Bistro Japon — Restaurant in Aix-en-Provence

Wanna find the best ramen 🍜 in Aix-en-Provence 🇫🇷 ❓ Well, I'm afraid you'll have to find it by yourself. 😜 Not that I don't wanna help. Or that I don't know where to eat ramen in Aix. It's just that, as I already mentioned on multiple occasions, this is SO subjective. 🤷 There are no definite rules for ramen: from 1 place to another, everything can and will change. So it's just a matter of taste. That is if certain codes are respected. ☝️ For instance, eggs 🥚 and chashu 🐖 are common toppings for ramen. You don't have to get them, or they don't have to be served on your ramen but if they're served they must be what you expect. If the eggs are cold: no bueno. 🛑 If chashu is not pork belly: no bueno. 🛑 And on the ramen I got from Bistro Japon, rue Rifle Rafle, the chashu definitely wasn't pork belly (ham, maybe?) and the egg was cold ❄️. A real pity. 😢 The broth was good but not super flavorful and the noodles perfectly cooked but kinda dull. 😔 That's so sad cause the karaage 🐔 we had as a starter was excellent. 👍 The service also was excellent and the place was nice. We even had the opportunity to eat on the terrace as the weather was good that day. ☀️ The price was spicy for ramen in general, not at all for Aix, so I'd say that was fair: about €30 each, including soft drinks / beers and a couple of desserts to share.

Quality & taste: 6/10 Quantities: 8/10 Atmosphere: 9/10 Originality: 6/10 Ratio price / quality: 7/10 Service: 9/10 How I felt afterwards: 6/10

Update (6/27/25) since I got an answer from the restaurant: First off, I encourage everybody to read the answer as it's really informative and it may help you know what to expect upfront (which is the point of these reviews). Unfortunately, I can't answer an answer so the only way I've got is to do so is updating the review itself. I did not mistake pork loin for anything. By the shape of it I thought it could be ham but I was not sure hence the '?'. I was sure it was not belly though. Unfortunately the egg was cold. I did not expect it to be boiling, just warm enough and that was not the case. That's for the food. I'm not a fan but I respect that others may like it more than I did. I just shared my opinion.

There are a few things that must be taken in account though. Me giving my opinion based on previous experience is not me thinking I'm an expert in anything. I am not. But I do have strong flavor memory (and that's not always positive in my case). And as for the feedback face to face, if I'm alone, I will always tell you exactly what I think (even though that may change after a few hours), but if I'm with a group, especially if I'm not the one paying or if I'm not the one who took the initiative to visit a specific place or if somebody answers before I do, I will not always be able to give my honest opinion face to face. And that is a...

Après avoir testé tous les ramens d'Aix, j'élis celui-ci de manière non démocratique: meilleur ramen de la ville.

Mais d'abord laissez moi vous parler des karaage végétariens... Parce que quand on ne mange pas de viande c'est très dur de regarder les autres manger ces petits beignets de poulet gras et appétissants... Et bien ici amis végétariens vous serez comblés car les karaages de champignons sont juste divins! J'oserais même dire, meilleurs que ceux de poulet (je n'ai pas pu comparer mais mon copain oui). Ensuite je vais vous parler du ramen à la daurade, qui et largement du niveau et même meilleur que certains que j'ai pu manger au Japon! Et les oeufs sont vraiment marinés, pas comme certains endroits où ils mettent juste un oeuf dur coupé en 2. Voilà pourquoi c'est selon moi le meilleur, mais si vous cherchez mieux prenez un vol pour le Japon...

Excellent sharing plates (the fried chicken and the crème brûlée were particularly good!), lovely wine and great craft beer. The service was super friendly, despite my terrible French. Merci!

P.s. worth noting that if you want ramen, they only do this...