Ramen Kyōya — Restaurant in Fukuoka

This was my first bowl of ramen in Hakata and it lived up to the hype! I'm not always someone who likes to stand in lines when I'm home but on vacation somehow I don't mind it too much. It was a wait of ~30 mins (accurate to the Google maps estimate unfortunately) at 12:30am on a Friday night. The line was just about to the end of the awning for reference. The people in line are generally people who have been drinking from what I could tell. Anyway, the staff basically stick their head out of the sliding door to ask how many people in your party and then prepare accordingly, then they'll do the same again when they've got seats ready and usher you in (I got a lil confused the first time they tried to say to come inside... Sorry to the staff last night haha)

Then you order. The menus are on shelves just above eyeline so grab that and Google translate away if you have to but the first page is ramen. The first line is basic ramen, the second was charsiu ramen which is the one with the meat hanging off the sides of the bowl which is what I got. The third and fourth are some version with green onion (negi). There's some other interesting bowls after that but I wanted to get something simple... Use Google translate or papago to get the translations. The last page was alcoholic and soft drinks. Mostly beer, sake, shochu. They had cola and ginger ale and something else in the nonalcoholic section. I didn't translate the second/middle page so you're on your own there.

They'll bring you a water and give you a couple mins to review the menu. The ordering script is easy enough- order your ramen, they'll ask "かた？(kata)" Or something along those lines and that's the hardness of the noodles. Barikata (very hard noodles) is popular in Hakata but I like my noodles still hard but softer than that so I went with かた. I don't think there's a requirement here to order a drink BUT you should because supposedly most restaurants make the most margin on drinks here in Japan so I still get a soda. Most people enjoyed alcohol here... I was just ready to go back to bed lol.

Then you just wait! I checked out the toppings which are somewhat labeled in Japanese somewhat not but from what I could tell I had garlic, two different kinds of pepper, some kind of chili sauce, maybe some black vinegar, and some other concoction that I didn't know what it was lol. I would say if you're not sure about something take a little and plop it in a little bit of your soup in the spoon rather than full send it (don't dunk the utensil in there pls, just plop it out). I added some of the dark vinegar sauce partway, then finished with some of the chili sauce which was good. I think some of the other tables had another condiment too with a red cap so I was curious about that but didn't seem to have the same condiment, not sure.

Anyway when you're ready just ask for your check (okaikei onegaishimasu) or cross your index fingers into an x and they'll shout for it I guess and they brought me a handwritten check. Sorry to the staff member that I confused with my 2000 yen bill last night haha I didn't know it was unusual to have but we had a good laugh about it. Anyway a charsiu ramen and a ginger ale with a chilled glass came to 1260 ish yen at the time of this review which was pretty good in my opinion and I hate to say it but I'd definitely wait 30 mins again for this. The staff were friendly for running a swift business with only 13 ish...

후쿠오카 현지인 친구들에게 '나카스에서 심야 라멘은 어디가 최고야?' 라고 물으면 가장 먼저 거론되는 가게 심지어 나카스에 이자카야 직원분들에게 여쭤봐도 '그래도 심야라멘은 쿄야지' 라는 말을 들었을 정도로 현지인 사이에서는 이미 유명한 가게

매번 밤에 방문했었고 늦은 밤에도 가게 앞에 줄이 세워져있는데 회전률이 빨라 10~15분이면 입장이 가능하다

깨끗하고 정돈되어있는 느낌의 가게라기보단, 사람 많고 시끌벅적한 노포 느낌의 가게

이 곳의 라멘을 어떻게 칭해야 하는지 감이 안오지만 나는 '이에케 라멘을 후쿠오카 현지화 시킨 라멘' 이라고 생각한다

항상 카라네기라멘을 주문했었고 같이 갔던 친구도 항상 카라네기라멘을 먹었던 것을 보면 아마도 가게의 대표메뉴는 카라네기라멘이지 않을까 싶다

요코하마나 도쿄에서 먹었던 이에케 라멘들은 확실히 타래의 존재감이 강한데 쿄야의 라멘은 타래의 존재감보다 돈코츠의 느낌이 훨씬 강한 라멘 그런데 또 유화가 많이 된 스프가 아니라서 술 마시고 해장하기 좋은 가벼운 돈코츠 라멘

그릇 위에 가득 올라간 매콤한 카라네기가 돈코츠 라멘 특유의 느끼함을 잘 잡아주고 올라간 얇게 썰린 차슈, 시금치, 메추리알도 너무 맛있었다

갈 때마다 항상 얼큰하게 취한 상태로 가서 그런지 평범해보이는 면도 너무 맛있었고 스프에서 나는 돼지 냄새도 너무 좋았어서 오히려 냄새가 안났다면 서운했을것 같다 확실히 그런 매력으로 먹는 라멘

반 쯤 먹었을때 좌석에 비치되어있는 타카나를 넣어먹으면 또 느낌이 달라진다 사이드로 판매하는 교자는 평범하게 맛있는 교자였고 친구 말로는 여기 차항(볶음밥)이 기가 막힌다고 한다

나카스 쪽에 늦은 시간까지 영업하는 라멘집들이 많아서 '오늘 밤엔 다른 라멘집 가봐야지' 싶어도 막상 술 마시면 이...

The ramen at this shop is underrated… the soup, noodles and umami are all on point… add to the fact they are open in late hours… its a good spot to hit if you’re into late night eats

Will visit again… but they are busy even at night so expect a little...