The best of Hakata Tonkotsu and Yokohama Iekei ramen! A popular restaurant with soup so delicious you'll drink it all up (Otake, Higashi-ku, Fukuoka)

Hello. I'm Yuri and I love local ramen.

I moved to Fukuoka two years ago and have completely fallen in love with Kyushu food, but before that I lived in my hometown of Yokohama for over 30 years!

This time, I'd like to introduce a ramen that combines the best of Hakata and Yokohama, which impressed me as someone who was born and raised in Yokohama.

"Menya Gorilla" (Odake, Higashi Ward, Fukuoka City) where you can enjoy a hybrid ramen of Hakata Tonkotsu Ramen and Yokohama Iekei Ramen

"Menya Gorilla" is located a 5-minute drive from Nishitozaki Station on the JR Kashii Line.

This ramen restaurant is housed in an old-fashioned Japanese house, quietly nestled next to Shiga Junior High School.

Image: Yurichan

Originally operating as a ramen stand, it gained a reputation and opened as a store in November 2022. The owner apparently spent two months renovating the building, which was practically a ruin overgrown with weeds.

In addition to counter seats,

Image: Yurichan

There are also raised table seats, which makes it convenient for groups and those with children.

Image: Yurichan

There were also terrace seats.

Image: Yurichan

You order by purchasing a meal ticket from the ticket machine. It's also nice that you can pay with QR codes such as PayPay.

Image: Yurichan

The signature dish is the "Famous Tonkotsu Shoyu Ramen" (780 yen). Its unique soup is made by combining the mild pork bone soy sauce made by carefully simmering domestic pig heads for 16 hours with free-range chicken oil from Kyushu. Other popular dishes include the "Tonkotsu Shoyu Genoa Ramen" (990 yen) and "Tsukimi Piri Leek Abura Soba" (1,100 yen).

There are a variety of toppings available, such as "Three Boiled Quail Eggs" (150 yen), "Spinach" (150 yen), "Wood Ear Mushroom" (150 yen), and "Six Slices of Char Siu" (250 yen), so you can arrange it to your liking.

During lunch time, set menus are also available that you can add to your ramen, such as the "Fried Chicken Set" (+400 yen) which comes with three exquisite salted fried chicken pieces and rice, and the "Choice of Rice Bowl Set" (+350 yen) which comes with a mini roast pork bowl or a mini Gori kara bowl.

There were also side dishes such as "7 Gyoza" (450 yen), "3 Exquisite Salted Fried Chicken" (350 yen), "Real Char Siu Rice Bowl" (550 yen), and "French Fries" (300 yen).

The menu is extensive, so you can enjoy it no matter how many times you visit.

Excellent! This is the best of Hakata and Yokohama ♡ Enjoy the signature dish "Famous Tonkotsu Soy Sauce Ramen"

What I would like to introduce to you today is the famous pork bone soy sauce ramen.

Image: Yurichan

The Yokohama-style ramen is characterized by its rich pork bone soy sauce soup, Tokyo-style orthodox roast pork, seaweed (some stores put multiple sheets on top), spinach, chopped white leeks, boiled quail eggs, etc. This ramen has all of these toppings, and the moment I saw it, I was overcome with nostalgia.

Like its appearance, the taste can basically be categorized as a typical Iekei pork bone soy sauce ramen, but it has a few distinctive features.

First of all, the soup is clean and refreshing, without the typical pork bone odor.

Image: Yurichan

The soy sauce used with it is sourced from Kyushu, which gives it a rounded flavor and a mild texture.

In the authentic Yokohama-style ramen, the soy sauce is quite spicy, so it can be difficult to drink up the entire soup, but with this ramen, I ended up finishing the entire soup before I even realized it, and forgot to take a photo (lol).

It was so delicious that I couldn't get enough of it.

Next, the noodles. Usually, Iekei ramen uses extra thick noodles that are filling, but the noodles used here are thin and straight, which are common in Hakata ramen. They are made from wheat noodles specially ordered from Hakata Seimenjo.

Image: Yurichan

At the food stall where the owner originally ran this dish, it was often eaten as a final course, so he insisted on using thin noodles that could be eaten easily. Thin noodles tend to mix well with the soup and make it taste a little strong, but because the soup is mild, the taste is just right.

A truly meticulously calculated taste! A miraculous combination!

Spicy soy sauce and thin noodles don't work, and well-rounded soy sauce and thick noodles don't work either; simply taking the best of both worlds won't create a complete hybrid.

I love both Hakata ramen and Yokohama-style ramen, so this made me incredibly happy.

Various events are being planned to commemorate the first anniversary of the opening from November 9th to 16th, 2023, so we are looking forward to that as well.

Be sure to try this ramen that you can only get here! (Text by Yuri-chan)

＜Click on the store name for more details about the store ↓＞
■Menya Gorilla
Address: 4-7-6 Otake, Higashi-ku, Fukuoka City, Fukuoka Prefecture
Business hours: 11:00-16:00 (last orders 15:30), 18:00-23:00 (last orders 22:30)
Closed: Tuesdays
*This article is current as of the time of publication. *Prices in the text include tax.

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