Ramen Yokozuna Kisshoin Head Shop

Ramen Yokozuna is a ramen chain restaurant from Kyoto that started as a food stand in Minami-ku, Kyoto in 1972 and has now grown to nearly 50 branches throughout Japan. Recently, ramen from restaurants with long lines around Kyoto has been attracting a lot of attention, and this ramen chain, which is more like a family restaurant, has not received much media exposure. However, this is a ramen restaurant that has been in business for more than 50 years, a tremendous feat, so it is impossible to talk about ramen in Kyoto without mentioning this restaurant.

The main restaurant of Ramen Yokozuna, which boasts such a long history that it would not be an exaggeration to say that it is a “long-established” restaurant, is located in Kichijoin, southwest of JR Kyoto Station. There are no nearby tourist attractions, and the location is not usually associated with tourists, but this is truly the center of the 50 or so affiliated restaurants in Japan. What kind of ramen can you expect? I visited the store with great curiosity…

The restaurant is spacious and very useful when accompanied by small children! Ramen Yokozuna Kisshoin Head Shop is like this…

It takes about 30 minutes by city bus from the Hachijoguchi Exit of JR Kyoto Station. Although it is in Kyoto, there are no famous historical buildings nearby, and Ramen Yokozuna Kisshoin Head Shop is located in an area where there are many small businesses and residences. This location is where they set up their first store five years after they started their food stand. The first store of that historic national chain is now a huge store with a total of 80 seats and 38 parking spaces, according to official information. In all my years of eating around, I can’t remember a ramen shop with such a huge premises.

The current store seems to have just been renovated and reopened in July 2023, and both the exterior and interior are bright and clean. The interior space is quite spacious, with mainly sofa seating convenient for those with small children, as well as counter seating for one person, making it easy to use. With this many seats and parking space, you can easily enter the restaurant without waiting in line. When going out to eat alone or with two people, it is fine to choose “the ramen you want to eat even if you have to wait in line,” but this kind of restaurant is much more appreciated, especially when there are small children.

Add-on to the classic Tonkotsu Shoyu Ramen and Gyoza set at Ramen Yokozuna Kisshoin Head Shop! Also, a way to eat rice, called “secret menu” by some people!

What I ordered at Ramen Yokozuna Kisshoin Head Shop this time was the restaurant’s standard menu item, ramen (normal size, priced at 690 yen including tax). I added a gyoza set (price: +300 yen) to this ramen, and the total price was 990 yen (less than 1000 yen)…

Ramen noodles, normal size

A few minutes after I placed my order, a bowl of ramen was first brought to me. The soup was muddy, and I am sure there was a lot of flavor in it. The char siu pork and kujo-negi (Japanese leeks) are sticking out of the muddy broth. The amount of chashu pork looks quite large for a normal ramen.

Now, let’s start with the soup… As it looks, it is a mild pork bone broth with a rich umami flavor, but no smell at all, and it has a friendly taste that seems to be liked by a wide range of people. The soy sauce flavor is rather subdued, and the salt content is not enough. However…

Don’t worry, there is soy sauce for ramen on the table as a condiment. You can customize the soup to your own taste by adding this to the soup to your liking.

On the other hand, the noodles are the familiar low-moisture, straight, medium-thin noodles that are used for ramen in Kyoto. When the noodles first appear, they are boiled quite hard and have a nice chewy texture, but as time goes by, they absorb the soup and change to a firmer texture. It is good to take time to enjoy the change in texture of the noodles, but be careful not to take too much time if you like them hard-cooked because the change is rather quick.

The chashu pork, which I had been waiting for, consisted of three thin slices of loin meat. The meat is soft, light, and easy to eat with little fat. Although it is thinly sliced and not very filling, it is nice to be able to enjoy chashu pork three times in a standard ramen. I wonder how many pieces of chashu would be served in a chashu men. In Kyoto, there are many ramen shops that serve chashu in large portions (Ramen Daiei Head Shop, for example), so I am looking forward to that kind of thing as well.

This is the standard ramen at Ramen Yokozuna, but if I may add one more thing, the bowl is small, but the amount of noodles is quite large. The price is 690 yen, which is quite inexpensive considering the market price of ramen these days, but I think it is large enough to fill the stomach of an adult male. This time I added the gyoza set for another purpose, but if you are not that hungry, you may not need to add the set menu. In addition to the atmosphere of the restaurant, from a cosmetic point of view, it seems to be a very good place to go for ramen, especially if you are taking your family.

Gyoza Set

Next is the gyoza set, which comes with one serving of gyoza (6 pieces) and a bawl of rice (small). But this time, my main attraction was not the gyoza, but the rice. I decided to use this rice to try a way of eating rice that is called the “secret menu” at Ramen Yokozuna. What is this “secret menu”? Let me introduce it to you right away…

First, make a depression in the center of the white rice and take the desired amount of free umami chili pepper from the tabletop seasoning and put it in the depression.

Next, top with the desired amount of free chopped green onions, also on the tabletop…

Sprinkle “ramen sauce” over the top…

Stir the whole thing together and enjoy. This is kind of like the bean-paste rice I had at Shodai Menya Akutagawa. But personally, I definitely liked the taste of this one better. Spicy and savory, with crunchy green onions… If you don’t mind spicy food, you should definitely give it a try. I recommend this way of eating.

By the way, there are two kinds of gyoza (dumplings) to choose from: “Spicy gyoza” and “Kurobuta gyoza”. I chose “Kurobuta Gyoza” this time. It contains pork, but there are more vegetables in it. The vegetables are chopped into larger pieces compared to other restaurants, so they have a crunchy texture.

Examples of other menu items at Ramen Yokozuna Kisshoin Honten (prices include tax)

• Ajitama Ramen: Normal 810 yen and up
• Vegetable ramen: Normal 850 yen and up
• Chashu ramen: Nami 850 yen and up
• Irodori Ramen: Normal 870 yen and up
• Fried rice on iron plate: Normal ¥320 and up
• Pork belly rice bowl – Nami 420 yen
• Ontenma-don (bowl of rice topped with a hot egg): 250 yen

Take-out ramen is also available… Ramen Yokozuna Kisshoin Head Shop is accessible by taking Kyoto City Bus No. 84 bound for Uzumasa Tenjingawa Station from the Hachijo Exit of JR Kyoto Station, getting off at the Kisshoin Undo Koen-mae bus stop, and walking for 2 minutes.

Ramen Yokozuna Kisshoin Head Shop also sells take-out ramen noodles. The product is called “Yokozuna’s Kantan-men,” which can be cooked in only one minute. In addition to ramen, two types of gyoza are also available for takeout. It might be a good idea to recreate the gyoza set at home.

Now, here are the details of the restaurant..

It is an 18-minute walk from Nishioji Station on the JR Kyoto Line.