Men-ya Gokkei — Restaurant in Kyoto

Consistently rated as one of the best ramen shops in Kyoto and recommended by many Kyoto locals & college students, Gokkei is transforming the ramen scene with its thick, creamy chicken soup/gravy that is the ultimate comfort food. It's a bit out of the way but 100% worth your time and effort to try one of the most unique bowls of ramen in Japan.

This ramen doesn't come with soup, it comes with straight up chicken gravy -- and it's a game-changer. It's so thick, I'm convinced that they placed a whole chicken through a blender until it became a creamy sauce that coats each noodle perfectly with each bite. The wait is ridiculously long but the food is ridiculously good. I got a ticket at 4:15 asking me to come back and wait in line at 5:30. When I got there at 5:30 I waited for another hour before being seated. The food arrived quickly because my order was taken while in line. There are no English menus so here are your four options: Toridaku (the original chicken soup, recommended for first timers), Akadaku ("red" soup, spicy), Kurodaku (homemade garlic oil), and Gyodaku (fish soup). They're a steal at 750 yen per bowl and each ramen comes with two bamboo shoot pieces, one piece of chashu pork, and a mountain of higenegi (a thinly sliced green-onion type vegetable). You can add a whole egg for 100 yen, extra noodles for 100 yen, and extra...

Menya Gokkei is one of a dozen or more popular ramen restaurants in the small Ichijoji Area of north Kyoto. Gokkei is often said to have the thickest こってり broth perhaps of all Kyoto. No shocker, there was a long 40-minute wait at dinner time. They have a few variants, but I stuck with their famous Toridaku Ramen for 800￥ with the larger size for 100￥ and egg for 100￥ more.

Holy mother of soups, this definitely was the heaviest and thickest broth I have ever had. The guy next to me laughed and said, "It's like pasta sauce," and he was spot on. The "sauce" was deep and had a rich chicken taste, but surprisingly not the richest taste I've had. The noodles were a bit hard, but broke down nicely in the broth since you can't eat it as quickly as other ramen. The chashu and egg were also quite nice.

But thicker does not mean better. There are times when extreme might be too extreme, even for me. While it may not be up my alley, it was a great ramen with the exception of the lack of free parking and the high prices of paid lots. Definitely check out their "pasta...

Let me say, I did not eat at the restaurant, so this review is not based on the food. My friend and I went to this ramen restaurant based on a video we saw on YouTube. As expected, there was a short line outside the restaurant. We got in line with about four people ahead of us. At some point, a worker came out and began counting the people in line. He then told some people a few people behind us that they would not be served. One man in particular was very irritated and vocal. When the worker returned, he and the worker had a conversation, at which point, the worker came to us and told us there was no more Ramen and they were closed. To make things worse, the people that had been removed from the line earlier were allowed to return to the line and we were the only two to be turned away from the restaurant. This was very disappointing given we were in a country that touts treating people with dignity and respect. I hope this does not happen to anyone else, but discrimination is alive and...