Ramen Tales from Osaka

I don't really eat carbs in my daily life. It's something I can easily give up so that I can eat my fair share of dessert without too much guilt. However, there are some situations where I decide to be more flexible. In general, this would include weekends and holidays where I indulge in eating carbs that I normally won't touch, only in moderation of course. Now that I've super justified this post, let me share with you my other exception... Really good Ramen!!!

When we were in Japan, we ate Ramen every other day. I kid you not. My sister was quite pissed with us when we had Ramen for the fourth time in a week! 

These are the Ramen places I tried around the Namba area. Everything was good, but of course some was better than the others.

The first place we went to was Kinryu Ramen. It literally means Golden Dragon. Don't expect to find any English names, just look for the Orange stall with the big dragon. This was also the place that Tim and I had Ramen in last December.

Kinryu has three branches around the Dontonbori area.

Ordering is my vendo with a choice of single pork serving (JPY600 around Php300) or double pork serving (JPY900 around Php450).

Double Pork Serving

They only serve one type of Ramen and the broth is very tasty and not as oily (or nakakaumay) as the other Ramen places we've tried. It's a simple place (open air with tables on tatami mats) with simple yummy Ramen. Kinryu is open 24hours.

 

The next place we tried was Tenkaippin Ramen just across Namba Parks (shopping mall) in Namba Station. We tried it because they had a sign that said add egg (for JPYxxx) and we realized that the missing ingredient to the yummy Ramen at Kinryu was the egg!

They have an English menu that says their staff don't speak English,
implying that you need to point to your order.

They had a variety of broths available. I remember a lighter broth and a creamier broth, and an option to go with half-half. (I may also be imagining this).

We made the mistake of ordering Ton-toro Ramen with Egg
(JPY1000 or Php500)
because it said Manager's choice, in half-half broth.

The egg was really good and the broth was tasty,
but too oily and too rich for my taste.

We didn't realize that the Manager's Choice came with the prime pork neck part.

This basically meant we ordered Fat Ramen with some slivers of meat.
We filled a bowl of fat from everything the four of us discarded.

I think that it would have been a good option to come back and order the lighter broth with regular roast pork and egg, except that we were quite intrigued because one of the restaurants we passed on our way out and on our way home always had a line. When we were curious enough to check if we wanted to try it we discovered it was Ippudo. Ippudo is one of my favorite places in Singapore, you can read about my post here.

We were already dreading the long lines, but fortunately,
there was none when we went because it was raining.

The place is called Hakata Ippudo.
It's on the street with the McDonald's take away counter.
Just walk straight (away from) Namba Parks/ Namba Station. 

They have a weekday lunch set menu.
File for future reference since we always went for dinner.

If you don't like crowds, come on a rainy day.
Sharing tables is the norm here.

We were seated on the island table near the entrance.

My favorite part here was the beansprouts from the unlimited condiments.

They also have different broth options.

I ordered the Akamaru Special Ramen as it's my usual order
from their Singapore branch.

Except here it comes with unlimited beansprouts. Yummmy.

I tried to eat less carbs by loading up on the beansprouts.

The pork here was really chunky and filling.

Though their version of egg is more soft boiled than what we're used to.
The Singapore branch does egg better.

This is the after shot of the beansprouts.
I demolished it all by myself.

I finished everything, but I donated half my noodles to Pa.

They serve cold Rooibos Tea from South Africa
for free because it's said to enhance fat breakdown.

Noodle-wise, I think Ippudo has finer noodles and is over-all the best Ramen place we tried. The only reason I ate Ramen again for the fourth time was because when I overheard my parents planning to eat at Ippudo, I ditched sushi plans with my sister. If given a choice between carbs in Ramen or carbs in sushi, I'll take my carbs in Ramen any day. just saying.

Just writing this makes me crave for yummy Ramen...