Menya Kirameki Kyoto Sanjo

The other day while walking along Kawaramachi Dori, I saw a sign for a ramen shop and suddenly felt like eating ramen, so I went straight to the store. The store was Menya Kirameki Kyoto Sanjo, a branch of the Kirameki Group, a popular chain of Toripaitan ramen restaurants in Kyoto. The “Miso no Kirameki” on the signboard looked similar to the thick miso ramen I had eaten at the Menya Yukikaze Susukino Head Shop in Sapporo before, and I thought, “I can eat miso ramen with chicken white soup in Kyoto, too…” and entered the store as a conditioned reflex…

Struggling in Kyoto’s new ramen battleground…Menya Kirameki Kyoto Sanjo is a store like this…

Menya Kirameki Kyoto Sanjo opened in June 2017 as the sixth branch of the Kirameki Group. The store is located between Sanjo Dori and Oike Dori, and in the short section between these two streets, there are branches of Kyoto Kitashirakawa Ramen Kairikiya and Ramen Yokozuna, a branch of the famous Osaka-based UNCHI Group’s Kuso-oyaji Saigo no Hitofuri, and a new store called World’s Busiest Ramen Shop: A Fusion of Near Future and Japanese Culture. 

Menya Kirameki Kyoto Sanjo has a ticket vending machine just inside the restaurant, where you purchase a meal ticket before taking your seat. A quick count shows that there are a total of 19 seats in the restaurant, including 9 counter seats. The restaurant is brightly lit and has an atmosphere that women and people with children can easily enter. I was caught in the act this time and entered the restaurant, but it is nice that you can see the inside of the restaurant from the outside and that it is designed in such a way that you can easily enter on a whim…

Toripaitan Miso Ramen may be a rarity in Kyoto… Menya Kirameki Kyoto Sanjo’s Miso no Kirameki, what did I actually find when I tried it?

Let me introduce you to the target of the day, Menya Kirameki Kyoto Sanjo‘s Toripaitan Miso Ramen, Miso no Kirameki Kirameki Special. This time, I upgraded to the version with all the toppings, and the price is 1,210 yen including tax… 

After about 10 minutes of waiting for my order, the ramen arrived in front of me. The surface of the bowl was completely covered with toppings such as a large piece of chashu pork, flavored egg, chopped green onion, mizuna (potherb mustard), and grilled nori (seaweed). Just by looking at the image above, you can tell how gorgeous it looks, can’t you?

Now, let’s take a sip of the soup… It is a thick miso soup with a white miso base, but the liquid is much lighter than I expected. The taste is not so rich that it can be clearly described as “Toripaitan soup based,” but more like a normal miso ramen with a rich miso flavor. It is a little salty, but the salty edge is nice and effective, and the stimulation of the salt makes me want to keep on eating more and more of the soup. However, despite the power of the toppings, the volume of the soup is quite small, so if you get carried away and gulp it down, the soup will disappear from the bowl in no time… 

The noodles, on the other hand, are straight and thin with a rather delicate-looking image. The noodles are hard-boiled and thin, yet firm and firm. Yes, the noodles are quite hot, so be careful not to burn yourself, especially at the first bite. But if you eat this hot noodle on a cold day in the middle of winter, it will warm up your body and mind at once… 

And the main topping, chashu pork, has a delicate heat distribution that can be seen from its appearance, leaving a rare color in some parts. One piece of chashu pork is enough to enjoy the taste of both the cooked part and the rare part. The size is large, so you can fully experience the meatiness of the meat by eating one piece, but since there are three pieces in the package, there is no way you will feel that you are missing out.

Menya Kirameki Kyoto Sanjo‘s Miso no Kirameki Kirameki Special, honestly, was not what I was expecting since I had an image of Menya Yukikaze’s Toripaitanmiso in my mind. However, it is a high quality miso ramen in general, and especially in winter in Kyoto, I think it is a cool food that warms both body and soul. If I had to say so, I would like a little more broth…but for 1,210 yen including tax, I am sure I will go back for more.

It has been under the umbrella of major beef bowl chain Yoshinoya since January 2025… Menya Kirameki Kyoto Sanjo is a 2-minute walk from the nearest station, Kyoto Shiyakusho-mae Station on the Kyoto Municipal Subway Tozai Line. 

Now, the Kirameki Group, to which the Menya Kirameki Kyoto Sanjo belongs, has been a member of the major beef bowl chain Yoshinoya since January 2025. I do not think that Yoshinoya would ever sell their beef bowl at a ramen restaurant, but what in the world does Yoshinoya intend to do by bringing a local Kyoto-based ramen chain into their family? Nationwide expansion of the Kirameki Group? Or…in any case, it will be interesting to see what Yoshinoya and the Kirameki Group will try in the future, and not just in ramen.Here are the details of the restaurant… 

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