Shinpuku Saikan - Main Shop — Restaurant in Kyoto

I was intrigued by the place when, walking alongside by chance, there was a very long queue of only Japanese people, no tourists. The restaurant is close to Kyoto station and it is very easy to get there. The restaurant is very simple and they make you order already in line, so that when you sit down the food is ready. I ordered a large yaki meshi (700 yen) and a portion of Nikuome (950 yen), ramen with pork slices. Soy sauce is used in both dishes and makes the rice darker and the ramen broth practically black. The flavours were incredible and I will struggle to forget them. The rice was very balanced and tasty and the pork in the ramen was cooked perfectly and had absorbed the delicious flavour of the broth. The same goes for the noodles as well. I accompanied this with a kirin beer (they only serve bottled asahi and kirin), water is free. I recommend this place for those who are passing through and for those who are not, there is a wait but it is...

So far the best fried rice that I have found in Japan. My grandparents use to own a restaurant that made the best fried rice so I'm a tough judge. It's a small place and a line forms outside even if it is raining. The pork based shoyu ramen is amazing, just perfection. The ramen noddles are really thick bigger than any other ramen shops I've been to. I got the ramen and rice and had a hard time finishing both but I did finish both. If your two might just get two ramen and one rice so you can just share it. The water is self serve at the end of the bar seating. Make sure you really keep your chopsticks on the ramen while slurping or else your shirt will be spotted with shoyu. Has English menu but not in so much detail. Just point at the pictures if you don't have much Japanese skills. Just a short walk to the right or the station but well worth it! Don't get it confused with the ramen shop...

There was a queue of around 10 people here at 10:45 AM already. It cleared up quite fast though and the Tokudai ("extra large") Ramen I ordered was the largest serving I had ever encountered. Usually you get like 3 strips of pork, but what I was served seemed like a bottomless well of meat, noodles and soup. The soup had a dark hue and tasted quite good. It was also very rich. The Tokudai Ramen in this restaurant is probably the only meal I've had in my four weeks in Japan that was really filling. If it's too much liquid for you, don't be ashamed to leave some soup. Some Japanese do it too. But leave only soup! Otherwise order a normal serving. You can add "kata-me" which means "noodles al dente".

The staff was very friendly and polite and the cooks were hard at work, yet not forgetting to greet the...