night, grabbed a chuhai, and ordered the very last bowl they had.

いつも新しい店を探しています。４月に熱い天六に新しい店ができることを気づきました。ぬんぽことストライク軒をコラボした芦田店主が「青春堂」という店を新しく作りました。夜１０時以降に味噌ラーメンしか提供していません。遅く行って、酎ハイを飲みながら最後の味噌ラーメンを食べました。

The Bowl
This was a wild miso. It was a big bowl and rich with flavors and oil. The chef guaranteed us that it was unmodified, but whatever was in there it tasted deep of ra-yu spicy oil and had a strong star anise aroma that reminded me of Taiwanese food. The noodles were super long, and the pork was a little chewy but quite good. There was some mackerel thrown in for good measure; that was something I really had never seen before.

これはクレージーな味噌でした。大きな丼鉢で華やかな風味でした。いっぱい香辛料が使われていないのを保証しましたけど、ラー油と八角という香りがすごかったです。台湾のにおいだったかな。麺が超長くて豚肉がおいしかったです。鯖も乗っていて、それでびっくりしました。

Would I Go Again?
Yes.

また行ってみたいです。

Should You Go?
Yes.

行ったらいいと思います。

Information
青春堂

Sodaisho

Time for another famous Osaka institution. Sodaisho, which is actually a sister shop to beloved Shiogensui, is a salty shoyu shop near Tenjinbashi Rokuchome. I visited there once shortly after arriving in Osaka, but I had not yet started writing this blog, so I didn't have an opportunity to take notes and post about it.

My last memories of Sodaisho was that it was absurdly salty, in such a way that it washed out the other weaker flavors. Curious to see what my now more refined palette feels about it now, I visited one more time and ordered the koikuchi shoyu ramen.

また大阪の有名な店に行ってきました。大好きな「塩元帥」の姉妹店「総大醤」は天神橋六丁目の近くにある濃いめ醤油の店です。大阪についてから一回行きましたけど、その頃このブログを書いていませんでした。

前総大醤に行った時、「ヤバい！辛いな！」という思い出が出ましたけど、口が肥えてきたわたしはもう一回ちゃんと味見したくなってきたので店に行きました。

The Bowl
A taste of the shoyu broth reminded me of my first experience years ago; it was a hot and thin broth, but brimming with salty, garlic, onion, and oil. It didn't have the deep flavors of a black Takaida-kei shoyu ramen, but was more like a bowl that took the salty, garlicky tinge of a clear shoyu bowl to its extreme. The noodles and chashu matched as well; not very different from what you'd see in a run-of-the-mill shoyu, but covered in sodium and oil. The one element that helped bring the bowl back down were these bits of yuzu floating in the mess. I wish they had used more, but then again, that's not what the koikuchi shoyu ramen is about.

一回味見したら前の体験の思いが浮かびました。スープがあっさりで塩、ニンニク、オニオン、油がいっぱい入っていました。ブッラクな高井田系ラーメンみたいに深くなくて逆に透明な醤油の一番濃いバージョンの感じがしました。さすが「こくくち」ですね。中太麺もチャーシューは透明な醤油っぽかったですけど、塩辛かったです。ゆずの味もちょっと入っていて、それが良かったですけど、それをあまりにも入れすぎたら別のラーメンになるかもしれません。

Would I Go Again?
I think I'm good on this one.

二回行ったので、また行かないと思います。

Should You Go?
For clear shoyu fans who don't mind a night of high blood pressure, this is a good one.

めっちゃ透明な醤油の高血圧のファンにいいかもしれません。

Information
総大醤

Strike-ken

Perhaps the biggest recent boom in the Osaka ramen scene is the opening of the Tenma shop Strike-ken. Created by the chefs of now-closed Nunpoko and new wave shop Fusuma ni Kakero, Strike-ken was built to settle an argument: which is better, traditional ramen, or new, wacky ramen? I have a hard time making a decision on that myself, but luckily I don't have to. I can go to Strike-ken and have both!

Strike-ken has a slight baseball theme, which fits in with their two options. Straight - a traditional shoyu chuka soba, and Sinker, a seafood chicken paitan ramen. I went with a friend and tried both.

