Jinrui Mina Kazoku Osaka Head Shop

The ramen shop three doors down from the main restaurant, which has been operating as an annex to the Jinrui Mina Menrui Osaka Head Shop since November 2020, will reopen as the Jinrui Mina Family Osaka Head Shop on January 27, 2024, in collaboration with popular YouTuber “EVIS JAP”. I happened to be at the opening event when I went to eat “Ramen Genten” for the first time in a while, which is how I came to know about the re-launch of this annex. I went back to the store on a different day when the event was over, and the line was as long as the one for the main store three doors down….

The reopening of the main branch of Jinrui Minna Family Osaka Head Shop after a change of business from the previous branch, the branch is still the same, but there are clear differences from when I visited more than three years ago…

I arrived at the Osaka Head Shop of Jinrui Mina Family around 2:00 p.m. on a Monday. It was already well past lunch time, which is generally considered idle time, but at this point there were 25 people in line, and the wait time to enter the restaurant was about an hour and a half.

As you can see in the image above, when you wait in line, you stand in two lines, with Jinrui Mina Menrui on the left and Jinrui Mina Family on the right. At this time of the day, the line for Jinrui Mina Family was longer… I guess you can try the strategy of actually visiting the restaurant and lining up for the shorter line.

The Osaka Head Shop of Jinrui Mina Family is a restaurant that uses the previous restaurant as it is, only changing the ramen noodles it makes, so the appearance of the restaurant and the layout of the restaurant have not changed much. However, one thing has changed significantly from more than three years ago. That is the liveliness of the store. I felt this the other day when I went to the main noodle store first, but both stores have clearly reduced the number of staff, and because of this, the supply capacity of ramen seemed to have dropped drastically.In fact, the Jinrui Mina Family only had three waitstaff working at this time, and they were only inviting about 10 customers max into the restaurant as well. Both stores used to be packed anytime I went there and there was a tremendous buzz…honestly, I wonder if they can keep it up? I hope that both restaurants will manage to hold on and continue to serve delicious ramen for a long time to come…

Jinrui Mina Daikazoku Special: The top-of-the-line ramen menu at Jinrui Mina Family Osaka Head Shop… How was my first Iekei Ramen at an UNCHI affiliated restaurant?

Let me introduce you to the top-of-the-line menu item I ordered at the Jinrui Mina Family Osaka Head Shop “Jinrui Mina Daikazoku Special” (priced at 1,150 yen (tax included)). As with other Ihekei-Ramen, you can customize the “hardness of the noodles,” “thickness of the flavor,” and “amount of chicken oil” in three levels, all of which I ordered as normal this time.

After about 15 minutes of waiting, the “Jinrui Mina Daikazoku Special” arrived in front of me. In the center of the bowl is a half-boiled egg and spinach, and around the bowl are toppings of grilled seaweed, chopped green onions, and two kinds of chashu pork. The ramen looks quite luxurious as it is the highest grade of ramen, but it also gives the impression that it is a little different from ordinary Iekei-Ramen.

Let’s start with the soup… The first sip is quite sweet. I think they probably use sweet soy sauce like they use at Ramen Origin. On the other hand, the pork bone flavor is not so rich, as is typical of the UNCHI Group’s ramen(?). It seems that the main flavor of the ramen is the soy sauce rather than the pork flavor. Of course, there is no pork bone smell at all, so even those who are concerned about the smell can enjoy it. However, if you call this soup “Iekei,” I feel that it is a little different…

The noodles are medium-thick and straight, which you can tell from their appearance that they contain whole wheat flour. I knew it was not made by Sakai Seimen Noodles. Well, that’s just it. The surface of the noodle is smooth, and it is slightly hard-cooked, so you can feel the proper firmness. Of course, the noodles also have a good slickness, and although they are not the noodles of the family lineage, they are well-made noodles.

Turning to the toppings, there are two main types of chashu pork: rare chashu pork and loosely chopped chashu pork. The rare chashu pork had a peppery flavor, which I personally liked. I dared not touch the grilled nori (seaweed) for later enjoyment. On the other hand, the spinach was indeed too small in volume. 

So, to sum up my impression after finishing the ramen, I would say that it is a “Iekei-style arranged version of the original ramen”. It is not “Ie-kei,” but rather “Ie-kei style”. The ramen itself was highly finished, but I think that fans of Ihekei-style ramen may have mixed opinions about it. On the other hand, if you don’t mind waiting an hour for a bowl of ramen, I think you will be satisfied.

The backstage menu item at Mankind Minna Kazoku Osaka Honten… several items, including earthenware pot rice and grilled seaweed, are free refills, a very generous gesture!

In addition to ramen, there is another treat at Jinrui Mina Family Osaka Honten: the “Gohan (rice) Restaurant,” which occupies a corner of the seating area. We can enjoy white rice cooked in an earthenware pot, black pepper, soy bean sauce, garlic, grilled seaweed, and several other items for free….

Taking advantage of this system, I decided to recreate the soybean paste rice I once tried at the Menya Akutagawa First in Kyoto.

First, make a depression in the rice and put some soy sauce and garlic in it…

Pour a cup of ramen broth over the soy sauce. And…

Wrap the rice with nori and eat it. To say the least, this is not an elegant way to eat ramen, but it is enough for two or three bowls of rice. I must have used too much soybean paste when I ate at Menya Akutagawa First before. Surprisingly, in addition to soybean paste and grilled seaweed, roasted sesame and chopped onion are also available for free, and we can have as many refills as we like! What a fatty… When you go to the restaurant, I strongly recommend you to reserve enough space in your stomach for this back-up menu.

The Tokyo main store opened at about the same time! Jinrui Mina Family Osaka Head Shop is located right in front of the South-West ticket gate of Hankyu Railway’s Minamikata Station, the nearest station.

The new UNCHI-brand store, Jinrui Mina Family introduced here, opened its Tokyo main store in Shibuya on February 10, at about the same time as the Osaka Head Shop. As far as I can find on the Internet, there are already many reviews of the Tokyo branch, and I can see the high level of attention paid to the new store.

To be honest, there is a sense of discomfort when compared to Iekei-style ramen in the vein of Yoshimuraya, the head of the Ieke lineage. So, there may be some things that ardent Ihekei fans may not agree with, but it is by no means bad, and if you do not expect too much from Ihekei, I am sure you will enjoy it. Please don’t think too much about it and just visit the restaurant as if you were going to eat ramen.

Now, here are the details of the restaurant…

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