Menya Doton Dotonbori Honten 麵屋道頓 道頓堀本店 (Osaka, JAPAN) ★★★☆☆

It was our last night in Osaka, and naturally, no one wanted it to end too early. So after dinner at the fishing restaurant, we decided to walk all the way back to our hotel just to stretch the evening out a little longer.

As we were passing through the ever-lively Dōtonbori (道頓堀), someone from our group casually mumbled about having ramen. I heard that one!

One thing led to another, and before we knew it, we were seated at Menya Doton Dotonbori Honten (麵屋道頓 道頓堀本店), a tsukemen ramen specialist brought to us by the folks behind the well-known Dotonbori Kamukura (神座拉麵) chain.

Little nugget was so happy to be having a "siu yeh" (late-night snack) with his little cousin from Australia.



They should’ve been in bed by now but hey, don’t tell that to these two little gentlemen.

Specially-made dipping ramen (1,110 yen) – This was the same signature vegetable broth that made Kamukura famous.

The thick noodles were topped by two slices of pork char siu, some bamboo shoots, a soft-boiled egg and vegetables.

I’ve always liked the clean, light flavors of their broth, but when it comes to dipping noodles, I prefer something thicker and more intense to really cling to the noodles. This version, while refreshing, didn’t quite deliver that punch.

The char siu, stewed in their house soy sauce, was more toward the lean side. Not quite the melt-in-your-mouth variety. 

The egg though was nicely executed.

As expected, the light vegetable broth didn’t work well as a dipping 'sauce' for the dense noodles. But honestly? That didn’t matter.

We weren’t here for perfection. We were here to savor our last night together (Team Aussie goes to Tokyo tomorrow morning), to laugh a little longer, and to make the most of our time together in Osaka.

And that, it did perfectly.

Food Rating: 5.1/10

Price: ￥￥￥

Address: 1-7-2 Dotonbori, Chuo-ku, Osaka, 542-0071 Japan

Closest Metro Station: Namba

Tel: +81 (0)6 6926-8808

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