A tiny joint to be sure, but big, fatty ramen, and a unique dessert offering.
I gotta be honest. This place is not my favorite, but it is unique, for a couple reasons. Let's dig in!
KISSOU
"Kissou" (吉相) means "auspicious appearance, good or luck omen." First of all, I love the name. Jesus. That's great. Now, how about the ramen?
Well, as I said, the place is not my favorite, but there are a few unique points that stand out to me, the first being the mountainous negi (Welsh onion) in the negi ramen. Holy camoly.
Now that is a mountain of shredded Welsh onions.
Like Akashamoji in the previous Steemy Ramen post, Kissou offers two selections when it comes to the fat and flavor content of the broth: Assari and Kotteri. Assari being the lighter, less fatty broth, and Kotteri being the dank shit for true maniacs. I say "maniac," because the Kotteri here really is something else. You can see the thousands of tiny globules of fat floating around in the broth. I opt for kotteri every time, but I gotta be honest: compared to Akashamoji, the broth flavor here is, well, sub-par.
The Kissou menu. The darker colored side is the Kotteri option.
As I said, I order the shoyu (soy-sauce-based) broth, negi-ramen. I ordered the Kotteri version. It was okay, but I was a bit disappointed after last week's amazing experience at Akashamoji. Noodle size was also not really a strong point, in my opinion. Well, to my personal taste, I suppose. The noodles here at Kissou are supposed to be thin (how I like them), but the kotteri broth comes with slightly thicker noodles that did little more for me than make me feel bloated.
Speaking of noodles, it took me about five hours to get to them. I had to dig through this pile of negi first.
Miyuki partaking of some gyouza. She said the shells weren't fried with a crunch at all, so they were a bit "meh."
The atmosphere is very basic. Mellowed colors, no radio (just the din of Japanese TV in the background), and some posters and such here and there.
Ice cream!!!
I mentioned there were a few special things about this place. They are:
- The onion mountains on the ramen.
- The super fat-laden broth
- ICE CREAM!!!
Everyone gets to help themselves to a free ice cream bar on the way out.
Yes, the free ice cream treat at the end is pretty cool, indeed!
FINAL RATING!
Atmosphere - 5
Broth - 4.5
Noodles - 5
Onion Mountains Bonus - .2
Ice Cream Bonus - .2
FINAL SCORE: 5.2
"Meh," but fun "meh." :)
~KafkA
Graham Smith is a Voluntaryist activist, creator, and peaceful parent residing in Niigata City, Japan. Graham runs the "Voluntary Japan" online initiative with a presence here on Steem, as well as Facebook and Twitter. (Hit me up so I can stop talking about myself in the third person!)
