Menoh

After a day and two ramen shops in Onomichi, it was on to Kagawa. We ate barbecue when we first arrived, and waited on line for an hour for udon the next morning, but that didn't stop us from finding ramen too. I visited Tokushima two years before, and the thought of delicious Tokushima ramen has stuck with me since. There was a branch of famous Tokushima ramen chain Menoh (now available in San Francisco!) near Takamatsu Station, so we took a break from the Kagawa delicacies and went on in.

尾道を遊びに行ってから、香川に行きました。着いたらまずバーベキューパーティーをして、次の朝に一時間ぐらいうどんの店で並びました。でも、またラーメンを食べたくなって来たので、ラーメンも食べました。二年前に徳島に遊びに行って、徳島ラーメンにはまられました。高松駅の近くに麺王という徳島ラーメンのチェン店があって、入ってみました。

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麺王
1 Chome-1 Kotobukichō

The Bowl
Tokushima ramen is tonkotsu shoyu; a bit porky, but with a soy sauce taste, and sweet. Iekei, the similar style from Yokohama doesn't have the sweetness and full of oil, making it much more overwhelming of a meal. In addition, it's standard to crack a raw egg into the bowl and let it mix with the soup. The noodles were thin and soft, and the pork was thinner slices like the kind you'd find it a lot of Korean food, and sweet too. After an interesting bowl like this, I remember why I like Tokushima ramen so much.

徳島ラーメンは豚骨醤油ベースです。家系に比べると、もっと軽くて甘い味がします。それに、生卵をかけて、スープと混ぜて、さらにおいしくなります。麺が細くて柔らかくて、チャーシューより韓国料理みたいな豚バラが乗っていました。こういうラーメンを食べたら、「やっぱ徳島ラーメン最高だ」と思ってしまいます。

Would I Go Again?
Yeah, if I'm near another branch.

他の支店の近くにいれば、行きたいです。

Should You Go?
Yes, especially those of you living in San Francisco.

行ってみたらいいです。

Ramen Taro

My ramen trips to Kyoto had come to an end, but that doesn't mean I didn't have time for other places.  My friends and I were planning on going to Shiga, but since those plans were rained out we went to Kobe instead.  After a few mandatory snacks in Chinatown, we tried a ramen shop I found in Ramen Walker.

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ラーメンたろう
1-10-10 Nakayamatedōri

The Bowl
Tonkotsu shoyu bowls have a special ability to weigh me down and make me feel bloated after eating them.  That's not to say that it's bad, but Taro lived up to its legacy with a very porky, murky broth.  The noodles, on the other hand, were thin and very light.  The egg and normal chashu were decent, but the best part of the bowl by far was the kakuni.  It was tender and juicy; I could have eaten just that and I would have been happy.

Would I Go Again?
It's a bit out of the way so I probably won't find myself there again.

Should You Go?
If you're looking for ramen in Kobe, this is a solid place.  Make sure to get some of the kakuni.

Manten

Normally my trips to get ramen take me north; be it deeper into the heart of Osaka or all the way up to Umeda.  Today I decided to go to a place a bit west, by the not-so-exciting Taisho Station on the not-so-exciting Osaka loop line.

Manten is in a small alleyway, and offers shoyu tonkotsu ramen, a combination of shoyu and tonkotsu that is the base for styles such as Wakayama-style and Tokushima-style ramen.

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大正橋 まんてん
Ōsaka-fu, Ōsaka-shi, Taishō-ku, Sangenyanishi, １丁目４−２０
Manten is in an alleyway just west of Manten Station.

The Bowl
The broth was shoyu tonkotsu, and I couldn't really pin down which it tasted of more.  It was really rich , but you could taste the soy sauce and tonkotsu both very well.  The noodles were thin and covered with onions.  There were bean sprouts as well, and the menma, which tasted somehow different from normal, was very good.  To top it off, the chashu was thick and melt-in-your-mouth tender.

Would I Go Again?
Yeah, there's not a ton of shoyu tonkotsu places and this was really good.

Should You Go?
Yeah.  You can go on your next routine trip to Taisho Station!