10 best ramen in Osaka every noodle lover should try

The decade-old noodle joint is tucked away in an alley just around the corner from Fukushima Station, with an all-white, almost windowless facade that gives little away. But trust the persistent queue outside its door, because the local clientele know that Moeyo Mensuke's duck ramen is one of the best in Osaka.

Upon entering the narrow space, you'll need to pick one of two options at the vending machine: a clam-based ‘golden shellfish’ ramen or the signature duck ramen. The latter is the richer and more popular of the two.

The chefs’ training at Kinguemon – an Osaka institution renowned for its shoyu (soy sauce) noodles – is evident in the silken broth that’s deeply flavourful yet light on the palate. It’s built on a base of Kishu duck from Wakayama and a custom soy sauce blend from Kagawa, with Tokushima’s Awaodori chicken added to balance out the duck’s gaminess.

This level of attention to provenance extends to other components in the bowl as well. The medium-thick noodles are sourced from the long-established Mori Seimen, while the egg is a prized variety from Kagoshima.

For the finishing touch, the ramen is topped with perfectly cooked duck and pork chashu that still retain a light blush, sweet and melty leeks, and bamboo shoots. It’s an elevated bowl of noodles that justifies the wait.

Hidden away in the basement of Senba Center, this clean and bright ramen restaurant is operated by a renowned dried goods purveyor – and it shows.

Honmachi Seimensho Chukasobakobo's broth is beautifully balanced, despite having a long list of robust ingredients: several types of dried fish, kombu kelp, pike conger eel and chicken bones. While the soup has deep umami, there’s still clarity in flavour, and it’s immensely drinkable. First, taste it on its own, then sprinkle on some sansho pepper for a spicy, fragrant kick that rounds off the richness.

You get to choose from two types of noodles, both made fresh in-house every day. The restaurant recommends the hand-rolled thin flat noodles for the soupy ramen, and the springy, chewy round noodles for the soupless version, as the latter is better at picking up the dressing. Make sure you go for the bowl with all the toppings, which include perfectly tender sous-vide chashu pork and an ajitama egg with a glossy, barely set yolk.

Counter-style restaurants – places serving a seasonally changing menu where you see everything cooked and passed across the counter – arguably originated with Osaka’s kappo culture. With this style of dining now popular around the world, many of the city’s innumerable kappo restaurants are enjoying their time in the international spotlight.

Some of these refined eateries are seizing the opportunity by exploring new culinary directions – like Kita-Shinchi’s Michelin-starred Noguchi Taro has done by opening this sleek ramen joint a stone’s throw from the main restaurant.

The team’s washoku pedigree and intimate knowledge of quality ingredients shine through in the signature Taro Special Ramen, in which straight, semi-thick whole-grain noodles are paired with a seafood-based soup made from oysters plus asari and shijimi clams and nuanced with top-shelf Kyoto soy sauce.

Bolder flavours are imparted by the toppings, which include pressure-cooked, thick but melt-in-your-mouth soft char siu pork and a satsuma-age fried fishcake infused with truffle and branded with the restaurant’s name. If there was ever a bowl of ramen deserving of a champagne pairing, it’s this one.

An offshoot of the Michelin-listed noodle eatery Mugen in Fukushima ward, Zen Laboratory opened in 2021 and serves additive-free, artisanal ramen in stylish, orange-tinged surroundings. 

The signature Shiro Shoyu Chuka Soba wows with a clear soup that combines chicken and seafood broth with a base stock made from delicate white soy sauce. The well-balanced, light mixture pairs superbly with the round, medium-thick noodles, making for a wholesome, delicious bowl.  

Another highlight is the tsukemen version, in which the whole-grain noodles are served in a cold konbu kelp broth alongside the aforementioned soup, the latter reinforced here with a few splashes of cider for a slightly sour kick that really whets the appetite.  

Toppings include slices of roast pork and chicken, menma, komatsuna mustard spinach, and dollops of Awajishima salt and wasabi that are meant to be added halfway to enhance the aroma of the noodles.

Maru de Sankaku (‘Circle and Triangle’) has won a loyal following over the past five years with its seabream ramen, especially in the form of the signature Tai Paitan Torori. The dish features thin noodles soaked in a rich and creamy soup combining seabream and clam broths, which is given a foamy, cappuccino-like finish before serving.

More than a photo-friendly gimmick, the trick makes the soup stick readily to the noodles and enhances its umami flavour. The toppings of seabream flakes, lemon and chopped yuzu peel add a hint of freshness to the mix.

