Chinese Noodle Kirimen Sohonten

I visited the popular ramen restaurant, Chinese Noodle Kirimen Sohonten, located in Juso, a downtown entertainment district in Osaka. The main shop of Kirimen was located in Kanzakigawa, and the Juso branch introduced here, together with “Kiri-chan Seimen” near the main branch, had been supporting the main shop. However, at the end of July 2023, the founder decided to close all three Kirimen brand ramen shops at once. This was extremely sad news for Osaka ramen fans, who would never again be able to enjoy the taste of Kirimen, which was regularly listed among the 100 best ramen restaurants in the “Ramen West” section of the “Tabelog”.

Fortunately, someone came forward to take over the store, and only the Juso location remained, reopening under the new name “ Chinese Noodle Kirimen Sohonten“. I was curious to see how the new store was doing, so I went to Juso on a weekend before the store opened…

Don’t wait in line until 30 minutes before opening time! How to get in line at Chinese Noodle Kirimen Sohonten

I arrived at Chinese Noodle Kirimen Sohonten a little after 10:00 in the morning. At this point, there was no one in the store. “So, visiting an hour before the store opened would easily get you in pole position!” You might think so, but actually, that is not the case. At this time of the day, several people were already near the place, eagerly waiting to get a better position…

As the sign says, Chinese Noodle Kirimen Sohonten prohibits customers from lining up at the store until 30 minutes before the opening time. They were glancing at each other and trying to get a position as far in front as possible… At 10:30, people started gathering from all directions of the restaurant, and in no time at all, there were about 20 people in line. Fortunately I was able to get the 5th position from the front and was assured to be in the first round as soon as the restaurant opened.

There are 7+2 counter seats in the restaurant, and the total number of seats at the Chinese Noodle Kirimen Sohonten is 9. Starting from the 10th person from the front of the line, the waiter will give you a number slip and purchase a meal ticket before rejoining the line. You may leave the restaurant once you have your number slip, but if you do not return to the restaurant before they call the number, you will be put back at the end of the line. Also, if you do not return to the store for more than 30 minutes after the number is called, your number slip will become invalid.

Kiritama: A specialty menu item at Chinese Noodle Kirimen Sohonten that has been around since the days of Kirimen before it closed…what was it like to try?

What I ordered this time at Chinese Noodle Kirimen Sohonten was Kiritama (price: 1,000 yen including tax), a specialty menu item that has been around since before Kirimen’s closing and renewal. For the same price, either hot or cold noodles can be selected, and it is also possible to add up to 1.5 balls of noodles…

After less than 10 minutes of waiting, the Kiritama arrived in front of me. This time I ordered cold noodles + 1.5 more noodles. The visual is so simple, just noodles and egg yolk… Is it just me or does it remind you of the “Hinomaru,” the flag of Japan?

I put a few noodles in my mouth and found that although they were cold noodles, they were not stiff, and had a good firmness and stickiness, as well as a rich wheat aroma and a smooth texture. The noodles are not bad, but the confidence and determination that comes through from their simple appearance is impressive.

At the bottom of the bowl is a kombu dashi (kelp soup stock) based sauce, and when pulling out the noodles from the bottom of the bowl and eating them, it is like the kombu dipping noodles that are so popular today, and a sense of the soup stock can be felt all over the noodles. I haven’t had noodles with kelp broth since the chicken soy sauce tsuke-soba I had at Ramen Tohichi in Kyoto… If it were my personal preference, I would say that the saltiness was a little too much, but that’s about the extent of the charm.

And much more…

Add a rich and thick flavor to the noodles by crushing the egg yolk…

It is also possible to add on the seafood flavor by using the homemade soup stock soy sauce specially made for the paulownia noodles. To be honest, 1.5 bowls of noodles is not enough at all to try all the flavors. In such a situation, it is better to leave some amount of noodles, especially for the last dashi shoyu. The glutamate from the kelp and the inosinate from the dashi shoyu, the collaboration of these two tasty ingredients is, to say the least, superb.

This is the kind of Chinese Noodle Kirimen Sohonten‘s specialty menu, Kiritama, and I wanted to enjoy each of the four ways of eating it more, and in the opposite sense, I felt that I was missing out on a bowl of it. I felt that my stomach still had room for one more bowl, and if there were no customers waiting behind me, I would have bought an additional ticket for one more bowl. I can see why Osaka ramen lovers would want to return again and again. The fact that the taste of Kirimen has been able to remain in Juso is definitely great news for Osaka’s ramen fans.

Examples of other menu items at Chinese Noodle Soba Kirimen Sohonten (prices include tax)

• Thick tsukemen (tsukemen noodles) 1,000 yen
• Light salt tsukemen 1000 yen
• Thick curry ramen 1000 yen
• Mazemen Z 950 yen
• TSW (chicken and fish) 950 yen
• Thick soy sauce ramen 950 yen
• Light soy sauce ramen 880 yen

The founder opened a new restaurant, Ramen Dream Kirimen, in Kasai City, Hyogo Prefecture! Access to Chinese Noodle Kirimen Sohonten is a 3-minute walk from the nearest station, Juso Station on the Hankyu Railway line.

The founder of Kirimen has opened a new restaurant called Ramen Dream Kirimen in Kasai City, Hyogo Prefecture. The restaurant is open only three days a week, and the first 50 customers are required to register their names, so it is very difficult to visit. The location is about a 13-minute walk from Hojocho Station, the terminus of the local Hojo Railway line. If you are a fan of Kirimen, you may want to get yourself together and visit the new store in Kasai.

Here are the details of the restaurant…

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