Men-ya Inoichi — Restaurant in Kyoto

It's my 2nd visit here (27 Nov 2024). My first time was in June 2023. Ignore the negative reviews about their wait times. You just need to be mindful that this is Kyoto, Japan. Eateries have small seating capacity. This place takes about 12-14 pple max at any one time, thus the "long wait". If you are not prepared to wait and only get to come to Kyoto once in your lifetime, then you can give it a miss. However, if you do frequent Japan/Kyoto, do give this a try! It would be worth your effort!

This morning, we got into the queue at 10:40am, very promptly, a member of the staff came out to put our names on a reservation list and told us to be back by 1pm. Our queue number was 32. We got back by about 12:47pm, got into the store to wait by 12:50pm and were served at 1:10pm.

Every dish I tried was good!!! I had the dark dashi version last year and got the white soy sauce (dashi) this time round. The Yuzu strips provided gives their soup a nice/refreshing flavour. The young man (dark frame glasses) who managed the queue in June 2023 (he's very fluent in English and left an impression) made my ramen today. It's nice to see him again, dedicatedly preparing our food. All staff members/crew are dedicated, polite and energetic (good vibes). Considering that they have to manage such a diverse cliente, it's great that they are able to maintain their positive attitude!

This place is worth the visit and as long as you strategise, the wait is not an issue. The location has multiple shopping streets to keep you occupied. Can't wait to visit again on my next trip to Kyoto! :)

To the young crew at Inoichi, keep up the good...

We headed to this place around 7:30 PM after our original choice had an overwhelming line. Unfortunately, we were disappointed to learn that they were fully booked for the evening. Turns out, reservations are taken around 5:30 PM for the whole night, and you need to queue early to secure a spot. So we did exactly that the following day and managed to get a reservation for 8:30 PM.

We were seated around 8:50 PM and started off with their recommended shumai (pork dumplings). The portion was noticeably larger than what we usually get in Malaysia, and honestly, it was one of the best shumai I’ve ever had—juicy, flavorful, and perfectly cooked.

This restaurant specializes in dashi-based ramen, a style popular in the Kyoto and Osaka regions. Dashi is a traditional Japanese soup stock typically made by simmering ingredients like dried bonito flakes (katsuobushi), dried kelp (kombu), and sometimes dried sardines or shiitake mushrooms. It forms the umami-rich base of many Japanese dishes, and in this case, gives the ramen its deep, savory flavor.

We ordered one white soy and one dark soy sauce ramen. Each bowl came with a few tender slices of meat and a perfectly half-boiled egg. As a special touch, they provided dried kelp as a topping and recommended adding it gradually to subtly shift the flavor of the broth. Needless to say, both bowls were emptied within 10 minutes—it was truly heartwarming.

We found out just before leaving that this spot is Michelin-recommended, which honestly came as no surprise. A fantastic place to try local-style...

This is one of the best bowl of ramen noodles I've tried. We had to queue 2 hours in line to finally get a seat but it was all worth the wait.

We ordered the White Clam Ramen, White Wagyu Ramen, Grilled scallop with Tofu Mayo served on rice & Siewmai. They all tasted amazing but I would say the best dish would be their White Clam Ramen with Charsiew.

This is unlike the many tonkotsu based or should based ramen. The overall palatte is very light and refreshing, the broth had a very light, balanced and refreshing seafood flavour, the clams carried a soft sweetness to the entire dish which made it so nice. The Charsiew complimented the dish by adding a slightly richer flavour well maintaining the overall balance of this ramen. This bowl of noodles is truly a work of an art.

My second flavour dish would have to be the Grilled Scallop with Tofu served on rice. It was a was a mouthful of soft melting goodness with the sweetness of the scallops breaking through all of that. Though I ranked these both dishes as my top 2 favourite, but the rest of the dishes were also very good.

Lastly, I wanted to thank the staff here for being so nice and welcoming. We were one of the last few customers seated for the night and we could tell from their faces that the staff were all very exhausted from having a long service night, but despite that, they still greeted us with a big smile and made each dish with such care. Excellent service.

10000/100 would visit this place again if I'm every...