元ソム
Established on November 2, 2015. It seems like the owner trained at Ookura Ramen in Tosu. This location used to be a ramen shop called Ryosanpo in the past. I have eaten here once before, and it was a ramen similar to Daikyu style, and oddly enough, this time it is also a ramen shop of Daikyu style. This is my first visit. I went to Marukyu Ramen in Kurume City, Fukuoka Prefecture, located along Route 755. Next to it is Nanjing Senryou Honke's Kofu store, and Marusei Ramen, Kuiyoi Ken are relatively close by. There is a parking lot available where you can park about 5-6 cars in the adjacent parking lot. Now let's go inside the store. Inside the store, I briefly hesitated if we should take off our shoes. As soon as you enter, there is a step about one step high like an entrance. It's a somewhat unique layout. There is a counter with 8 seats in front, a 6-seater tatami room on the left, a 4-seater tatami room on the right, and a 6-seater table at the back on the right. The capacity is about 24 people in total. Let's take a look at the menu. Reasonable pricing. The extra noodles are a bit expensive, right? They also have unique ramen dishes and alcoholic beverages. There were also a few customers eating horumon (offal) while drinking beer. The table condiments include black pepper, sesame, salt, gyoza sauce, chili oil, spicy garlic, and pickled ginger. I ordered a C set with ramen and draft beer. They also asked about the firmness of the noodles. The dish arrived in about 7 minutes! Only with chashu and green onions. Let's take a sip of the soup... The temperature is good. My first impression was that it's like a downgraded version of Daikyu Ramen... The taste lacks depth and seems a bit blurry. It's not rich, not refined, and lacks umami. It doesn't feel like a soup that costs a lot of money. Let's try the noodles... I felt that the texture was somehow different, and it turns out that they are flat noodles to an extent that you can't tell. They are thin, smooth noodles. The noodles don't mix well with the soup and somehow feel watery. Let's try the chashu... Is it pork shoulder? In the Daikyu style, the chashu is not very fatty. And it's quite thin. The gyoza tastes like typical ramen shop gyoza. The bill is... C set 700 yen, Ramen 500 yen, Beer 390 yen, Total 1590 yen. It's below the price range. There are many historical and delicious ramen shops in Kurume, so there's no need to come all the way here. Also, the service was mediocre. The staff's lack of smiles. The atmosphere was not good, so I felt uncomfortable and wanted to leave early. Don't you feel the passion of the owner in a good restaurant? I didn't feel it in this store. Thank you for the meal.