Musoshin — Restaurant in Kyoto

It become very apparent when I’ve entered the shop that this shop is very tourist oriented. I am not a Japanese but I’ve live here for more than 15 years.

Taste We order the normal ramen and thai style ramen. For the normal ramen, soup is thick but bland, this is nothing like usual ramen. The green onion is very dry, they tasted like those cheap chopped green onion that’s readily available at the Gyomu Market (famous for cheap vegetable and foods). Noodle is okay because they made the noodle. But everything else in the dish are disaster. Thai style ramen does not have any relation or taste like thai, the only relation I could taste is spicy, because they added some spices, but it have nothing to do with Thai. I did finished the noodle but I was struggling to finish them. The taste is not even in par with average ramen shop. I am very sure that 99% of Japanese people, if they ever try this, will not endorse the taste.

Michelin There is a big sign in front of the shop with big font saying “MICHELIN” even with the Michelin cartoon. But you need to read carefully the smaller font below saying that it is their Toronto branch that is recommended in Michelin Guide. And no mention about the number of star though. And there are no way you could verify this anyway. For me, to have a big sign like this is misleading.

Pricing Expensive. To be honest I wouldn’t have written this review if they are not pricing their ramen at this high. The pricing is almost 1.5-2 time the usual ramen out there. There are ramen restaurants with this pricing, but they are way more delicious, much better environment and much better service then this.

Reviews If you casually scroll through the reviews, let’s say first 50 reviews, they are all written by tourists, I have yet to find a single review by Japanese people, perhaps I will find it if continue scrolling. But this is enough to indicate a RED FLAG.

Overall, this restaurant feels like a typical tourist oriented blood sucking and fame seeking kind of restaurant. I can not...

First off, I am not Japanese, but I wish I was. I LOVE Japanese food and I cook Japanese food only in my home.

Musoshin offers several ramen options. We ordered 2 different ramen, the thai and the special Musoshin version. Both were saved perfectly hot and with perfectly cooked noodles. We ordered extra noodles and the portions were accurate. Unfortunately, the broth for both ramen was too thick and a bit flavor lacking. Although kotteri is common, specially for tsukemen to allow the broth to stick to the noodles easier when dipping, Musoshin's broth felt like consuming the fat that is usually skimmed off the surface from stews and soups. As a tsukemen and ramen lover, I feel adequately prepared and educated to say that this place did not offer quality ramen products.

There was no finesse and delicate cut green onions, but thicker. Not bad, but not top level.

The chashu was poorly flavored and cooked. There was an absence of that ideal perfect and incredibly tasty sear on them.

Something that seemed strange was the fact that chopsticks and toothpicks are placed upon guests easy access like normal, bit they were not I dividually wrapped. This does not prevent contamination because previous guests who may have not cleaned their hands, can touch all utencils.

The one thing that seemed a bit alright was the chilli pepper paste. Not out of the ordinary, but definitely added a boost to the foods flavor.

For these reasons, I do not recommend this establishment to potential future customers who love soups or ramen or taukemen or just Japanese food. The prices were expensive for the quality of the food, although staff those a great job at service. Beer was cold and refreshing as Asahi should always be. Honestly, I do not understand why this establishment is recommended by Michellin reviews. Perhaps the day this establishment was evaluated by them, they did a good job.

Save your money and go have good food. You are in Kyoto, big city with opportunities for...

Good ramen! I had the black sesame, husband had the musoshin house ramen and my friend had spicy thai with Kaarage. Pork was lean and not fatty. Lovely. Noodles, even soba in the sesame, were on the thicker side and felt fresh. The broths were thick and rich. The black sesame was so thick I ate it with a spoon after I finished my noodles. Bamboo was a bit thick for my taste, but still good. The shichimi spice they have in the wood jar on the tables is a real kick. It looks and tastes like house made spice, not normal shichimi. My friend who wanted the spicy Thai ramen said it was barely spicy. He used a ton of the shichimi spice. They had white pepper too. Self serve water.

Place seats about 10 people only at the bar. Small bathroom in back. Vending machine order at the front in English and English menu outside. They also have “まぜそば” mazesoba which is brothless ramen! It’s quite rare and wasn’t listed on the English menu but there was a sign for it!

“Michelin rated Canadian ramen” says the sign lol. It was good. But no line out the door at 1pm on Sunday, so it’s not THAT special. But for a short wait, and delicious broth, worth the ¥900-¥1200.

If there’s one thing I’d recommend this place, or to those hungry enough, I had so much delicious thick broth left it was a waste to leave it( I drank it, but many don’t I’m sure). I wish they offered free (since the ramen was kinda pricy) “追い飯” (oimeshi) or soaking rice to add to the broth after you finish. They had bowls of rice for ¥100 or so, but often that’s too much rice. Just the little half bowl to soak up the broth would have been perfect. I love shops that offer that. That’s my only negative apart from the spicy Thai not...