After eating several bowls of ramen in Japan — most of them amazing — I wasn’t sure I could still have my mind blown by the dish.
Well, clearly I couldn’t have been more wrong, because I just went to Gogyo Ramen, and my mind? Blown to smithereens.
I think this is one of those posts where I’m going to let the pictures do most of the talking, because Nijo Castle is pretty remarkable.
I was walking down the Sanjo-kai Shotengai Shopping Arcade (which is kind of like a smaller version of the Nishiki Market) when I saw this stand selling creme brulee doughnuts. I literally did a double take. I can’t say no to a creme brulee doughnut. I’m not a monster. So obviously I bought one.
There’s a very distinctive ramen joint in Kyoto called Menbakaichidai that serves what they call “fire ramen.” It’s essentially ramen flambé — they finish your bowl of ramen with a small inferno of burning oil that goes up in a spectacular burst of flames.
There are over 1600 temples and 400 shrines in Kyoto, which is readily apparent when you’re walking around the city. It’s hard to walk more than a few blocks without stumbling onto a temple or a shrine, and when you’re on the outskirts of the city, they’re absolutely everywhere.