Ramen Toritani

A hidden diamond in Kyoto. Japan is ramen heaven! My short 3 weeks trip is definitely not enough for me to taste all I want but this 麺処 鶏谷 (Ramen Toritani) definitely made me cry a bit from its taste. This place was the most-mentioned by all local Japanese ramen critics, thus, I decided to take the trip. The location is a bit far off the city, which I’m happy as it’s normally a common indication that it’s authentic and less touristy. I was lucky that I did not have to wait for too long, about 45 mins. (p.s: in Asia, queueing for food is insane! I queued for 3 hours for my okonomiyaki) and I was apparently the only foreigner there. This little 12 seaters ramen restaurant does not use a ramen-ordering-vending machine (those commonly seen in most ramen places in the cities). They only have a Japanese menu and I picked the one with a star logo (which I assumed it’s the chef’s recommendation/popular choice) and added all extras I saw (extra char siu and free-range chicken)(about 1300¥, +/- 13€) The portions were really generous and the milky chicken broth was heaven. The chicken was perfectly cooked and the char siu was also different from the usual ones we've commonly seen/tasted in other places. The julienne spring onion (white part only) and daikon cress give crisps of tangy spiciness to the ramen. I tried other tori paitan base ramen in other cities and none could beat/even come close to the flavours I had at Tori Tani!