Only in Japan.

I love kyoto.

It's a beautiful city full of japanese culture and history, traditional food and attractions.

But if you really want to know kyoto you have to visit Japan's hidden ramen paradise which is right here on Kyoto scenic as online.

Welcome to roman town.

Yes, I told you roman town 80 joji roman town.

And we're gonna be exploring this place.

But we came here by the amazon line.

It's online.

Yeah because there's no other way to get here except for the A's online.

Let's go, let's go.

We'll be eating several bowls of ramen from popular local shops.

Each job station off of the A's online is a local stop and short walk to many ramen shops hidden in alleys and residential areas.

Kyoto is Japan's cultural heart and a place that is always packed with tourists to see its history.

But just north of the city center is hotdog known as roman town.

A typical Japanese suburb and student area accessible by the A's online which was introduced in another episode.

Ici jodi is the most competitive rahman neighborhood in Japan.

Yeah You have to innovate and sometimes undersell or add more volume to attract customers.

There are over 35 ramen shops in this neighborhood, some without signs.

Some secret and some national chains popular eating times can have customers waiting outside the door for an hour or more.

This shop is quite popular with its price and quality and for something else, we went in a little after the lunch rush to try it out a bowl of ramen with rice and a big piece of corrugated deep fried japanese chicken is 930 yen or about $9 shingle went for the beef sushi ramen.

It has slow cooked pieces of beef tendon.

One of the shops specialities.

It's a galactic flavor adventure in there.

The set with rice and karachi looked great.

I've never met anyone who didn't like karate.

My ramen was a typical kyoto chicken broth, ramen with pork chops, a steak, the volume for price, proving the shop's reputation for filling up every customer.

The straight noodles with broth were salty and good kyoto soup, typically heavier than in Tokyo.

Yeah, yeah.

As you may know, slurping your noodles is polite in japan, cooling them down and a way to express your appreciation for the meal.

To the chef.

The karate.

It's that plus one this shop is famous for, to attract customers and it works golden and crunchy on the outside, juicy on the inside.

Mhm.

There are free toppings for the rice like spicy near goma, a chinese onion with sesame oil at ramen shops.

It's good to eat and keep moving.

There's usually a line out the door of customers waiting for your seat.

Our first bowl of ramen and kyoto complete.

We walked five minutes down the street to the next ramen shop.

Go okay ramen usually has a line out the door with weights over an hour at peak times.

It's one of the most popular shops in itchy joji for a reason and Shingo and I were really looking forward to this one when you enter.

Don't forget to choose your ramen at the vending machine by the door there are three kinds of chicken base thick soups and different sizes.

Hand the ticket to the staff when you sit down after being served, I noticed someone familiar eating at the counter.

It was none other than kevin Reilly, long term kansai resident and lover of good food.

He joined us for a meal.

Yeah, I'm fine.

Yeah.

Tori DACA chicken, the typical gold, a ramen bowl aka dr red loaded with spice painting the ramen like a rose and Kodak black with homemade garlic oil that mixes with the thick broth.

The shop is famous for having extremely thick soup that tastes amazing when mixed with the noodles.

It's heavy like a stew or porridge but the unique consistency makes it special and super tasty sticking to the noodles with every slurp.

Yeah, the cha shu steak is also pretty unique.

The soup strongly guarded recipe is only known to the shop's owner.

No other ramen shop has a taste like it.

The shop attracts a lot of tourists but also has a ton of regular customers who come back for that amazing taste good.

The taste is chicken based gravy, like pleasing and filling and I definitely had never had anything like it before.

Let's ask the staff about gold gaze ramen.

Uh you know what I mean?

The obvious and you know what I mean?

It took a couple minutes to get a man.

So any kind of in the theaters, you know?

So then we, once they even, I thought, you know what I mean?

Oh, you know what uh, you know, you know how?

I know, I know eat your ramen while it's hot.

I think we'll need to come back again to try the other flavors.

This was another stellar itchy joji Ron.

Oh man, that was good.

That was something that was really good kevin.

Do you have any other places you can recommend to go and eat ramen?

Yeah, I know a place down the road here.

You guys ready for some more ramen.

I can take another bowl.

Yeah, sure.

Why don't you join us?

Well, yeah, I'd like to, but I got things I gotta do.

So moving next time.

All right.

You guys, I think kevin knows something we don't know about the next place.

Alright, we're here for one more bowl of ramen.

I only got 1000 yen.

Only got 1000 yen as well.

Yeah.

And this place is famous for being cheap because cheap and has a lot of volume.

A lot of volume.

Oh gosh!

This is where all the students come.

All the hungry students come.

I would imagine.

So you get a lot of value for your money here.

Apparently it's not the most cleanest place ever, but it doesn't matter.

No, no, let's go ahead.

No, it doesn't matter.

Good Robin.

It's good rob but small is equivalent to 2.5 Times The normal what?

So it's double size for the same price and the medium is 3.5 times a normal rubber, wow, you're going for the big one.

The big one is 500 that's like 45 times a what do you want?