最近に天満にあるストライク軒が大阪のラーメンシーンの中に話題になりました。「ぬんぽこ」の中華そば屋さんとニューウェーブ系の店「麸にかけろ」を作った人に作られました。そのスタイルの中にどっちがおいしいかのけんかからストライク軒が生まれました。私もどっちが好きかわかりませんから両方食べてしまいます。

ストライク軒がちょっと野球のテーマがあってメニューも野球の単語を使っています。ストレートはクラシックな中華そばでシンカーは貝が乗っている鶏白湯でした。友達と一緒に行って両方食べました。

No shop is complete without Beavis and Butthead lookalike posters

なんかアメリカのアニメビーバス・アンド・バットヘッドっぽいです

The Bowl
This may have been a classic shoyu, but it was a classic shoyu done right. The broth was light and salty but not overpowering, it had just a tad of sweetness that cut into the salt content. The yellow, thin noodles were firm but easy to drink down. The bowl was topped off with seaweed, onions, a fishcake, and some very juicy chashu.

クラシックな中華そばなんですけど、よく出来ているクラシックな中華そばでした。スープはあっさりで塩分がちょうど良かったです。黄色な麺は細くてすすりやすかったです。海苔、ネギ、なると、ジューシーなチャーシューも乗っていました。

The Bowl
The Sinker was from a different world from the Straight. The yellow broth tasted like it looked: rich, and buttery, the most decadent kind of chicken soup I've ever seen. The noodles too were thicker than the Straight's counterpart, and tasted like the sweet oily soup that they were pulled from. And of course, the bowl contained several slices of chicken chashu and clams.

シンカーはストレートに比べると別の世界から来ました。黄色なスープは見た目に似ていた味がしました。濃いバターっぽい感じがしてすごい鶏白湯でした。めんはストレートよりちょっと厚くてスープと一緒のバター味がしました。で鶏チャーシューもハマグリも上に乗っていました。

Would I Go Again?
In the end, they were both very good. The Sinker was very rich, so I'd sooner order a full bowl of the Straight, but I'd be happy to try either or both again.

結論的に両方おいしかったです。シンカーがすごい濃くてストレートのほうが飲みやすいですけど、またどっちでも食べたいです。

Should You Go?
Yes.

はい。

Information
ストライク軒

Menya Chika

It had been a while since I had been in the greater Tenma area. My friend and I met up to go walking around on a Sunday night. We decided to make our destination the delicious-looking but far out Menya Chika. Their main dish is a shio tsukemen, which we both, perhaps foolishly, ordered in large size.

久しぶりに天満の辺りに行きました。友達と一緒に日曜日の夜に散歩しました。遠いけどおいしそうな「麺屋近」に行こうかなと思っていました。名物は塩つけ麺なので、無料大盛りを頼みました。

Information
麺家 近
Ōsaka-fu, Ōsaka-shi, Kita-ku, Kokubunji, ２丁目２−４１

The Bowl
The broth was light and salty, with pieces of fried garlic floating in it. And also salt. A lot of salt. There were a few slices of decent chashu, and the egg and long noodles were pretty good, but what stood out most was the saltiness of the whole thing. Even the wari-soup required a chaser of water.

スープがあっさりで塩辛かった。ニンニクも入ってました。でも、けっこう塩辛かったです。チャーシューは普通においしかったし、長い麺も卵もおいしかったです。でも、割りスープを飲んでも「塩辛いな」と思ってしもた。

Would I Go Again?
Too salty.

ちょっと塩っぱすぎたので．．．

Should You Go?
Nah, there are other good shops in the area though.

天満の近くに別のおいしい店が多いです。

Men To Hito

After a wacky shio-shoyu bowl, and a soupless tantanmen bowl, I'm back in Tenjinbashi for more. This time, Annie of Brother Annie decided to film for a post on her blog, so Annie, cameraman and I met by Tenroku and scrambled in the rain over to Men To Hito.

The "To" in "Men To Hito" is pronounced "toe", and together the whole phrase means "noodles and people". What else do you need? Miso ramen is rare in Osaka, but Ramen Walker's new shio vs miso feature guaranteed me this shop would not disappoint.

I'll comment on the bowl below as usual, but for full video, check out Brother Annie's post!

Information
麺と人
2-2-26 Kokubunji

The Bowl
It had been a while since had a proper miso bowl in Osaka, and the taste of the rich broth on my tongue was fantastic. The noodles were medium-thick and firm, and they carried the soup well. There were a few slices of chashu that were thick and chewy; not too flavorful on their own, but delicious when soaked in the soup. The miso didn't stand out above my favorite miso bowls in Japan, but it's a more than solid if standard take.

Would I Go Again?
Yeah, it's a good one.

Should You Go?
If you're out by Tenroku, hit it up for some good miso.

