Ramen Fukurou

Ramen Fukurou opened in Tsuruhashi in November 2019 as the second brand of Imazato’s popular ramen restaurant Menya Fukuhara. I heard a rumor that this store, which calls itself G-kei (”Heavily” in English), a type of ramen that is still rare in Osaka, is also quite popular…so I went to Tsuruhashi on a certain weekday to see what kind of ramen I could enjoy.

I arrived at the restaurant at around 10:55, five minutes before opening. I was a little relieved to find that I could easily get the pole position, probably because it was a weekday. But while I was slurping down my ramen, customers started arriving one after another, and in no time at all, there was a line outside the restaurant… As one would expect from such a popular restaurant, you have to be prepared to wait a long time for lunch time…

A Little Different from Jiro-kei…How to Order and ”Call” at Ramen Fukurou, a G-kei Ramen Restaurant in Tsuruhashi

Ramen Fukurou is a G-kei Ramen restaurant, not a Jiro-kei, but here too, we can customize the amount of vegetables, garlic, and fat on the back by making a “call”. However, the way to make a call is different from that of a typical Jiro-style restaurant, so let me first explain how to make a call.

Upon entering the restaurant, purchase a meal ticket from the ticket vending machine on the left. Ramen Fukurou also allows us to choose from five levels of “Nashi (None),” “Sukuname (Less),” “Ari (Yes),” “Mashi (Increase),” or “Mashimashi (Double increase)” (you can also make subtle requests such as “a little bit increase”), but “Mashi Mashi” for vegetables and back fat requires an extra charge. So, please buy a meal ticket for Mashimashi together with a meal ticket for Ramen at this stage.

After purchasing a meal ticket, move to one of the eight counter seats in the restaurant and hand the ticket to the waiter. At this point, the waiter will ask you, “Do you want garlic?” and tell the waiter how you want to customize your ramen. This is how the call is made at Ramen Fukurou. The difference between this call and the call at Jiro-style ramen restaurants is two points: an additional charge is required for the vegetables and back fat, and the call is made when the meal ticket is handed over. If you are aware of these points, you should be able to order without problems if you have used Jiro-kei/inspired ramen restaurants several times in the past.

Standard ramen topped with 5 additional pieces of chashu pord! I added more pork to my G-style ramen at Ramen Fukurou and it was amazing!

Let me introduce the standard ramen I ordered at Ramen Fukurou. I added 5 pieces of pork as an option, and the total price was 980 yen for the standard ramen plus 450 yen for the 5 pieces of pork, for a total of 1,430 yen (tax included)….

Six pieces of thick pork chashu reign over the bowl with an overwhelming presence. This time, I chose the “all in extra portion” option, but the chashu porks completely covered the pile of vegetables, so the impact of the vegetable option was completely lost.

Leaving the chashu pork for later, let’s start with the soup… It is a thickened emulsified soup with a rich pork flavor and sweetness, just as it looks. But somehow, I don’t feel the wildness of Jiro-style soup. It is not quite sophisticated, but it is a mellow soup in a slightly different direction from Jiro-inspired soups. In my personal experience, it is similar to Koriyama Chibakara’ s soup.

The noodles for this are very thick, homemade straight noodles, and I think they look more like udon than ramen. Although the wheat flavor is not overpowered by the pork flavor, the noodles are heavy and sturdy, putting a heavy load on the jaw and stomach. The 250 grams of noodles, which is less than most Jiro-inspired noodles, is enough to satisfy the taste buds. In terms of the “heavily” of the G-kei, not the Jiro-kei, there is no lie at all.

The optional extra chashu pork is 6 pieces in total, including the default one. Looking at the cross section, you can see that the color of the pork is well soaked with the sauce, and you can tell that it was made by taking the time to soak up the dipping sauce. The meat is well-balanced between lean and fat, and you can enjoy both the flavor of the meat and the melt-in-your-mouth texture with just one piece. Adding five slices of this chashu would indeed be heavy, but it is a good choice for young people with a confident stomach.

Ramen Fukurou’s ramen is completely different from Menya Fukuhara’s in this way, but I think they both have in common the strong flavor of the soup. If you are in the mood to be covered in pork flavor, you may want to try Fukurou‘s Ramen instead of Yakiniku (BBQ) in Tsuruhashi.

Examples of other menu items at Ramen Fukurou (prices include tax)

• Miso ramen: from 980 yen (ordinary)
• No soup – ordinary 980 yen and up
• Tsukemen (dipping noodles): from ¥1,030 (ordinary)
• Chashu pork bowl – 300 yen
• Forbidden back fat rice: 200 yen
• Spicy minced pork 150 yen
• Melted cheese 100 yen

The customer service is friendly, making it ideal before your G-kei debut! Access to Ramen Owl is a 1-minute walk from Tsuruhashi Station on the Osaka Metro Sennichimae Line (JR Loop Line and Kintetsu Nara Line)

Another major difference between Ramen Fukurou and so-called “Jiro-kei” restaurants is that the customer service is friendly, so even beginners can enter the restaurant with confidence. Ramen Jiro is only located in Kyoto in the Kansai region, but it has a general image of being “scary”, regardless of its authenticity! The Ramen-so group, the leader of the “Jiro” style, also has many staff members who look like a bunch of boys, which makes it difficult to enter the restaurant.

But so far, Ramen Fukurou has no such peculiarities, and the waiters are courteous. Of course, ordering an inedible amount of ramen is out of the question, but I think this is a great place to practice before making your Jiro-style debut, including the atmosphere where it is easy to ask questions. But it is a great place to practice before making your debut as a G-kei restaurant.

Now, here are the details of the restaurant…

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