Kyoto - The Keage Incline, the Philosopher's Path, and Kogashi ("burned") Ramen at Gogyo

Based on what we saw during the previous afternoon and evening, the Missus decided that we should head back to the Philosopher's Walk, something we did on a previous visit. This time, we decided to do it from the South side.

So we headed off. While there was the possibility of rain in the forecast, it was a very nice morning.

We walked along Lake Biwa Canal, intending to cross over at the intersection near Lake Biwa Museum.

That's where we came across this interesting statue. I'm not sure what it is....all I was able to come up with is something along he lines of "statue of Huge Shine".

The other neat thing we saw were people walking below street level, along the pretty cherry blossoms.

This is the Keage incline. According to what I read, this was once a rail line which was used to carry goods to both channels. These days it's lined with cherry blossom trees. Which make for a nice photo-op. Especially for the folks taking wedding pictures....in the bottom right of the photo below.

From there, it was an easy walk to Nanzenji temple complex. You can't miss the large Sanmon; the main gate.

We didn't spend a whole lot of time here......I'm sure we'll return in the future.....

We did take a few minutes to take a peek at what I believe is Chou Shouin Temple.

A few minutes later we passed Eikando Temple.....

It was early and the temple wasn't yet open. Plus, the Missus was determined to get to the Philosopher's Path.

And a turn or two later....we were there.

There are quite a few....well interesting, but somewhat eccentric folks in Japan.....

Like this Cat Lady giving this feline a "massage"....you could the purring yards away.

Notice that colored cloth to the right of the woman?

Well, it was this.

Just when I think I've seen it all......

Of course the Sakura were beautiful.

The Missus even bought a cup from this lovely ceramic shop.

Everytime She uses it; She's reminded of the Sakura and Kyoto. 

Man, check out all the waiting taxis at the North end of the Philosopher's Path.

"We" had decided that I needed more exercise. So we walked all the way back to the Nishiki Market area.

For lunch I had a ramen place on my radar, Gogyo Ramen, which specialized in "kogashi"......translated to "burnt" ramen. In this case, lard is heated, then ignited, giving the broth a deep black hue. And while it seemed like a gimmick, the parent company was Ippudo, which might be my favorite ramen chain in Japan. And this shop was just two blocks from the Ippudo shop in Kyoto.

We got there about 15 minutes before opening and there was already a line.

Which meant that once the doors opened, the place was instantly full.

Gogyo's signature "burnt" shoyu broth starts with a standard broth, then a few ladles of lard is put into a wok and is heated to 300 degrees Celsius....it basically ignites. This is tipped into the bowl and you get the deep, dark, black, soup.

As you can see, we ordered an extra ajitama for our bowl. The egg was very nicely done, the yolk the perfect golden orb, but ice cold. The pork was dry and also cold. The noodles were over-cooked and lacked a nice al dente pull. The broth was really thick and obviously due to the scortched lard pretty oily....but it was super hot, which kept it from getting too greasy. There's a mild bitter-smokiness and bitterness, to the broth and it wasn't overly salty. We enjoyed the broth, but everything else was average to below average in execution.

The Missus got the Kyoto Pork Bowl combination, which She enjoyed.

It looked pretty bland, but I had a taste and the pork was fairly moist, the soy-mirin-sake flavoring was nicely balanced.

Though, to be honest, I was focused on the ramen. And, while it was fun trying this, I don't think we'll be back.

Service was excellent. The space is quite large for a typical ramen shop in Japan.

Gogyo
452 Jumonji-cho
Nakagyo-ku, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan

Even though this was our third time in Kyoto; things seemed to be different. Folks were walking around with smiles on their faces. There seemed to be levity in the air.

And walking back to the apartment, I found myself smiling at certain things I saw.....

Perhaps the Sakura does have a certain magic to it?

Comments

[jason]

Too bad about the ramen, it's funny that the "gimmick" portion of the bowl (the broth) was the best part... unfortunate that they didn't execute well on the basics.

[Kirk]

Hi Jason - Yeah, all the basics fell short.....it's like they paid too much attention on that broth.

[kat]

bummer the egg was cold, hate when the chashu is served like that too.

[Kirk]

I know Kat.....no attention to detail.

[Soo @ hungryones]

Great Sakura photos!

[Kirk]

It's quite stunning Soo.