When traveling around Japan, I always research local delicious foods to try, but lately I find myself choosing ramen every time.
Kyoto is home to the main store of “Tenkaippin,” the rich kotteri ramen chain with branches nationwide.
Personally, I had eaten at one of their Tokyo branches once and thought “This isn’t very good…” and hadn’t eaten there since, but I decided to visit the main store thinking the taste might be different!
I went on a Sunday around 2:30 PM.
Despite it being well past lunchtime, there was a line. As expected from a popular restaurant.
By the way, the location is about 40 minutes by bus from central Kyoto.
This is the main store!
This is the main store!
About 10-plus people were lined up when I arrived, but the turnover was surprisingly fast and I was seated in about 10 minutes.
Inside the restaurant. Besides ramen, they have quite an extensive menu with set meals and side dishes.
There were posters of Becky who does their TV commercials, and even advertisements for the spa resort they operate. I wonder where they’re heading with all this.
Of course it was full.
The president’s photo and company mottos, plus things like “Started with 37,000 yen” written on the walls are unique to the main store.
The menu.
The popular items here seem to be Stamina Ramen and Beef Tendon Ramen, but I ordered mini portions of both the basic “Kotteri Ramen” and “Yatai no Aji” (Food Stall Flavor), which is advertised as the original founding taste.
This way of ordering seemed unusual, as they asked me “Two… bowls?”
And here came my two mini ramen bowls.
Left is kotteri, right is yatai flavor!
The kotteri ramen has a thick, potage-like viscous soup.
It feels a bit different from the rich ramen in Fukuoka.
It had more proper richness and was more delicious than what I had at Tenkaippin in Tokyo.
Yatai no Aji (Food Stall Flavor). This is also relatively rich, but closer to regular tonkotsu ramen.
They look similar and probably have the same base, but it has a different deliciousness from the kotteri.
I could choose between regular and thin noodles, so of course I chose thin noodles!
The taste varies quite a bit by location.
When I went to Tokyo it wasn’t that impressive, but I thought I wouldn’t mind coming back here.
For Tenkaippin fans, this should be a pilgrimage site!
Even if you’re not a fan, it might be worth visiting once when you come to Kyoto.
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