Mendokoro Janomeya

In the Shijo-Kawaramachi neighborhood, which is always crowded with tourists, there is a ramen shop named Mendokoro Janomeya, which has been attracting a lot of attention since it was recently selected as a Michelin Bib Gourmand.

Founded in February 2016, the store was originally located near Takasegawa River in Nishikiyacho, but closed in October 2020 and reopened in December of the same year on Kayo Koji, a slightly confusing location that requires Google Maps. It is crowded with many customers every day, mainly young people who love ramen noodles.

I had been interested in Janomeya since before it was listed in the Michelin Guide, but I could not find the right time to visit the restaurant, so I finally made my first visit in October 2023. What kind of ramen will I be served at this Michelin-starred restaurant? I was very curious…

For a ramen restaurant, the percentage of female customers is quite high… this is what kind of restaurant Mendokoro Janomeya is.

I arrived at Janomeya at around 1:15 p.m. on a Sunday afternoon, and at that point, there were two customers sitting on a bench in the storefront waiting to enter the restaurant. From this point, the wait time to enter the restaurant was about 10 minutes. I was lucky that I only had to wait 10 minutes at this time of the day. Because by the time I left the restaurant, there were more than 10 people in line, even though it was before 2:00 p.m…

Upon entering the restaurant, I found a simple interior with a spacious and relaxing atmosphere. The aroma of chicken broth wafting through the air as soon as you open the entrance door. A quick look around the restaurant revealed that the seating capacity was for a total of 17 customers, including five counter seats. At this time, a large percentage of the customers were women, and I think it would be possible for a single woman to sip ramen here without feeling self-conscious…

Tori Soba: A Michelin-starred signature dish at Mendokoro Janomeya…

This time I ordered the signature dish, Tori Soba (Chicken noodle, priced at 1,150 yen including tax). For an additional charge, you can add on an ajitama (flavored egg) (price: +180 yen) or chashu (2 pieces of pork and 1 piece of chicken, price: +330 yen), but this time I decided to eat it as the default.

After about 10 minutes of waiting, the Tori Soba Noodle arrived in front of me…

The color of the soup is dark, but it looks quite elegant. The soup is made from several kinds of chicken bones, whole chicken, and water. Is it just me, or does the mere mention of “soup made with Jidori chicken” make me feel extremely luxurious? The addition of the prestigious “Michelin” label also adds a sense of anticipation to the soup, so much so that I almost forgot to take a picture of the soup.

The first sip of the soup is quite oily with chicken oil, but when you break through the oily film, the clear chicken broth flavor, mild saltiness and sweetness of soy sauce, and savory aroma gradually and gently spread in your mouth. Overall, the soup is quite light, and I feel that it is similar to the Tansei Ramen at Menya Tsumugu in Osaka. That said, it is not so light that you have to concentrate your nerves on the tip of your tongue to understand the flavor, and you can enjoy the dashi and the aroma of the soy sauce. It is probably quite close to the image of “light and elegant Kyoto ramen” that many tourists imagine.

In contrast, the noodles are straight and thin like somen noodles. The noodles are well balanced with the refined soup and release the aroma of wheat when chewed. Of course, the thin noodles are easy to slurp. The volume of the noodles is surprisingly large. Even if you don’t order a large portion, it will fill you up. However, the volume of the noodle may have been a problem, as the noodles got entangled in the bowl, making it difficult to eat…

Now for the fun part: one large piece of pork rare chashu pork…

One piece of moist chicken breast char siu pork. I would have liked to have more chicken breast char siu pork, but I could have easily eaten as many pieces of pork rare char siu pork as I wanted. At this point, I regretted so much that I should have ordered more pork chashu….

So, the Tori soba, the signature dish at Janomeya, lived up to its Michelin-starred reputation. No wonder it is so popular. If I had to say so, I would say that the default price of 1,150 yen per bowl is a bit expensive, but the soup is made with brand-name chicken, and given the current global situation, this can’t be helped. If you want to try such ramen, I recommend Janomeya’s Tori Soba Noodle.

Other menu items at Janomeya (prices include tax)

• Tori Paitan (soup with chicken broth): 1,100 yen
• Niboshi Soba (dried noodle) (limited quantity): 1,100 yen
• Shio Tori Soba (limited quantity) 1,250 yen
• Chicken rice (380 yen)
• Rice with egg 350 yen
• Rice with chashu and mayonnaise 430 yen
• Small rice 100 yen and up

Late afternoon is the best time to visit! To get to Mendokoro Janomeya, walk one minute from the nearest station, Kyoto Kawaramachi Station on the Hankyu Kyoto Line.

If you want to avoid the lines, I recommend that you visit the restaurant in the late afternoon. Fortunately, the restaurant is open for lunch until 4 p.m., which is relatively long. It would be really nice to have such a restaurant nearby when you miss lunch. This is a restaurant worth remembering as a “place to go when you are in trouble,” so if you are in trouble and miss lunch in Shijo-Kawaramachi, by all means, try this restaurant.

Now, here are the details of the restaurant. Restaurant data is here…