'Ramen Alley', Kyoto Station

[dagordon]

Hi,

We had a little ramen adventure today at 'Ramen Alley' in Kyoto Station. There wasn't much in English, so we don't really know what we ate; I was wondering if someone could translate! That is, if someone could tell us both the name of the shop and the name of the ramen we had.

We went to three shops and had a bowl of ramen at each. This was the first shop and the first bowl of ramen:

We're by no means ramen experts, but this seemed fairly unexceptional to us; the broth wasn't very interesting. The noodles did have a nice chew.

This was the second shop and the second bowl of ramen:

My guess is this was a hakata ramen, but I may very well be wrong. In any case, it was fantastic. A wonderfully rich, complex, porky broth with perfectly cooked noodles.

This was the third shop and the third bowl of ramen:

Wow. This was also fantastic. I think it was a miso ramen? If so it was our first miso ramen. In any case, it was unlike any other ramen we've had. Amazing almost curry-like flavors. Noodles perfectly al dente.

Actually, it would be awesome if someone could translate the sign listing all of the ramen shops, for the good of non-Japanese speaking mankind:

Thanks so much!

BTW, I would have kept on going after three shops, but the wife forbade it. Maybe tomorrow...

[MoGa]

3rd stop was

すみれ Sumire

Specialising in みそ・こってり - miso . kotteri

http://www.kyoto-station-building.co.jp/se...area=ramen&no=1

Own page: http://www.sumireya.com/

2nd stop was

一幸舎 Ikkousha

specialising in とんこつ・こってり - tonkotsu . kotteri

http://www.kyoto-station-building.co.jp/se...area=ramen&no=7

Own page: http://www.ikkousha.com/

1st stop was

宝屋 Takaraya

specialising in しょうゆ・あっさり - shoyu . assari

http://www.kyoto-station-building.co.jp/se...area=ramen&no=4

Own page: http://www.takaraya.info/

All the ramen restaurants in Kyoto Station's Ramen Alley can be found on this page:

http://www.kyoto-station-building.co.jp/se...=zone&key=ramen

Clearer photo with descriptions of four of the restaurants can be seen here: http://picasaweb.google.com/3H2OCu2sky/Kyo...057186861346114

----

Sorry, I can't give you specific info on what you ate at each place (my husband's the ramen enthusiast and he's elsewhere)

I do know what all the buttons you pressed meant

At Sumire you did indeed select Miso Ramen 味噌ラメン

At Ikkousha you selected Ramen ラメン - as the speciality seems to be tonkotsu that's what you probably had and very likely in the Hakata style (looks like tonkotsu to me... but I reiterate that I am no expert)

At Takaraya you selected Takara Ramen 宝ラメン which I assume would be the house speciality.

It's described as "麺に程良くからみつくスープは絶妙なバランスで自慢の一品です"

On this page: http://www.takaraya.info/menu/takararamen.html

Hopefully someone who does read Japanese can translate this for you - it's certainly clearer than 宝ラメン

I've been learning the difference between kotteri and assari foods this evening - apparently very important when related to ramen

Edited May 16, 2008 by MoGa (log)

[Hiroyuki]

←

From left to right:

とんこつ・こってり 博多　一幸舎

Tonkotsu (pig bone) kotteri (fatty, opposite of assari) Hakata Ikkousha

中華そば・こってり 銀座　匠力

Chuka soba (Chinese noodles) kotteri Ginza Shouriki

しょうゆ・あっさり 京都　宝屋

Shoyu (soy sauce) assari (non-fatty) Kyoto Takaraya

熟成細麺 Jukusei hosemen means matured thin noodles.

塩・あっさり 大阪　上方ざんまい屋

Shio (salt) assari Osaka Kamigata Zanmaiya

みそ・こってり 札幌　すみれ

Miso kotteri Sapporo Sumire

しょうゆ・あっさり 尾道　柿岡や

Shoyu assari Onomichi Kakiokaya

しょうゆ・こってり 横浜　壱八家

Shoyu kotteri Yokohama Ichihachiya

(Japanese text copied from one of the sites linked to by MoGa)

[dagordon]

Thank you so much! This is incredibly helpful.

[MoGa]

中華そば・こってり 銀座　匠力

Chuka soba (Chinese noodles) kotteri Ginza Shouriki

←

By the way, dagordon, when I recommended in the other thread that you try soba, this wasn't what I had in mind

Edited May 17, 2008 by MoGa (log)