Japanese Mazemen MARUTA

At the intersection of Kawaramachi Street, which stretches north from Kyoto’s busiest downtown area, and Marutamachi Street, which runs east to west on the south side of the Kyoto Imperial Palace, there is a restaurant that specializes in a single Japanese-style mazemen…

Japanese Mazenem MARUTA｜Japanese-style mazemen single noodle hits the fierce battleground of Kyoto

The restaurant is not very large, with a counter and a few table seats along the cooking area. The interior is quaintly decorated in a Japanese and modern style, and it seems to be a restaurant that can easily accommodate both solo customers and female customers.

Now, the menu at this restaurant is basically just one mazesoba. But by adding a number of toppings, spices, and other options to this mazesoba, you can enjoy a variety of tastes.

Examples of variations
Noodle temperature: cold or hot
Noodle quantity: 4 levels from small (half a ball) to extra large (3 balls)
Spiciness: 6 levels from 0 to 5
Toppings: Seared pork, natto (fermented soybeans), fried burdock root, original blend cheese, cabbage, sudachi (Japanese citrus fruit), green onion, and pak choi

As a side dish, you can order an additional bowl of rice based on takikomi gohan cooked in ichiban dashi broth, which is sure to energize the male customers who are not satisfied with noodles alone.

This time I ordered mazemen (cold), medium spiciness No. 2 (780 yen), plus original egg on rice (200 yen). After ordering, I waited for about 10 minutes. First, the egg on rice arrived…

First, taste the dashi rice while making a hollow in the center of the rice. The aroma of dashi broth wafts from the fluffy cooked rice.

Now, place an onsen tamago (hot spring egg) on top of the hollow in the center of the rice, pour soy sauce dashi broth over it, and stir…

The soy sauce broth combined with the takikomi-gohan (cooked rice) gives the soup stock an exceptionally rich flavor. Not only the taste, but also the contrast in temperature between the warm rice and the cold, soft onsen egg is pleasant, and makes you want to eat it all at once. It is recommended that you eat the egg before the heat of the rice is transferred to the egg.

Just as we were finishing the rice with egg, the main dish of mazemen was brought out…

Onsen egg is placed in the center of the top of the noodle, topped with crispy fried burdock root clockwise from the top, seared chashu pork that has been well seasoned with sauce, and green onion cut into diagonal slices. At the bottom of the bowl is a pool of seafood and bonito-based Japanese soup stock, which is dug up and mixed to blend the ingredients.

The flat noodles, which have been boiled and then cooled, are firm and chewy, while the dashi broth is smooth and slurps through the noodles, passing from mouth to throat in one go. The spiciness of the dish is No. 2 out of 5 levels, but personally, I only felt a slight spiciness on the tip of my tongue, and I thought it would be totally fine even if the spiciness level was increased.

The fried burdock root topping leaves a crispy texture and can be easily chewed, so it is good to nibble on it as a chopstick rest, but it might be interesting to break it up into small pieces and mix it with the noodles from the start. The seared chashu pork is sliced thinly, so meat lovers may find it a bit underwhelming. However, I thought that the chashu soaked in the sauce well and with a good meaty flavor suited the Japanese concept better than the thick chashu.

Now, after finishing the mazemen, I noticed that there is also an egg mixed in with the remaining soup. I guess I should have had rice in it instead of egg over rice… I have no regrets about the egg over rice, but I will definitely try that next time! I thought.

In the evening, enjoy a glass of wine with mazemen…Japanese Mazemen MARUTA is a 5-minute walk from Jingu-Marutamachi Station on the Keihan Electric Railway line!

Here are the details of the restaurant…

ncidentally, it seems that this restaurant also serves alcohol at night. What will the collaboration of alcohol and Japanese-style mazemen taste like?

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