Ippudo — Restaurant in Osaka

I think everyone has their own favorite ramen chain in Japan and ours is Ippudo. On our first trip to Osaka 10 years ago we stumbled into north Shinsaibashi and found the Nagahori Ippudo store. We’ve been revisiting this chain when ever we needed a quick fix food option.

There are 3 primary Ippudo flavors and that’s the Shiromaru classic (790¥), Akamaru Modern, (850¥), and the Ippudo Karaka (890¥). Both the Shiromaru and the Akamaru comes with 3 pieces of dried seaweed, a pile of wood ear mushrooms, some bean sprouts, 3 pieces of chashu, and a ramen runny egg. The egg may cost an extra 100¥ I don’t recall. While the Ippudo Karaka is their spicy ramen that comes with a pile of minced pork, green onions, and bean sprouts.

Our last visit we ordered the Shiromaru and the Akamaru and the standard 5-piece gyoza (220¥). The Shiromaru is your classic tonkotsu broth that’s rich, flavorful and velvety texture, along with the thin noodles it’s a light enough to drink the whole bowl. The Akamaru is served with a dab of spicy miso and topped with オリーブ香油 which is a in house olive oil that blended with various vegetables. The spiciness is relatively mild and the olive oil gives the ramen a delicate aroma and rich flavor that compliments their tonkotsu broth very well.

I’ve had the Karaka before, and it’s almost double the Akamaru in spiciness because it’s drenched in their home-made chili oil. However, it’s not “that” spicy I would call it average in spicy level. I don’t order it as often because the minced pork doesn’t fill me up, I always have to add...

In the Nagahori area, it’s usually so hard to find vegan ramen but I finally found it here, and it was absolutely delicious! They only make a limited number each day, so if you want to try vegan ramen, I highly recommend coming early. This is honestly the best vegan ramen I’ve had since coming to Japan.

The staff were super friendly and helped me a lot in choosing the right ramen. They speak English well, which made ordering much easier. The place is very clean, and although it can get busy sometimes, the ramen comes out surprisingly fast very convenient! They also treat foreigners really well.

Thank you so much for a great lunch! I think I’ve just become a fan of Ippudo ramen...

Great ramen place. Filled with locals, it's starts to. Get busy around 7-8; usually the waiting time is short and they will take your orders even when you are sitting outside waiting. The general rule is eat fast and leave quick, despite staying open until late, it is not a place meant for long stays, although open until late night for snacks and munchies. We had ramen and gyoza, both extremely good and satisfying. Price around 1100 yen per ramen bowl, other 500 for beer (no one ordered it beside us, confirming the impression that is is a place for food rather than for drinks). Highly recommended if you want to...