OverviewStyle: Kotteri-style (thick broth gravy-like) ramen
Overall rating: 7.45/10.0
Location: Kyoto (origin), Tokyo, and Hawaii
The Signature Bowl
What you cannot miss when you step foot in this ramen shop is the Kotteri-style ramen. The broth is prepared by boiling many natural ingredients overnight with the star ingredient being "chicken collagen", which gives the soup its rich gravy-like texture and super tasty flavor. The noodles are hand pulled noodle made fresh everyday. They are hosomen type with cut edge and soft texture. The chachu pork is so so to me, but I think it's the soup that makes everything tastes really good. I love having mine with boiled egg and extra spring onions (I absolutely LOVE the spring onion soaked in the Kotteri soup. It's just so tatsy), and mixed in a generous portion of chilli garlic paste into the soup. The chilli garlic paste is perfect for brining out the flavor and add the extra texture to the soup.
What else is on the menu
They also have Assari-style (normal shoyu soup) ramen as well for anyone who's scared of collagen (but for all the girls and boys out there, regardless of what age, you know that collagen helps reduce wrinkles and crow feet, right? :). What I love the most about this place is their side dishes. They have quite good chinese-style fried rice, very good fried chicken and gyoza. I love dipping the crispy fried chicken into the thick broth. It gives a great blend of the crispy fried chiken moistened by the broth texture and the flavor of the soup. Some stores also have mentaiko (marinated roe of pollock) rice and pork with kimchi. Most people usually order the ramen with white rice. I have never tried this (it's just not my style and not my thing. I just kinda know that I'm not gonna be in love with it) but supposedly the way to eat Kotteri-style ramen is to finish everything in the bowl but leave the soup for last. Then, you mix in the white rice into the soup and eat it like a porridge. If you have tried it, let me know what you think. Price range
The price here is very economical, with the basic Kotteri ramen for only 650 yen. Topping is about 100-150 yen each (egg, spring onion, chachu, corn, etc). They have all the combinations for set menu (you can choose your ramen with one or two side dishes) for something aroun 800-1000 yen.
Ratings
Noodle: 7.0/10.0
The usual hosomen type noodles. Nothing to complain but nothing spectacular.
Soup: 8.5/10.0
The collagen is supposedly very healthy for you, and the texture of the broth is one of its kind. Quite tasty flavor, but I have to say it's quite heavy on salty and is weak to present the dimensions from other flavors. A bit too rich to drink it all up.
Toppings: 7.0/10.0
Good variety, but very average taste.
Side dishes: 8.5/10.0
Good variety, and the fried chicken and fried rice are done quite well (although not top-notch).
Condiments: 7.0/10.0
They have chilli paste and chilli garlic paste as well. Once you mix it in to the Kotteri soup, there is nothing like it! But other than that the condiments are pretty standard here.
Atmosphere: 6.5/10.0
Nothing special here. Mostly counter seats with a few tables with somewhat very limited spaces for my legs and my belongings.
Service and staff: 7.0/10.0
The staff is quite friendly, but again, nothing impressive and it's quite average when you think of the great service standard in Japan.
Menu variety: 6.0/10.0
There are pretty much only two types of soup bases, then the rest of the variety is from your own combinations of toppings. It's a bit boring I have to say.
Location: 9.0/10.0
Very convenient with over 300 stores in Japan and also a Hawaii store.
Value for money: 8.0/10.0
The set menu is quite cheap. But to get a satisfied bowl of ramen, I felt like I have to add so many toppings (extra chachu (the normal bowl only comes with two thin pieces of chachu), egg, spring onions) that it ended up become a 900-1000 yen ramen sometimes.
Overall Rating: 7.45/10.0
Location and access
They have over 300 locations over Japan and one store in Hawaii!
Store: Kyoto store
Address Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 94 Shirakawa Maison 1F
Phone 075-722-0955
Store hour 11:00AM - 3:00 AM
Store: Shibuya store
Address Building, 30-3 Udagawa-cho Shibuya-1F Umeyoshi Building
Access 3min walk from JR Shibuya Station
Phone 03-5428-3650
Store hour 11:00AM - 3:00 AM
Store: Hawaii store
Address 617 Kapahulu Avenue Honolulu, HI 96815 (map)
Phone (808) 732-1211
Store hour 11:00 AM - 22:00 PM
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