I'll admit, I'm a sucker for gimmicky ramen. And a bowl topped with cotton candy is about as gimmicky as it gets!
This tiny shop is just off one of the many covered shotengai shopping streets that criss-cross Osaka. I guess this area is considered Nakazaki, or maybe it is still part of Umeda. Either way, wandering around this part of central Osaka felt foreign and confusing to me. I love it, being lost in a new town.
Unfortunately, the craft beer bar next door was completely full, or else I would have waited there for Mr. Philoramen, another ramen blogger whom I met recently. I opted, instead, to wander around what seemed to be the center of Kansai's love hotel district. This part of town is loud, dirty, and colorful. Perfect for drinks and ramen.
bird has only ramen and tsukemen on the menu, with either normal or thick. The master recommended the thicker one.
Ok, here's the deal. That cloud of spun sugar almost immediately dissolves into the soup. Sugar in ramen sounds bad, but quite often the tare seasoning contains a lot of sweet mirin and sugar, and some of the best chashu is very, very sweet.
The spun sugar, as long as it is mixed properly into the soup, wasn't a problem at all. In fact, I really dug this 100% chicken soup. It was thick and creamy, with noodles that matched very well. The chashu, a thick-cut piece, had obviously been stewing in some delicious sauce for a while.
The problem, and it was a big one, arose when I tried my friend's soup. He hadn't mixed the sugar into the soup completely, and I got a massively sweet hit of light soup and sugar. So much sugar, in fact, that my taste buds were a bit wrecked. As I left the shop, I had a bad taste in my mouth (pun intended). Make sure you don't make my mistake, unless you have a serious sweet tooth.
大阪府大阪市北区堂山町8-10
Osaka-shi, Kita-ku, Doyamacho 8-10
Closest station: Umeda
Open 17:00-5:00am
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