Menbaka Fire Ramen — Restaurant in Kyoto

Thank you to all foreigners for visiting Kyoto. Here are some points to note about Japanese ramen. Be careful not to eat too much ramen! 1. Many Japanese ramen are high in salt so that the soup and toppings have a strong flavor. Be careful of gout, high blood pressure, swelling, diabetes, dyslipidemia, stomach upset, gastritis, stomach ulcers, rough skin, weakened immunity, fatigue, arteriosclerosis, and heart disease! 2. In Japan, there is a saying that when in town, do as the town does, and in Japan, there is a culture of slurping ramen loudly. You may think it is noisy and dirty, but if you are sharing a table with a Japanese person at a restaurant that sells Japanese noodle products, it is not the eating rules of your country! We Japanese have an unspoken rule that foreigners who come to Japan must accept and follow Japanese culture, laws, religion, and manners. 3. In Japan, the average humidity is 90% and the temperature is 40 degrees in midsummer. Kyoto is a basin and is cold, so garlic and green onions are added to the ramen soup and gyoza to protect against the cold and to prevent the growth of harmful bacteria such as Salmonella, E. coli, and Staphylococcus aureus, which are the cause of food poisoning in summer. Garlic in particular can cause bad breath, so if you are concerned about this, yogurt or apple juice can help reduce this, so please purchase them at a convenience store later. 4. In foreign countries, the shape of the other person's mouth is important in communication, so people dislike wearing masks. However, in order to overthrow the Tokugawa Shogunate, which was keeping an eye on Guido Verbeck and Thomas Glover's ambition to steal and share the treasures of Edo Castle and the British crackdown on opium in China, they set their sights on the Satsuma-Choshu samurai, who had been oppressed by the Tokugawa Shogunate for over 100 years due to the effects of the Sekigahara War, and made them the initial members of the Great Japanese Empire. However, as you all know, due to the influence of the Pacific Ocean, over the next 10 years, you turned the entire Japanese archipelago into Auschwitz, and regardless of gender, age, location, or status, Japanese women and children were forced to smoke opium, raped by more than 30 Allied soldiers a day, men and the elderly had their families taken hostage and beaten up, forced to do hard labor to build buildings for the Allied forces in Siberia and Japan, and had a lot of money and art stolen from them, so after this, Japanese people never told the truth and often expressed their feelings of apology to others. Instead, Japanese people have become more willing to look others in the eye to confirm their true intentions through communication. Recently, a movement has been spreading in Japan, mainly among young people, saying, "Japan is not your slave and ATM! We want you to be independent and close off from the rest of the world!" Please be careful not to get caught up in it. For this reason, many people wear masks in Japanese stores. 5. There is no culture of tipping in Japan! This is because Tokugawa Ieyasu of Tokyo, who is the model for Toranaga in the drama Shogun, was in fierce conflict with the Toyotomi clan, based in Osaka, over Japanese hegemony. The merchants who traded with the Toyotomi clan under the orders of Toyotomi Hideyori and others used the money they collected from customers when they set up food stalls in Sakai, Osaka, to buy weapons, food, ammunition, and money to hire combat personnel to defeat the Tokugawa, so they issued a ban on the payment of tips...

Visiting Kyoto is a magical experience… until you fall into places like Menbaka Fire Ramen, a restaurant that has no place in a city so full of authenticity and tradition. I went there with high expectations because of the famous “fire ramen show,” but it ended up being, honestly, one of the worst dining experiences I’ve ever had in Japan.

To start with, the price is an absolute rip-off. A simple bowl of ramen that would normally cost around 800 to 1,000 yen anywhere else is sold here for three or four times more, just because of the gimmick of setting it on fire. There’s absolutely no justification for the ridiculous price, especially considering the terrible quality of the food they serve.

The broth is bland, flat, and lacks any depth of flavor. It has none of the umami richness that defines a good Japanese ramen broth. After they set it on fire, the taste only gets worse: the hot oil they pour on top leaves everything with a burnt flavor, as if they had incinerated what little taste the dish originally had. The huge pile of green onions doesn’t help either; it just tries to cover up how flavorless the broth is… and even that fails. The chashu pork, which is supposed to be the heart of a great ramen, was dry and completely uninspiring.

On top of that, the open kitchen, which you might think would be a nice feature, was dirty and messy. There were dirty rags lying around, food scraps and grease everywhere, and honestly, it was unsettling to watch them prepare food under those conditions. It did not feel hygienic at all.

The fire show, which is supposed to be the highlight, felt forced and even dangerous. Before they do it, they give you a bunch of warnings about how to protect yourself from the flames. And when they finally light it up, you realize it’s just a cheap trick to distract you from the lack of quality in the actual food.

The saddest part is that this is a place built entirely to deceive unsuspecting tourists, who have no idea what real Japanese ramen is supposed to taste like and get lured in by the spectacle. I walked out of there feeling ripped off and disappointed, thinking that places like this damage Kyoto’s image—a city that should be all about genuine hospitality and cultural authenticity, not this kind of shallow tourist scam.

In short: • Extremely overpriced for what they offer. • Broth tastes bland and burnt. • Questionable hygiene in the kitchen. • A fire show that doesn’t justify the price or the disappointment.

I really wish I had read a review like this before going. I wouldn’t recommend Menbaka Fire Ramen to anyone. If you want to eat good ramen in Kyoto, there are plenty of authentic and delicious places to go. This is just a cheap tourist trap that should,...

I chanced upon this place while looking for another restaurant but since I was craving ramen, I decided to join the line. I thought I was lining for good ramen. Instead, I realised I had lined up for a show.

From the group seating (which I didn’t expect and made me feel like I was part of a tour group against my wishes), to photo/video taking (they even had holders that prop your phone up to video your entire eating experience) and to the boss trying to make a show of everything (demanding loudly to know from each and everyone where they were going next then writing out directions/instructions when no one asked for help. This is a small place so zero privacy and everyone will know where you are heading to next), this was gimmicky to the max.

Orders were taken by turns, followed by individual photo taking (after demanding for everyone’s phone) and after, said phones being installed on to the holders to film the “experience”. I declined but could see I was captured on the screens of my neighbours’ phones. Zero respect for boundaries. Then the cooking starts for the entire group. Then the cooking of the fire pot by the “Boss”. The time wastage was astounding. I think I wouldn’t have minded, had the ramen been worthwhile.

Basic ramen. Very expensive for basic ramen (1.5 pieces of pork inside). The fire gave the top a faint smokey hint that dissipated very quickly. All that fire for nothing much at all. Gyoza were small and the small plate of fried rice was just that, rice that was fried with some flavor and colour. ¥2,590.

I simply wanted to leave after the substandard ramen and time wastage. I stood up and asked to pay even though it seemed like one had to wait for the whole group to finish. 1.5 hours of my life wasted on this. I would recommend calling it Fire Ramen Show so we know that this is more show than good ramen. Still hungry although the shock of the “experience” had somewhat spoiled my appetite.

If you want an “experience” like others on here have gushed about, do it but only if you want to show off on Instagram what a fabulous life you have. Don’t come here for good ramen or good ambience. Certainly don’t come here if you don’t enjoy your time wasted from waiting and sitting around for others.

The presumption and arrogance of the place in combination, really put me off. Just for perspective, the owner/chef has a tag on his T-Shirt simply stating “BOSS”.

Very friendly and hardworking staff but that wasn’t enough sadly.

Oh, and you had to wear a...