Ya Tsung (Kamonegi) Shinn Citrus — Restaurant in Taipei

Visited: 2024/04/04 (Thu) Ordered: ［湯］淡麗柑橘鴨蛤拉麵 — 290 NTD 豚叉燒 — 60 NTD

Wait time: 60 min (1P, weekday, evening, holiday)

Positive: Nothing.

Negative: Weird ramen restaurant with duck broth-based soup, lacking restroom facilities and plagued by unnecessarily long wait times despite available seating inside. This tactic is usually designed to mislead naive Taiwanese diners into thinking the long queue signifies exceptional quality—a common strategy in subpar Taiwanese restaurants. Tables are not wiped enough. The soup itself is unpleasant, with an odd combination of orange, lime, and shiikuwasha (hirami lemon or Taiwan tangerine) flavors that clash with the duck meat. The noodles are too firm, offering no options for softer textures. Prices are high, and the rice with chashu (叉燒) is similarly disappointing, featuring a very dense sesame oil base and green mustard. Additionally, the restaurant plays extremely loud Japanese music, even with headphones you could barely hear anything.

In summary, if you're seeking quality ramen, avoid falling for the hype or queue outside, especially if it's driven by naive beliefs (queue seekers) or high ratings. The most annoying thing was that when I approached the restaurant, the server saw me but didn't even ask if I had written my name on the waiting list. It was clear they didn't care about their customers'...

Still a short queue at 1:15pm on a Sunday but worth the wait.

The menu has recommendations for men and women. I ordered pork char siu, duck and clams with citrus ramen version recommended for guys. Also got the duck char siu rice.

Ramen broth was good and salty. You're instructed to not leave the citrus fruits in too long or else the bitterness of the rind will taint the broth. The broth was a tad salty and I can't imagine what the non citrus versions would be without the acid to cut that saltiness. The duck was excellent and the pork was ok, clams were good but nothing special. Noodles are thin and good texture.

Rice dish did nothing for me. I think it would be a lot better with a raw egg yolk but they don't offer that.

Service is good. Ordering is done via machine like many ramen places in Japan. NOTE - cash only as the machine doesn't...

This place is good for teenagers who don't have a sense of hygiene. Dirtier than usual dirty place. After I saw many dirty spots, I also took a look open kitchen. There are many mold around the sink area and rust around kitchen facilities. Kids who cook ramen don't wear a hat. I asked my wife not to eat here but after a discussion we decided to eat here. Ramen was good, but I'm not sure how they handle & manage...