麺座かたぶつ

Katabutsu is a ramen shop on the outskirts of Nagoya City in central Japan. It is another one of these shops that is a bit of a trek to get to, especially if you are relying on public transportation. It takes about an hour including a 20-minute walk from the nearest station. The shop was on the Japan Top 100 list in 2017 and 2018, which is all the push I need to make the journey.

If I sound like I am complaining about the difficulty of slurping this bowl, I am not. I enjoy nothing more than spending half a day wandering around the Japanese countryside in search of good food. For a tourist with limited time, I would never recommend a shop like this. Maybe that isn’t quite true. This shop is only a 10-minute drive from the newish Ghibli Park. Please remember to book your tickets a few months in advance!

自家製麵 Homemade noodles.

らーめん Ramen.

つけめん Tsukemen.

Noodles are made each day, for the day’s service. The recipe changes based on the weather since humidity and temperature will affect the final product. The soup is made from dried sardines from mainly Chiba Prefecture, known for top-level niboshi. A chicken soup base lets the fish flavors shine through. They say that the flavor is designed for Japanese people’s palate, which is a nice way of saying this bowl might be fishy as all hell. They also say that the flavor of their soup can’t be found anywhere else in Japan. Though this statement is a bit presumptuous, I definitely felt the vibe here.

Two kinds of locally-made fish sauce are used in the tare. Shikonotsuyu (豊浜魚醤しこの露) and Isanbu (伊三郎香りの魚醤). These fish sauces are aged for a few years. A little goes a long way.

I ordered the standard bowl, but the shop is well known for its limited offerings. Sure enough, about half of the customers were regulars. There was a lot of chatting going on between the chef and patrons. At one point, a family of 5 came in with shouts of 久しぶり (long time no see). Come for the ramen, stay for the vibe.

Official Twitter here.

Official site here.

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麺座かたぶつ (Katabutsu in Aichi Prefecture)

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麺座 かたぶつ (Katabutsu in Aichi Prefecture)

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ラーメン 奏 (Kanade in Nagoya, Aichi)

BumBunBlauCafe with BeeHive in Hatanodai, Tokyo

Mu in New York

麺座かたぶつ (Katabutsu in Aichi Prefecture)

ラーメン奏 (Kanade in Nagoya, Aichi)