Tai Tsukemen Kirari, the dipping-noodle version, is a lighter but equally flavourful concoction built around a clear chintan soup that combines seabream and konbu broth with a house-made salt mixture. The flat noodles it comes with are flavoured with konbu before serving and they make for a moreish match with the soup, which contains a handful of sticky akamoku seaweed to help soak up the liquid. Also included is a selection of toppings such as cured seabream, steamed chicken and menma, plus plum jelly and oyster-flavoured olive oil that can be added halfway to spice up the soup.

Spelling out Ore no na wa J (‘My name is J’), the bulky black-and-white sign of this Kitakagaya ramen joint suggests some serious grease, but that preconception couldn’t be farther from the truth. Both the interior and the refined noodle dishes here are firmly on the light side, as exemplified by J’s signature Collagen Tsukemen. Its creamy white dipping sauce, a mixture of tonkotsu broth and a collagen-packed bone broth made from pork and chicken feet, sticks easily to the handmade noodles crafted from a blend of five types of wheat flour.

An unmissable stop on any ramen fan’s Osaka itinerary, Kadoya Shokudo is revered for its traditional soy sauce-based chuka soba. But to truly give the shop’s memorable noodles – crafted in-house every morning from a proprietary blend of domestic wheat – their much-deserved place in the spotlight, order the tsukesoba (dipping noodles). Paired with a rich dipping broth and a hearty serving of toppings, these aromatic, perfectly springy noods might well expand your culinary horizons. 

Based on its name – 'Sekai Ichi Hima Na Ramen-ya' cheekily translates to ‘The Most Desarted (sic) Ramen Bar in the World’ – this ramen restaurant clearly has a self-deprecating sense of humour. Tucked away in a sleek office building in Nakanoshima, an area with little casual foot traffic, it still manages to attract a small but steadily moving line outside its door. 

The ramen, which comes in deep, oversized bowls that we presume help prevent the soup from splashing onto your clothes, is surprisingly affordable. Most standard servings are priced around ¥1,000 including tax.

There are six ramen options on the menu, all with soy sauce broths. Witch’s Red is a sweet soy sauce ramen with a delicate shellfish flavour, while Kurofune offers a richer, darker soy sauce broth. Captain Gold features a light soy sauce base infused with bonito oil for extra depth of flavour. 

For those who like a bit of heat, there are two choices: Kurofune Return, a spicy dark soy sauce ramen, and Captain Gold Come Back, a spicy light soy sauce broth seasoned with yuzu oil and chilli peppers. If you prefer your ramen soupless, try Kanko Dori, where the dry-style noodles are dressed with a citrus-accented soy sauce.

For wholesome, additive-free ramen in Uehonmachi, the top choice for more than 20 years now has been Mennoya. The self-taught chef opened his shop in 2002 at the age of 42 and is going stronger than ever, running triathlons and marathons in his free time while drawing in regulars and first-timers alike with his signature Motoaji (‘original taste’) ramen. This chicken-based, shoyu-flavoured soup caresses the taste buds and is the perfect antidote when you’re feeling down for whatever reason.

Those who prefer dipping noodles should consider the Hiya-atsu tsukemen, in which medium-thick egg noodles are accompanied by a sweetish chicken-based shoyu soup that gets an extra kick from dried shrimp and sudachi citrus. The combo of piping hot soup and cold noodles is enjoyable from start to finish, especially as extra sudachi juice and a seafood-based broth are provided to add flavour as needed while slurping.

Though it’s run by the comedian Tetsuji from the Osaka-based manzai duo Shampoo Hat, tsukemen eatery Miyata Menji is dead serious about its noodles. The shop offers two signature varieties of noods and one rotating special to go with its much-vaunted veggie potage soup, a rich concoction reminiscent of vichyssoise but with a seafood umami kick.

The first signature noodle is the Wheat Daiginjo, so named because about half of the outer layers of the grain used for the noodles is polished away – as is done with rice in the making of daiginjo sake – to achieve a brilliantly clear flavour. Further mixing this polished wheat with bran lets the noodle-makers achieve a notably elastic but still airy mouthfeel that’s quite unlike anything we’ve tasted before.

Menji’s other regular noodle is the Wheat Espresso, the result of mixing a variety of whole-grain flours in search of a kick to rival a nice strong cup of Italian coffee. Deep brown in colour and with a rich aroma, these extra-thick noodles may not quite produce the ‘wow’ factor of the Wheat Daiginjo, but are well worth savouring on the side as part of a two-noodle set.