Ichiryu Manbai - Teramachi — Restaurant in Kyoto

STRONGLY NOT RECOMMENDED. It’s by far the worst ramen I’ve ever had in Japan. Don’t let this store be your first impression of Japanese cuisine.

To start with, the quality of the ramen is below average, the ramen is undercooked, stale and straight shoyu without any other aroma; that chashu is stiffer than a stack of sandpaper, dry and flavourless. Don’t even get me started with their rice bowl. It does NOT represent average Japanese cuisine at all, not even an ounce of it. I genuinely question the authenticity of this chain store’s origin.

The restaurant at first glance from the outside looks clean and popular among tourist, but in actuality, the store is filled with overly chatty staffs whom underperformed their limited culinary skills. All I observed and experienced in this restaurant was chaos with staffs all hovered around the kitchen counter like a bunch of high school science...

We had the special tsukemen. The noodles were tasteless and flimsy. To be honest, the noodles had the taste and texture of “kishimen”—thin udon noodles—that had been kneaded with too much water and then overcooked. Totally lacking in the taste, texture, and chewiness that is essential to a satisfying bowl of tsukemen and of ramen in general. As for the dipping soup, it lacked flavor. Also, while ramen noodles are generally long, these were ridiculously so which made it a challenge to eat and having eaten ramen at least 100 times throughout Japan, something I’ve never experienced. The ajitama (boiled egg) and included slices of pork and chicken (?) were fine. The price was normal: $1150 yen. But overall while I left there very full—they do give you a lot of noodles—I was not satisfied at all and I wish I could’ve hopped in a Time Machine and chosen a better...

We were finding a place for breakfast and this shop is in the area near our hotel. They open at 11 am, we were there a little early so waited for a bit. The ordering process was quite easy and foreigner-friendly. You just need to see the picture from the ticket machine (English names of the menus are available on the screen too), select and pay to get tickets, hand the tickets to the staff and find a place to sit.

The food was great. The tsukemen soup was quite rich and flavorful. The noodles were chewy, and the portion was quite big. The soup got cold fast though since you need to dip the cold noodle in the hot soup. The pork slice topping was bit too salty though.

Overall, it was...