Sakunosaku Ramen 作ノ作 千日前本店 (Osaka, JAPAN) ★★☆☆☆

After more than a week in Osaka, everyone was almost happy to see the end of this trip. Instead of traveling away from Shinsaibashi, we decided to spend the remaining hours close to our hotel. And that means we will be wearing out the area between Shinsaibashi and Dotonbori.

There was a huge crowd going in Namba this afternoon and somehow we got separated into two groups. Since it was well into our lunch time already, mom and I decided to sit down for a quick ramen meal.

Sakunosaku Ramen (作ノ作 千日前本店) is a 11-seater right in between Dotonburi and Namba. It seems to be the only ramen shop with seats available at this hour (bad sign? 😣).



Touted as one of the first ramen shops to offer tonkotsu ramen in Osaka, Sakunosaku also provides  other options such as soy sauce based, salt and miso.

I went all out and got myself their deluxe tonkotsu ramen (1,400 yen) presented in a nice, flowery shape. 

The pork charsiu was pretty dry and rubbery. Not a very good start!

The noodles working well with the rich and tangy broth.

They nailed the soft-boiled egg.

Not many ramens I came across in Japan had this kind of Japanese fish cakes served up with the noodles.

Two things stood out from this lunch experience of ours. First and foremost, the seats here were so small (and tight) that it was making my butt hurt. Secondly and most importantly, I thought the bowl of ramen I had was average at best. The slices of charsiu in particular were really underwhelming to say the least. 

This brings us to the question, why choose Sakunosaku when you have so many options near Dotonburi. This includes Hanamaruken Hozenji (花丸軒 法善寺店), which I never had the pleasure of visiting myself.

Others that I have paid a visit before, Ramen Shitenno Dotonbori (四天王 道頓堀店).

And Kinryu Ramen Dotonbori (金龍ラーメン 道頓堀店).



Like Kinryu, Sakunosaku emerges as a great option in case you needed a midnight snack. The tonkotsu ramen specialists opens until 8 o'clock the next morning.

Food Rating: 3.9/10

Price: ￥￥￥

Address: 1-1-1 Namba, Chuo-ku, Osaka, 542-0076 Japan

Closest Metro Station: Shinsaibashi / Namba

Tel: +81 (0)6 6212-3739

Website: http://www.osaka-ramen.com/

Opening Hours: 11:00am - 8:00am daily