Mamezen

Thanks to Kyoto Foodie who had published a post on Mamezen, I don’t think a lot of us foreign travellers to Kyoto would have ever heard of this place. (Thank you!!) We had a slight issue finding the place – even with google maps and the GPS on our phones, we walked past the restaurant several times before noticing the signage that indicated that we were at the right place. Mamezen is a private kitchen - it is located in a cozy house, and judging by the way it was set up, where I believe Chef Yonegawa resides.

It is a ramen like none other. I am used to the salt lick from the shoyu based ramen or the full on tastes of a tonkatsu broth but this was something really different and something really special. The best way I can describe broth is that it has savoury roundness - umami from the dashi base but a balanced richness from soy milk that gives it that smoothness without the heaviness of a cream or a thickener.

There was a good serene quality to the entire meal. We got there on the late side of lunch so the restaurant was quiet. We sat at the counter and enjoyed being at the “chef’s table”: watching Chef Yonegawa prepare out meal and then us slurping down the noodles. It was a really nice lunch retreat.

MamezenKyoto-shi, Sakyo-ku
Shimogamo, Higashi Takagi-cho 13-4