zundouya ramen

we arrived early in osaka, much earlier than our plan, so when we arrived at our hotel, we couldn't check in yet. apparently the check in hour was 3 pm so we had to wait. fortunately, the hotel provided free drinks and free wifi in the eating area, so we decided to get some rest, drink and decided where to go next. husband then caught up in work, so i decided to go to shinsaibashi and bought some things. i strolled around shinsaibashi before finding luke's lobster and then head back to the hotel. then since we had early lunch, husband was hungry again after we got into our room. so we decided to take a bath and went out to find some dinner. luckily, i found out that there was zundouya ramen near shinsaibashi, so we decided to give it a try. if you didn't know, zundouya ramen was recommended by jwestbros (you could check their youtube videos).

when you saw the lantern, look up to see the name to make sure you're on the right place

the place was near shinsaibashi, we found it from google maps, so you could rely on it. anyway, there was a sign saying ramen place but you need to look up to finally saw "zundouya" name. the place was weird. it had this quite big empty space with several benches so you could wait after writing down your name and phone on the available waiting list near the door. there was a vending machine on the side of the waiting list table, and a big menu with picture on the wall. the vending menu was easier, you could see the english button easily. so you should order from the vending machine, then gave the tickets from vending to the waiter when they had space for you to go inside. aside from ramen menu, they also offered some side menu like gyoza, fried rice, and fried chicken. there were other menu on their website (here) but you should notice that not all stores offered the same menu. they also gave free water in a jug just like hakata one, so you could refill it yourself.

see how far behind the eating space is?

okay.. i was saying that the place was weird. the waiting space was bigger than the eating space. it had this long counter with chairs facing the counter and then several tables with chairs. and then there were about 2-3 tables with sofa chair facing each other. i must warn you they might co-sharing their seating arrangement to cramp as many people as they could. they also put us in tables with another couples. luckily both of us were tourists, so no one would understand what we're talking about. the waiter couldn't speak english but she or he understood english.

the vending machine to order and then gave the ticket to the waiter.
you can see the menu board hanging on the wall

i ordered ajitama ramen and husband ordered the hot version. ajitama was basically the original ramen with added egg. it had less chasiu than hakata. the bowl was as big as ippudo, and the portion was quite big like hakkata too. but fortunately they didn't give as much sprout as hakkata. they only put several slices of chasiu, an egg, a seaweed paper and some spring onions. it had pork bone broth like hakkata, so better eat fast before the soup gone weird with all that fat getting solid when the soup was cold. there were two choices of noodles, straight or curly. we picked the straight one. it was thin and soft, but i like it a bit softer. the chasiu was not too salty and i didn't notice any smokiness to it, i think it was similar to ippudo's. it was very tender and delicious. totally the star of the dish for me. the soup was rich and a bit salty, but i think hakkata was a bit saltier than this one.

ajitama ramen

hot ajitama ramen
forgot to take the gyoza picture because it arrived later and i was busy eating

we also ordered gyoza. it was grilled and it was okay, the wrapper was thin and it had the right crunchiness but the meat inside had this distinct ginger taste, so if you didn't like ginger, you probably shouldn't order it. price wise, it was cheaper than ippudo and ichiran. hopefully it would stay that way. if you're looking for a nice hot and fulfilling ramen, but you're enough of ippudo and ichiran, then you should check out zundouya. it worths the wait. i think they had two branches in osaka, in umeda and shinsaibashi. and there were other branches all around japan, so check it out. didn't see any high chair, and the place was pretty crowded and had narrow walking space, so unless your kids could sit up straight and quietly, or you lucky enough to get the sofa tables, then you might want to check somewhere else to eat. as for me, totally would come back if i could. oh and have i told you that it opened 24 hours?