Ramen of Saiin

April 20, 2019

by Kanae Hamano & Shiho Fujinami

About Saiin in Kyoto

What do you imagine when you were asked for famous foods in Kyoto? You will imagine a lots of food like Matcha or Japanese confectioneries and so on. However, ramen is the famous food in Kyoto. Not many people know about that.

In this time, we are going to introduce about history of Kyoto ramen and three ramen shops at Saiin in Kyoto where we recommend. Saiin is located near Kawaramachi of the sightseeing spot. And Hankyu train and the bus go along this town and it is easy to access. Also there are some university in Saiin area, for example Kyoto university of foreign studies and Kyoto Koka woman’s university. So there are a lot of cheep and yummy restaurants in this area.

About Ramen

First, the ramen in Kyoto is thick type of soup. That is common. As history of Kyoto ramen, according to Shin-Yokohama Ramen Museum, Kyoto ramen was started by Chinese man in 1938. That person opened a ramen shop called “Shinpukusaikan” near Kyoto station. It is the start of Kyoto ramen. After that, the number of ramen shop gradually increased.

Shinpukusaikan(新福菜館

The first ramen shop is “Shinpukusaikan” There are just one kind of taste.That is one of the shops that surely(definitely) comes out if you search with Kyoto ramen. There are 5 stores in Kyoto. There are so many people who come all the way from a distance. This shop is famous as a shop that became the origin of Kyoto ramen. It is that has a lot of history.We visited to the Tenjingawa branch in Saiin area. Inside of the shop makes us nostalgic. A pitch black soup is characteristic. This ramen shop is famous not only ramen but also fried rice. There are 7 set menus; setA ( regular size ramen and fride rice), setB (small ramen and regular size fride rice), setC (ramen, fride rice and gyoza), Fried chicken set menu, Korokke (fried mashed potato) set menu, Pork cutlet set menu and Ground meat cutlet set menu. You can choose favorite one from these set menu and you can add more toppings. The best thing of all, the price is very cheap. Set menu is all 950yen. And you can take out ramen, fried rice, gyoza and so on.

 

Yakiniku no buru(焼肉ノぶる）

The second restaurant is Yakiniku-no-buru. Yakiniku means Japanese barbecue. Do you know that ramen of Japanese yakiniku restaurant is so tasty? This restaurant is a Japanese yakiniku restaurant not a ramen restaurant. But this place is a so famous at Saiin area for having delicious ramen. There are two kinds of tail ramen and yukgaejang ramen. Of course, it’s available to order only ramen.

Tail Ramen

This ramen is based white soup. This soup is condensed umami(delicious taste) because it’s stewed for three days. This place is a Japanese Yakiniku restaurant that’s why can offer. Also, tail is stewed spending a long time and it’s soft.

 

Yukgaejang Ramen

Yokgaejang is Korean spicy meal with beef and some vegetables. This ramen has a very red and gives a strong impact. But it combines not only spicy but also umami(delicious taste). And it has a lot of ingredients such as egg and bean sprouts, so it gives a sense of satisfaction. For those who love spicy foods, cannot contain yourself for joy.

 

Toritani（鶏谷）

The third restaurant is Toritani. This restaurant is a relatively new one opened in 2014. However, it’s so popular year by year. And this place is liked by many students of Kyoto university of foreign studies because it’s near university and Saiin station. Also, it’s often full and you may wait for a while.Ramen has five kinds and side menu has two kinds.

Torisoba

There are various kinds of torisoba such as rich taste (kotteri) and rough taste (assari). Every ramen has a soft char-siu chicken, you can enjoy chicken. Soup of rough taste torisoba is lightly but you can feel the taste of chicken tightly. Tori means chicken and soba means noodle, so Torisoba means chicken ramen.

Mazesoba

This ramen restaurant is popular mazesoba besides torisoba. This has ginger as a very good accent. The combination of mazesoba and torimeshi is the best. Mazesoba is that it is not include soup, so you can eat mixed them with dipping sauce. And torimeshi is chicken rice.

 

There are a lot of famous hotspots for ramen in Kyoto. Unfortunately, Saiin is not well known. But there are many great ramen restaurants that we know that’s why we are students of Kyoto university of foreign studies at Saiin area. Please try to eat the cheap and delicious ramen that Kyoto is proud.

Access

Shinpukusaikan

Adress: 33 Umezu Minami hiromachi, Ukyo-ku,kyoto-city, kyoto prefecture

Nearest station: 10 minutes on foot from the Randen-Tenjingawa station

Phone number: 075-864-9728

Regular holiday: Wednesday

Business hours: 11:00~23:00 (LO22:40)

Yakiniku no buru

Address: 2F 36-11 Kitayake-chou, Saiin, Ukyo-ku, Kyoto-city, Kyoto prefecture

Nearest station: 3 minutes on foot from Hankyu Saiin station

Phone number: 075-925-9029

Regular holiday: Thursday

Business hours: 18:00~01:00(LO 00:00)

Credit card: VISA, Master Card, JCB, American Express, Diners Club

Website: http://www.yakinikunobull.com/sp_saiin/

Toritani

Address: 1-22 Shijoubata-chou, Saiin, Ukyo-ku, Kyoto city, Kyoto prefecture

Nearest station: 7 minutes on feet from Keihuku Arashiyama line Yamanouchi station

15 minutes on feet from Hankyu Saiin station

Phone number: 075-754-7969

Regukar holiday: Monday

Business hours: on weekday 11:30~14:30/18:00~22:00

on holiday 11:30~15:00/18:00~22:00

Credit card: unavailable (only cash)