京都柚子豚骨拉麵 中山本店 — Restaurant in Zhongshan District

Today, I took my kids to this new ramen place which opened up about a month or so ago. There was a huge lineup at the beginning so we decided to wait for the hype to settle before attempting to go. Ordering from the machine was pretty straight forward, but all in Chinese. I wish they had an English version to help the process go faster. Luckily the kids could read Chinese, so with their help, I understood what to do. Step 1, choose the type of Ramen (I chose the number one, whereas the kids chose the number 0 (改）with a generous amount of their signature charsiu. Step 2, choose the strength of your broth. You can choose between a Japanese style thick broth or Taiwanese style thin broth. We all chose the Japanese style thick broth, because the other description gave us an impression that it would have a sad lack of flavor...and this is well...Japanese ramen after all. Step 3, choose your noodle type. You have a choice between thin and thick noodles. I personally prefer the thick noodles, but my kid liked the thin noodles. Step 4, choose the texture of your noodles. Choose between soft, regular and hard. I chose hard, while the kids chose the regular firmness. I tried all of our noodles, and honestly, there wasn't much of a difference in the texture between the hard and regular. Step 5, if you have seaweed in your ramen, I highly recommend that you tempura your seaweed. A.m.a.z.i.n.g. it came out super crispy and not oily at all. The other option is your standard non fried seaweed. Step 6 onions or no onions. I got it, but the kids didn't. Your choice. It didn't make much of a difference unless you want to IG your meal.

There were three condiments you can play with at your table, and each one was really detailed as to how to use it. I tried all three in different variations. I really love the peppery Yuzu paste wrapped in the thick charsiu slice. It gave it a peppery citric flavor profile to the tender charsiu. I added the Yuzu salt to the crispy tempura seaweed....again...really nice detail to the otherwise bland seaweed. It felt like I was eating a snack with my meal. The shichimi wasn't as useful to enhancing the flavor of anything and felt like it was just there because it was just a standard condiment. If they changed it into a really yummy Japanese Yuzu chili...it would definitely be more inline with their theme. I would definitely go back and try their black garlic...

Visited: 2024/11/09 (Sat) Ordered: 柚子豚骨（日本味） — 250 NTD

Wait time: 0 min (1P, weekday, evening)

Positive: Service was efficient and fast, and there was no need to queue, though that might have been due to timing.

Negative: The soup was quite bland, lacking salt and flavor—even with the garlic added on top. I chose the Japanese-style broth and even tried adding pomelo salt, but it didn’t improve the taste. The noodles were below average, and the overall atmosphere of the store wasn’t very good looking, tables are dirty and air is too stuffy.

This ramen chain is originally from Japan, with a focus on Kyoto-style ramen. However, the flavor has been heavily localized for Taiwanese tastes, including ingredients like bok choy (小白菜), which I feel takes away from the authentic taste. I forgot to request that it be left out, which impacted the...

Passed by this restaurant on my way to a department store and decided to return for dinner after shopping. And I was not disappointed. Ordered the Yuzu Pork Ramen with the original Japanese flavor broth, karaage (Japanese fried chicken nuggets) and deep fried dumplings. I truly enjoyed the ramen, the broth was very flavorful, but a bit on the salty side for my taste, I will order the lighter version next time. The noodles were perfectly cooked to al dente, a bit chewy and firm. The fried chicken chunks were huge and cooked to perfection. The dumplings were deep fried and came with ketchup (???, this may be a Japanese thing). This is probably the only item that I didn't fully enjoy because I prefer my dumplings less crunchy. Overall, this restaurant does deliver very good products and I can't wait to go back to check out other items...