ふく流らーめん轍本町本店

Fukuryu Ramen Wadachi in Osaka has the best of both worlds—frothy toripaitan with creamy espuma foam and a junky niboshi mazesoba. Everyone wins!

Shuji Fukuyama (福山修司) is a bit of a celebrity chef in the Osaka scene. His training was at Junk Story, where he developed many innovative limited bowls. He’s known as being a pioneer of the awakei (泡系) style of foamy soup seen all over Japan at the moment. An already creamy soup is frothed up just before serving. This can be done with a hand mixer or by injecting gas into the soup much like the way you make whipped cream. He’s also sometimes called mazegami (まぜ神) meaning the god of mazesoba. Quite the character!

I went for the soupless mazesoba. The description actually says that the word junkie (ジャンキー) means drug addict (中毒者). Countless times I see dried niboshi compared with drugs at ramen shops. Look, I love the stuff. And if we’re being honest, I can totally function just fine after crushing a bowl topped with an extra large scoop of niboshi powder. Get off my back, man!

Crazy. whack, funky. People say niboshi’s like crack homie.

I am rarely disappointed by a junky (junkie) style of soupless ramen, and Wadachi was a tasty slurp. Thick-cut negi gives it another depth of intensity. I’m hooked. For those who don’t want to go to Osaka, they’ve recently (July 2021) opened a shop in Tokyo’s Takadanobaba neighborhood.

I feel like I’ve had creamy toripaitan almost daily in Osaka lately, but luckily my friend was there to try this one. Toripaitan x shoyu x yuzu. 鶏白湯ｘ醬油ｘ柚子. The yuzu-scented espuma cream on top melts into the broth. I’m guessing this is the more popular choice of the two at Fukuryu. The Kito yuzu (木頭柚子) is sourced from Shikoku, a region known for high rainfall, cold winters, and hot summers. The yuzu lives a tough life, but in return develops a thick peel and highly acidic juice. Not the best features for oranges, but ideal for yuzu. Master Fukuyama-san was instrumental in creating this concept of ramen toppings.

Official Twitter here.

Official site here.

While perusing their website, I found they did an NFT project. Nonfungible ramen. From what I could decipher, the NFT granted its holder exclusive access to a monthly limited bowl. I’m curious, but it looks like the cost ranges from 100,000 yen to a cool million. That’s $10,000 USD if you want access to every bowl throughout the year. Cheaper than a Bored Ape I suppose, but still too rich for my blood. Check out their website here or Instagram for the project here.

Ramen Adventures

Ramen Shop Reviews from Japan and Abroad

ふく流らーめん轍本町本店 (Fukuryu Ramen Wadachi in Osaka)

麺屋たけ井 R1号店 (Takei in Kyoto)

ぼっこ志 (Bokkoshi in Osaka)

玉ぐすく (Tamagusuku in Nagoya)

ふく流らーめん 轍 本町本店 (Fukuryu Ramen Wadachi in Osaka)

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麺屋 たけ井 R1号店 (Takei in Kyoto)

ぼっこ志 (Bokkoshi in Osaka)

玉ぐすく (Tamagusuku in Nagoya)

ふく流らーめん轍本町本店 (Fukuryu Ramen Wadachi in Osaka)

麺屋たけ井 R1号店 (Takei in Kyoto)