Kouraku Meieki — Restaurant in Nagoya

If you Google Nagoya's famous foods and slowly make your way down the list, you'll eventually get to 'Taiwan ramen'. I adore Taiwanese street food and was curious to see Nagoya's version, which leads me to my next review. This small joint sits on a quieter section around Nagoya Station and hosts at best a dozen customers, mostly on counter seats. We arrived at opening and it was already almost full. The moment you slide open the door, you're confronted by the enticing aroma of rich broth. The ubiquitous ordering machine has an English option and simplifies your decision making process by including pictures. My eyes were immediately drawn to the Spicy Dan Dan noodles which was the nearest thing identifiable as Taiwanese. You can customize your choice by the spice levels and the "hardness / softness" of the noodles. Since I'm particular about both, my anticipation was growing. Plenty of optional toppings and side dishes can be thrown in depending on how ravenous you are. My perfectly al dente noodles and very spicy broth were delivered with amazing speed. For those of you familiar with dandan noodles, it normally doesn't come in a soupy broth but is instead dry(with only a minced meat gravy and some condiments). This Nagoya version has all the essentials you would find in Taiwanese style dandan but comes in a thick broth. Let me just say I'm glad it did! It was brimming with flavor and happily, an adequate amount of spicy heat! I'd like to specially mention the braised pork belly option that I added. That was braised so well that if you picked it up with a pair of chopsticks it had the tendency to just fall apart. Truly a melt in the mouth experience. Another special mention here, these people do not stinge on amount! You'll get your money's worth and then some! We literally rolled out of the restaurant and 5 hours later we're still planning to...

I had the lunch set with a spicier version of Taiwanese ramen and a small bowl of rice. On the table, there were finely chopped garlic and pickled plums available for free as toppings.

The increased spiciness was quite intense. I found myself wiping away sweat while eating, but the ramen was very delicious. The balance of the plentiful stir-fried vegetables, the hot and spicy soup, and the thin curly noodles was excellent.

The open kitchen, where you can see the cooking process, was impressively clean, despite being a kitchen that uses...

We arrived around 19:40 on a Friday (no queueing was required) and ordered Japanese style tantam ramen, egg over rice with sauce/glazing and fried vegetables. The food was good though the ramen better than the fried rice which could have a bit more distinct flavor.

Portion size is large and no side order of vegetables would have been...