Banraiya

“Banraiya“, a popular ramen shop in Fukakusa, Fushimi Ward, was renamed ”Banraiya, specializing in stand-up yatai ramen and grilled rice” on October 22, 2023, and relocated and opened near Ishida Station on the Tozai Subway Line. Banraiya used to be located in Fukakusa, and was a restaurant that respected the Shinpuku Saikan Head Shop as well as a restaurant where you could enjoy ramen with a heaping bowl of chashu pork from early in the morning. I once had a morning ramen with black ramen with a heaping bowl of chashu pork, but I could not write about it in my blog because the restaurant closed right after that.

To get rid of such sad memories, I took the subway to Banraiya, which moved to Ishida, one evening to have a bowl of ramen with blackened pork. Let me tell you what the new Banraiya was like…

It’ s very melancholy and I personally love it… Banraiya, specializing in stand-up yatai ramen and grilled rice is a restaurant like this…

Get off at Ishida Subway Station and walk east, and you will immediately see a nostalgic red lantern on your right. That is the new location of Banraiya. As it gets closer to the store, it becomes clear that the new store is a very simple building. The word “yatai” has been added to the name of the new store, but it looks more like a ‘prefab’ store than a “yatai”.

When entering the prefab, the space is only about the size of two tatami mats, and the maximum number of customers is probably 5-6, even when eating standing up…. The kitchen is only connected to the restaurant by a small window, through which the owner is silently cooking by himself. It’s a very melancholy place. Personally, I love the atmosphere here, but if you know the previous owner, you may be surprised at the big difference in the store’s appearance.

This bombed-out chashu pork is still alive and well! How was the most popular menu item at Banraiya, Soy Sauce Ramen with extra meat and green onions?

Let me introduce you to the most popular menu item at Banraiya, which I ordered this time: Soy Sauce Ramen with extra meat and green onions. After a little more than five minutes of waiting after ordering, the soy sauce ramen with extra meat and scallions looked like this…

I couldn’t believe my eyes for a moment when I saw this bowl of ramen appear in front of my eyes. The amount of chashu (pork) spread along the rim of the bowl was huge… The ramen with extra meat that I had at the previous restaurant also had quite a lot of chashu, but I wondered, “Was it this huge?” To put it bluntly, it is no exaggeration to say that this amount of chashu pork is a reverse fraud.

First of all, I scooped up some of the soup with a bamboo whisk and took a sip… The soup, made by the owner who respects Shinpuku Saikan Head Shop, has a very strong pork flavor, partly because of the fat floating on the surface. I think some of the fat is probably leached from the large amount of chashu pork, so it would not be so oily if the pork was not added to the soup…. The pork flavor is delayed for a moment by the savory and rich flavor of the soy sauce, but it is not as salty as it looks, and it seems to be in good harmony with the pork flavor. It is not the kind of soup that you can just lift up your bowl of soup and gulp it down because it is quite fatty, but it is the kind of soup that makes you take a sip and take another sip… and you will not be able to stop the rotation of your noodle bowl.

Meanwhile, the noodles for this are low-moisture straight thin noodles made by Kondo Noodles. They are thinner than the noodles used at the Shinpuku Saikan Head Shop, and have a slightly lighter texture. However, the noodles are slightly hard-boiled, so their chewiness and presence in the mouth have a considerable impact. The soup is well mixed with the noodles, and you can enjoy the crispiness of the noodles. It’s a good workmanship.

And this chashu pork, which is the problem, I gave up counting how many pieces are in it from the beginning. This volume may be comparable to the Miso Chashu-Men at Ramen Daiei Head Shop, which made me feel like “I don’t need any more chashu pork…” One piece may be delicious, but when all of them are added, the fat slowly takes its toll on me like a body blow… I ate it after dipping all of the pork into the soup, but my stomach was getting full by the end of it.

Banraiya‘s most popular menu item, Soy Sauce Ramen with extra meat and green onions, is priced at 1,650 yen (tax included). This is no longer a chashu-men, but rather a pork soup dish with noodles. I am sure that the various inconveniences are returned in the ramen as a great value for money. Although it is located a little far from the center of the city, it is a perfect place to go when you are in the mood for a hearty chashu ramen.

Another specialty, grilled rice, is also a respect to Shinpuku Saikan Head Shop.. To get to Banraiya, specializing in stand-up yatai ramen and grilled rice, the closest station is Ishida Station on the Kyoto Municipal Subway Tozai Line, a 1-minute walk. 

At Banraiya, specializing in stand-up yatai ramen and grilled rice, the grilled rice is also one of the specialties on the menu.

This grilled rice also has a visual that conveys respect for the Shinpuku Saikan Head Shop The fried rice is colored with jet-black soy sauce, and the aroma of the burnt soy sauce stimulates the nose, making it even more appetizing. If you have room in your stomach, why not try it with ramen? However, I think the set with more meat would be quite a calorie intake… 

Here are the details of the restaurant… 

P.S. If you are looking for delicious ramens in Kyoto, please stop by this article below…