神座道頓堀店

The fine folks at Kamukra invited me to visit their head shop in Osaka, right in the middle of Dotonbori.

While Kamukura has a few shops in and around Tokyo, they are an Osaka institution and have firmly planted themselves as one of the most important shops in the area. The first shop opened in 1986, and in just 30 years they have gone on to be a huge force in the ramen world. Forty-one shops in total.

I took this chance to try and understand their brand a bit more, and maybe find out some secrets that go into the soup.

But, alas, it wasn’t going to happen. Kamukura’s recipe is a closely guarded secret, and to work here behind the soup you need to pass a series of tests and become a soup sommelier.

Well, what can I discern from the taste alone?

If you’ve ever been to a nabepa, Japanese nabe hotpot party, then you know. You cook meat and vegetables in a broth, infusing all these great flavors together over the course of an hour or so. You’re left with an intense broth, and no nabepa ends without noodles being dumped into the leftover soup.

This is a basic description of Kamukura’s ramen to me. It’s intense, with a lot of meat and cabbage flavors. It is a bit rough and crazy, but a great bowl.

Kind of like Osaka. To me, Osaka is madness, in the best possible way. After this bowl, I somehow wandered into a random sake bar. Next thing I know, yada yada yada, I was drinking absinthe and eating raw horse in a cyber-goth punk bar with old salarymen. You know, a typical Osaka evening.

I shot a simple video this time around, where I met up with my friend Yuka, an Osaka native. Check it out!

Official site here.

Ramen Adventures

Ramen Shop Reviews from Japan and Abroad

どうとんぼり神座 (Kamukura in Osaka)

うえまち (Uemachi in Osaka)

ムタヒロ (Mutahiro in Osaka)

どうとんぼり神座 (Kamukura in Osaka)

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うえまち (Uemachi in Osaka)

ムタヒロ (Mutahiro in Osaka)