かまくら家

The name’s Kamakuraya, and no, it’s not located in that iconic city most expats know as Kamakura, home of the Great Daibutsu.

Venturing out into the great unknown micro-urban cities of southern Yokohama one can get a feel for how normal everyday Japanese people live. A far cry from the insanity of Tokyo’s streets and the geeky crowds that litter the internet cafes.

Gumiyoji and Minami-ku to be exact, are where a lot of delicious ramen shops are at. Some of these places aren’t pretty, but it’s what they make that stands out, so here I was at this shop on my home from a gig I did. What really caught my eye though is the ramshackle condition of this ramen shop. Sliding doors, make shift kitchen.

According to the reviews this shop has been receiving modest reviews for years, some from as far back as 2006. There are also a lot of repeat customer who come back here on a regular basis as this shop has been around for decades.

Looking at the picture, you see a very ordinary bowl of ramen, nothing fancy, nothing interesting. However, the soup is very well made in spite of one review claiming it had sesame seed oil in it; didn’t taste any. The noodles were just ordinary, but the pork was very nice and flavorsome. Again, on this one the soup was nice which is in line with a lot of what the reviews claimed. A very nice ordinary bowl of ramen.

It’s a bout a 300 meter walk from Gumyoji Station and it should be on your left hand side with big red signs.