food I wanna eat in Japan -- Tokushima ramen in Kyoto station

Kyoto Train Station, view from top terrace

Since I didn't have much time, my cousin suggested me Ramen Alley located in Kyoto Train Station. The place should satisfy my craving because it accommodates regional ramens around Japan and the quality shouldn't be bad. With target in mind, I headed to the station not too early but early enough to avoid the crowd.

you will know you are
heading to the right place.

early hours in ramen alley

 There are other food choices in ramen alley, cafe, hambuger (not the chain one), takoyaki and (green)tea place. For green tea, I would suggest Giontsujiri (茶寮都路里) located at 6F of Isetan department store. (It has various locations.) The green tea sundae was so good. That will be another story to tell. 
 

ramen display outside the store
This one is Osaka style
(大阪上方ざんまい屋)

I walked around the alley few times. It is not a big place but with so many choices I could have. Since I am a greedy person, the Eeny, meeny, miny, moe thing still couldn't help. For someone like me who doesn't understand Japanese, all the restaurants have displays showcasing the dishes. There are vending machines outside each store. You put money in and receive a ticket back. The waiter will take the ticket once you walk into the store. 

I finally settled for this one -- Tokushima ramen (徳島 ラーメン東大) Up until now I still don't know why I chose this one. Probably because I kind know the characteristics of other regions' ramen even though I haven't tried them all yet. And I had no clue what Tokushima stands for until I got back home. It was an accident of google surfing and I came across of this region's special ramen. (It is one of the prefectures in Shikoku island. I know Kagawa Prefecture is famous for Sanuki udon (讃岐うどん) because of wheat production in the area.)

The spice rack on the table

pickled plum, it was very salty.

In case you wonder why there's a
bowl of eggs on the table. These
are free. It says on the right
bottom of the menu.
Traditionally, it adds into
the noodle soup.

   

menu

(picture taken from internet)

Ta-da, here comes the noodle I ordered, 徳島ﾗｰﾒﾝ in small size. It looked very different from the ramen soup I know because the broth was so dark and brown. The broth tasted so rich and salty. These soup for ramen all have been simmered on top of the stove for hours. But this one tasted different and it felt like the soup came from stewed meat stock. Unlike big thinly sliced meat of Sapporo or Tokyo ramen, this is thinly sliced pork strip. Eggs are added to the soup to ease the richness of the soup. Because of the richness and saltiness of the broth, the noodle soup is eaten along with rice. To me that's kind weird. I have enough carb from a bowl of soup already, no need to have more. Thank god I was not in Atkins diet.

I usually finish food I ordered if I eat out, but this one I just couldn't do it. I poured some water in my soup already, but it's still too salty for me. Still, it was very YUMY! Overall, lit was a lucky accidental choice.

basket for my jacket

People started to line up during lunch hours

Check out the place if you are ever there: ramen alley