Kyoto's 14 time award winning ramen restaurant to open new store

Menya Inoichi, a popular restaurant in Kyoto that consistently has long lines of customers waiting to try their ramen, has announced that they will open a 3rd store due to popular demand.

MENYA INOICHI #3 will open in Uji City, Kyoto Prefecture, on the 20th of December 2024 and promises to offer the same dishes that have gained the main Menya Inoichi and their second restaurant, Menya Inoichi Annex, a total of 14 Michelin Bib Gourmand selections.

The Michelin Guide’s Bib Gourmand award is given to restaurants that offer high-quality food at a reasonable price, focusing on the overall quality, value, consistency, and affordability of the food.

The new restaurant will open in a renovated two-story old Japanese wooden house, with an exterior that is designed to blend in with the Uji townscape.

Once you pass through the noren curtain, designed by Kyoto based indigo dyer Matsuzaki Riku, you’ll find a luxurious space with a modern open kitchen that you wouldn’t expect from a ramen shop, which still retains the history and atmosphere of an old folk house.

Noren curtains by Kyoto indigo dyer Riku Matsuzaki

The store is located on a vast 307.14m2 site, which includes Inoichi’s first noodle factory – built to serve freshly made noodles at their restaurants.

A garden that makes use of the pine trees that have been rooted on the site since the Meiji era allows customers to enjoy the changing scenery of the seasons whilst enjoying their meal.

The restaurant offers a variety of menu items, including “dashi ramen” noodles that are “full of flavor, aroma, and seasonality” and are made using a 100% seafood dashi soup base, which does not use any animal fats such as pork or chicken.

The soup base is made by blending several types of carefully selected, top-quality dried fish and slowly extracting the flavor at low temperatures, before harmonizing it with seasonal ingredients from Kyoto.

4 different dishes are available, which range between a very reasonable 650 yen (approx. $4.12 USD/£3.30 GBP) to 2,000 yen (approx. $12.69 USD/£10.15 GBP).

Each dish can be ordered with either a white or black soy sauce base.

White soy sauce is made with a higher percentage of wheat than black soy sauce, which can be as high as 90% wheat and only 10% soybeans, making it sweeter than the traditionally rich black soy sauce.

Kyoto Tanba Highland Pork — White/Black Dashi Ramen (White Soy Sauce Base)

The first dish, “White/Black Dashi Ramen”, is priced at 1,400 yen (tax inc., approx $8.88 USD/£7.11 GBP) and contains char siu shoulder loin of pork alongside steamed seasonal vegetables and wood ear mushrooms, as well as traditional ramen accompaniments such as a soft boiled egg and narutomaki (a type of fish cake).

Mikumo White Soup Soba — Mikumo Don Soup Soba (White Soy Sauce Base)

The second dish is the “Mikumo Don Soup Ramen”, priced at 1,800 yen (tax inc., approx $11.42 USD/£9.14 GBP) which comes with all of the ingredients of the white/black dashi ramen, as well as 3 dumplings filled with a mixture of pork mince, chicken cartilage, shiso leaves, shrimp, green onion, yuzu, tuna flakes and edamame.

Again, this dish can be ordered with both a white or black soy sauce base.

Shabu-shabu Seared Wagyu Beef White/Black Dashi Soba

The third dish, the “Shabu-shabu Seared Wagyu Beef White/Black Dashi Ramen”, is the most expensive item on the menu, but still comes in at just 2,000 yen (tax inc., approx $12.69 USD/£10.15 GBP).

A4 Kyoto-produced Kuroge Wagyu beef thigh is seared before being bathed in the delicious broth alongside steamed seasonal vegetables and a range of other accompaniments.

Grilled Char Siu Rice Bowl and Plum Soda

For those with a smaller appetite, or perhaps those who are particularly hungry and want a side dish, the “Grilled Char Siu Rice Bowl” costs just 650 yen (tax inc., approx. $4.12 USD/£3.30 GBP) and combines delicious grilled pork with rice, egg yolk and green onion.

To wash down the delicious food on offer at Menya Inoichi you can order a glass of Plum Soda, made with real plum juice from local Kyoto business Aoya, for just 600 yen (tax inc., approx. $3.81 USD/£3.05 GBP).

If you’re heading to Kyoto in the near future, make sure you stop by one of Menya Inoichi’s 3 stores to try their award winning noodles – you won’t regret it!

New store location

MENYA INOICHI #3: 160-6 Uji Myoraku, Uji City

Existing store locations

“Menya Inoichi”: 542 Ebisunocho, Teramachi-dori Bukkoji-sagaru, Shimogyo-ku, Kyoto City

“Menya Inoichi Annex”: 463 Izumishojicho, Nishiiru, Takatsuji-dori Sakaimachi, Shimogyo-ku, Kyoto City

Source: PR Times