That one?

And they also have one that is not on the list here, which is called power, which has probably, we decided who would eat the bigger size.

The way most important decisions are made in japan rock scissors paper.

The loser wins the honor to eat the big one.

This shop is called Ramen Ikaria and it's pretty humble inside.

Don't let the looks of the shop fool you though.

The ramen is pretty good.

It's tight getting in.

Leave your bags at home.

Like most ramen shops.

This one uses a ticket system, but with a reusable colored plastic token.

Yeah, this way mhm The size of the ramen, sheer volume of the meat noodle and soup was Godzilla level.

We really had no words to describe our third bolt.

The shock and all masked as smiles and laughter show how unbelievable it is.

It was basically a monster chunk of chopped pork overflowing from the bowl with the side of mariachi bean sprouts shingle was the same, just a little bigger than mine.

It's also hard to miss that garlic.

Mhm The soup was thick with the usual awesome smell of hours stewing in a pot with delicious ingredients.

It's hard to know where to start.

Mm Yeah.

The volume for a very low price brings in a lot of students and repeaters to the area.

But it also means eaters are here a little longer than usual.

Mhm Yeah, if you're carbo loading for a marathon or looking for extra gluten in your diet, this is your place.

Mhm Yeah.

Right, after a few minutes things got serious.

We did not come here to give up.

Look at those mega meat chunks.

It really is a ramen bargain, isn't it?

Not everyone finishes.

We did.

But the broth typically stays in the bowl.

Mission complete.

We asked some customers sitting next to us what makes this shop in this area famous for ramen?

Right.

Yeah, we should have a value.

Uh huh.

Come on.

A human.

Mm hmm.

You miss, I saw his name height in mind.

That's how many shops here.

Not just stay in business but they also expand their brand.

Oh, that might have been the biggest bowl of ramen I've ever had in my entire life.

Was that Ashley ramen?

I cannot tell the news were pretty thick mils, thick thick noodles.

A lot of soup humongous meat.

Big meat.

Now I know why kevin recommended that place to go.

If you come to kyoto, you really do have to make a stop and eat your job.

Don't you think when you're tired of all the other kyoto food ramen is one of the answers beginning.

Yeah, it's the soul food of japan.

Even in kyoto I think that you gotta make a stop to the pilgrimage to hotdog to have some kyoto ramen and a lot of garlic and a lot of garlic dude, bonus ramen scene.

Yes, there's one more.

Mm This one we found wandering the streets in itchy joji.

It's not your typical kind of ramen shop nestled in the corner of a residential neighborhood.

It was closed at lunchtime.

Mm hmm So single.

And I have walked what seems like halfway across town to find this ramen shop which is members only.

What kind of ramen do they serve?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, probably Alice make reservation by twitter, google plus or lying.

How do you become a member?

You have to register since you have to register on online.

The menu isn't really clear.

Neither is how to get a bowl here.

The next evening we got a reservation via twitter and returned on the a's online too.

Itchy joji at night.

So Shingo has yesterday contacted the owner of the members only ramen place and we're heading there right now in the evening we have a reservation.

Yeah, although we're not technically members right.

No, we're not anything yet?

We got, we had to register on twitter or something.

Is that how you do it?

Twitter twitter or line or one of the social media is.

And we're gonna go and interview the owner and see what exactly makes this place members only despite having a reservation.

The shop was still closed curtains drawn.

Okay.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I don't know what's on the second floor.

It looks kind of ah Shingo has gone in.

It says closed.

He might not ever come out again.

Yeah.

Is it?

Okay?

Mhm.

We weren't sure what we've gotten ourselves into.

The shop was empty of customers.

It's called 10 homes.

There are several kinds of ramen on the menu different than the other shops and hotdog basically there aren't any other customers because the owner wants to meet us before accepting us as a member.

Get to know us if he doesn't like us.

This may be our last visit.

Members can reserve for times and socialize with other members.

Actually.

I'm really impressed with this because we're getting like V.

I.

P.

Service actually.

Yeah.

He has explained that every for a newcomer he makes the the stores only for that customer.

He rejects all the other uh Any customer repeat customer.

That has a made a reservation.

He just reject them because we are coming pictures so and you owe us wow!

That's really really beautiful things.

Uh This is my stuff.

Yeah.

The yuzu light citrus broth ramen looked and smelled amazing shingles show you rahman had the same toppings different broth.

The cashew steak is duck a different twist to the usual pork.

The taste amazingly light and flavorful.

The owner didn't want to be identified.

So he will be wearing a mask.

Yeah, corn on their skin.

You know that, What about the, I asked our host about kyoto's ramen and the neighborhood.

Uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh Members come here to socialize, not just eat and run like most ramen shops on the second floor is a member's hideout.

The owner has put a lot of effort into making it a unique experience for his members with drink and atmosphere.

You're basically teleported to another world up here.

Original drinks, lasers and smoke.

It's a fun night out for members.

For the select few, the prestigious gold members Card Inicio joji shops have to be original and you never know what you're gonna find around the corner.