best japanese eats

Blue Bottle Coffee is pretty good, but %Arabica is still better IMO. nice comfy place though and it always seems to be filled with people! great place to people watch and watch how the baristas make coffee

a close up view of this winning char siew. best ramen in Kyoto? definitely.

overall i was slightly disappointed with this bowl. it simply wasn't as spicy as i would have liked. like maybe +1 spiciness level over the first bowl i ate, which was lame. the shop does sell something spicier but in its description it was supposedly "very much spicier" so i didn't want to risk it. next time when i come back i will go for the "much spicier one" on the next page of the menu. 4/5

let me just tell you all that this was up there with one of the best bowls of ramen i have ever had. the soup was creamy, but not too much until it tastes too milky (like Chabuton), the salt seasoning was just right, the beansprouts were amazingly crunchy and fresh, but the real winner was the char siew. ladies and gentlemen, have you ever eaten char siew on a ramen that is grilled until it becomes like bak kwa? that was EXACTLY how this char siew tasted. i took 3 mouths of the soup, 2 bites of the char siew, and decided that i needed to order another bowl. 5/5