Monday, July 13, 2020

二代目ラーメンカヨ (Kayo in Oita Prefecture)

二代目ラーメンカヨ

It's not often that I find a true gem. Most great ramen shops have been written about, tweeted about, and Instagrammed about enough to be fully known. Nidaime Ramen Kayo, on the other hand, is a shop on the down-low.

Just look at this location! Incredible. Crush a bowl right by the bay. For a Ramen Rider, this is the pinnacle of ramen touring.

I actually learned about this shop from Takashi Tanaka (田中貴) from the band Sunny Day Service (サニーデイ・サービス). I work with Tanaka-san occasionally doing ramen TV stuff and his band did a mini-tour of Kyushu in early 2019. Kayo was one of the ramen shops he hit up.


Fried rice and tonkotsu ramen. Simple menu in a little shack. 

The shop was opened in 1995 by a self-taught lady who just wanted to make tasty ramen in a nice location. They closed in 2017 and then reopened a year later, with her daughter-in-law at the helm. The nidaime (二代目) in the name means the second generation. 

That location though! For a Ramen Rider, I live for this. It's over an hour drive from the closest major city and somewhere around three hours if you take public transportation. 

Beautiful ride though.

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