Maramen Yanyan

Just the other day I went for a stroll around Tenma and Tenjinbashi, and while I was there I noticed Maramen Yanyan. Yanyan advertises its soupless tantanmen, full of both standard-spiciness and the numbing spiciness you get from Sichuan peppers. I love both, and so as soon as I could I headed over there.

I went for the soupless tantanmen and threw in an egg for fun. For both normal and numbing spiciness, you can choose from 1-4. The owner suggested I get 1 on each, but I balked at the idea of getting the lowest and went 3 for both.

Information
麻拉麺 揚揚
6-7-24 Tenjinbashi

The Bowl
That doesn't look so spicy, right? The whole bowl smelled like Sichuan pepper. I've had my experiences with more spice than I can handle, but I had never had too much Sichuan pepper before. A few slurps into the bowl and my tongue tingled. A few more and my lips too. Two thirds of my way through and it was like I had eaten miracle fruit; everything I put in my mouth tasted different from what I thought it should. Water had a very tangy taste. Isn't water not supposed to taste like anything? My mouth continued buzzing for thirty minutes or an hour after the meal.

Self-prescribed over-spice aside, the bowl was good. The noodles were thin, curly, and firm, and though the taste of the sauce was pretty light, it did the job.

Would I Go Again?
Yeah, it's not quite as good as the best soupless tantanmen or abura soba bowls I've had, but it's definitely solid.

Should You Go?
Check it out! But watch what level of spice you get.

Tsukemen Dokoro Tsuboya

The other day one of my coworkers told me about a place in Kita with curry tsukemen.  My love of curry is well-documented, and so as soon as I got some free time, I decided to check it out.

Tsuboya is a chain of ramen shops in Osaka, and I'd been to the one in Nipponbashi before.  I had the spicy tsukemen, and it wasn't bad, but it was a little thin in both texture and flavor.

Information
つけ麺処 つぼや
Ōsaka-fu, Ōsaka-shi, Kita-ku, Honjōhigashi, ２丁目１−２３
Tsuboya is north of Tenjinbashi Rokuchome Station on the west side of the street.

The Bowl
The spicy tsukemen I had the last time I went to Tsuboya was thin, and it turned out the curry tsukemen would be no different.  Compared with other curry noodles I've had before, Tsuboya's bowl offered a much more subtle curry taste, with a little bit of fishiness.  There was a sign advertising the fat homemade noodles, which were good, but might have been better suited to a thicker broth.  The egg was quite good and the bowl was filled with sprouts and something that I couldn't quite put my finger on but tasted a bit like fried onions or garlic.  Opposite from usual, the wari-soup added a bit of flavor to the broth and made it a bit more balanced.

Would I Go Again?
The toppings and noodles were good, but the broth was pretty weak.  I don't think I'll be back, and if I go to another branch, I definitely would not get the curry tsukemen again.

Should You Go?
The spicy tsukemen wasn't too bad, so you wouldn't be wrong to come and order that.  But there are better shops.

Gunjo

Currently ranked #3 on ramendb's Osaka ramen list.  Gunjo is only open two and a half hours a day, during lunch, and is closed on Sundays and holidays.  This leaves only one possible time for me to go to Gunjo: Saturday afternoons.

I took a long walk through the Tenjinbashi arcade, and eventually ended up near Tenjinbashisuji Rokuchome Station.  I made my way to the small alley where Gunjo is located and found...a line.  It didn't look too bad, so I waited.  Eight or so people eventually lined up behind me, but about 45 minutes later, they were asked to leave by the one and only guy who ran the whole shop.  After another half hour of waiting, I was finally let in to the tiny shop that seated no more than seven, with only one or two items on the menu.  What I ordered was, of course, the tsukemen.

Information
群青
Ōsaka-fu Ōsaka-shi Kita-ku Tenjinbashi６丁目３−２６
Gunjo is just east of the north end of the Tenjinbashisuji arcade.  It's in a small alley called Renga Dori, so you may have to do some investigation and keep an eye out for the sign.

The Bowl
The broth was a very thick gyokai tonkotsu.  It was rich and completely covered the chewy, fat noodles that came with it.  So much so, that it was almost more like a sauce than a soup, which was fine by me. The chashu, also covered in broth, was melt-in-your-mouth tender.

Would I Go Again?
Gunjo was the best gyokai tonkotsu shop I've been to in Osaka, and maybe my second favorite including Tokyo.  If I can make time on a Saturday afternoon, I'll be there again.

Should You Go?
Yes, you should.  Make time for a visit.