Counter-style restaurants – places where you get to see everything cooked, you have a seasonal, changing menu, and the dishes are passed across the counter to you – 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 (¥1,280), 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 high-end 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 (¥2,000), it’s this one.