Ramen Tanaka Kyu Shoten — Restaurant in Uji

first time we tried was around 5 years ago, and it was good. this time we were visiting Uji again after the pandemic and we were more than happy to find that this ramen shop still operated.

they got English menu. ordered their No. 1 best seller Stamina Ramen again, and it was still as great as 5 years ago. they added matcha to the noodles, but, to be honest, it didn't taste nor smell like matcha, only slightly greenish; my suggestion is don't expect too much about these matcha noodles and you will be fine.

the pork and seafood base ramen broth was amazing. the noodles' texture was chewy with a good bite on it and not soggy at all. all of the toppings were on point, especially the kimchi elevate the overall taste. yes, the price is quite high but IMO it was worth it.

The Karaage (fried chicken) was good. crunchy and juicy, slightly underseasoned for us.

Macha beer was an acquired taste. either you like it or not. there's a hint of matcha with a really deep green color. quite bitter too, not sure it was for us lol but at least we tried!

service was great considering there was only 1 female staff and the cook. food was also served not long after we put our order in.

will be coming back when we're visiting Uji...

I was told that matcha gyoza here are very good so I thought to stop by in a week day. I thought to also order ramen if it wouldn't be pork based. I had to wait for 30 minutes under the rain and hard wind before being able to go in and ask how was the ramen, only to be told that it's all pork based and that if I only want to order gyoza I have to eat outside....

I wasted 30 min waiting for nothing, I could have ordered immediately outside with no queue, but there wasn't A SINGLE SIGN stating that you can order gyoza at the external counter. According to their sign that is only for ice-cream and takoyaki. (By the way, I speak pretty good japanese so it wasn't a language misunderstanding)

Please make things clearer and don't waste people's time, or at least let them eat inside if you make them wait that much outside

Gyoza were actually good, but not so special to be worthy of a 30 min wait in that weather. I had to eat outside so they became cold very quicly, stuck to the paper/bamboo plate and I wasn't given chopsticks but only...

This place was truly a tourist trap, a restaurant that advertises Uji matcha being added or used in everything that they serve, from noodles to dumplings to beer, yet you would not be able to taste matcha in any of them. Worst still, they served everything in extraordinary small portion, even their eggs were smaller, like in between the size of regular eggs and quail eggs. Their ramen bowls and gyoza were smaller too, matching the scale of their tiny eggs, hence not too obvious in their menu photos or candid captures. My ramen came with 5 slices of chashu, but the meat were way too thin that I couldn't even pick them up with chopsticks; being soooo thin, there were not enough meat fibers to hold the meat pieces! With the prices that they were charging, one could easily get a lot more food even from tourist-hot-spot cities like...