Daikan: Japan’s Oldest Ramen Restaurant!
For many, one of the most iconic foods in Japan is ramen. Ramen is very popular in Japan as well as the world over. While it feels that a new ramen restaurant pops up every few weeks there are, of course, a handful of truly old ramen restaurants. If you are a ramen enthusiast and just to happen to be near Osaka, you are in luck! Daikan in Amagasaki, is the oldest existing ramen restaurant in Japan and offers their tried and true unchanged recipe.
Getting to Daikan
Daikan is only a few minutes’ walk from Hanshin Amagasaki Station, which is only about 10 minutes away from either Umeda or Namba Station.
From the Amagsaki Station, take the north exist then go left towards the shopping street. Follow the shopping street until you reach the traffic light, then turn right. The restaurant is only a little further after that but the sign is a little small, so be on the lookout.
Daikan
Daikan opened in 1912 in the foreign settlement in Kobe. It is rather miraculous that the restaurant still stands today, as much of Kobe felt the onslaught of WWII. In fact, most of the older ramen restaurants still running in Kobe today date back to just after the war. Though Daiken survived the war, they decided to relocate from Kobe to Amagasaki after WWII.
1,700 yen for a bowl of ramen and fried rice is a bit expensive, but the portion size is huge! The portions here are much bigger than other ramen restaurants.
The toppings are very simple: kikurage, menma and a couple slices of pork. The broth looks very thick, but it has actually a mild flavor and isn’t oily at all.
They also have an unusual version of tsukemen, saitanmen . Unlike most tsukemen that is served without broth, here it’s served in broth.
When you come here, make sure to try their fried rice too.
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