Only eat ramen when you go to Osaka? You have to try the uni kimbap too!

How long are you going to keep eating only Ichiran Ramen? At Ramen Ebi Pachi, a ramen spot in Osaka Namba with a special menu featuring uni kimbap! This is the best ramen restaurant I’ve eaten at during my trips to Tokyo, Osaka, and Fukuoka in Japan.

For my last night dinner in Osaka, I chose Ramen Ebi Pachi near Kuromon Market, close to my accommodation. Since I’m in Japan, I have to eat proper ramen, not just convenience store cup noodles.

🏮Ramen Ebi Pachi ラーメンEBIパチ

🍜 2 Chome-12-23 Nipponbashi, Chuo Ward, Osaka, 542-0073 Japan
🍜 Hours: Daily 11:30-14:30 / 18:00-21:30
🍜 Features: Ramen specialty shop - no tonkotsu ramen - / uni kimbap / cash only / single-operator so food may take time.

🩷 Location & Atmosphere
Ramen Ebi Pachi is just a 5-minute walk from Apartment Hotel 11 Kuromon 4 where I stayed. Very close, right? It’s located on the way to Kuromon Market, but the area around the restaurant is dark, so watch carefully so you don’t miss it!

In the dark alley, you can spot the red lantern light typical of Japanese izakayas, the soft glow coming from inside, and the OPEN sign on the curtain-like door, letting you know the ramen shop is open.

Opening the vinyl sliding door that looks like a food stall, the inside is bright and cozy, unlike the somewhat scary dark outside. It has a warm late-night diner vibe with a wooden bar table surrounding the open kitchen.

💜 Wide Selection of Alcohol & Drinks
Though it’s a ramen shop, they have a wider variety of drinks than ramen. Definitely a place for drink lovers!

They offer Asahi draft beer and bottled beers like Asahi, Sapporo, Kirin. Also available are sours (SOUR), shochu (SHOCHU), highballs (HIGH BALL), sake (NIHONSHU), umeshu (plum wine, UMESHU), and wine (WINE)!

Sours are cocktails mixing Japanese shochu or distilled spirits with flavors like plain, lemon, calpis, lime, yuzu chu-hi, adding a refreshing and sweet taste. Highballs are cocktails mixing whiskey, vodka, or rum with carbonated water, with slight differences.

For non-drinkers, soft drinks like Coca-Cola, oolong tea, calpico, and yuzu soda are available.

🩷 Ramen Varieties
Ramen Ebi Pachi’s broth bases are shrimp + salt, soy sauce, miso, and chicken stock. Note that there is no tonkotsu ramen, which Koreans often like!

There are shrimp broth-based shrimp salt ramen, shrimp miso ramen, shrimp soy sauce ramen, and scallop ramen. The chicken broth ramen comes in basic and spicy flavors, with spice levels adjustable up to 3. It’s not very spicy, so those who love spicy food might find it less intense. There are also special ramen options.

Ramen toppings include one egg, two wontons, chicken chashu, pork chashu, and one scallop, which you can add as you like.

💜 Shrimp Soy Sauce Ramen
When I ordered, I thought it was soy sauce ramen topped with fried shrimp. In Korea, broth made with dried shrimp and soy sauce is rare, right? The clear broth is good for a clean taste, but the strong dried shrimp flavor might be unfamiliar. So this ramen can be divisive.

🩷 Spicy Chicken Broth Ramen
The orange-colored broth catches your eye. The ramen broth is thick and very smooth, like dense coffee crema. Best of all, it doesn’t contain chili powder, so it has a clean taste.

I can’t handle Shin Ramyun’s spiciness well. I chose level 2 spice, but since it’s different from Korean spiciness, level 3 would have been fine too.

It’s definitely delicious ramen, but as you eat, the richness can feel heavier than the spiciness, so it pairs well with beer! Soft and refreshing draft beer and ramen make the perfect combo.

💜 Uni Kimbap
Ramen Ebi Pachi doesn’t only sell ramen. They have a special menu not listed on the menu but posted on the wall.

Among sea urchin and egg rice bowl, sea urchin and salmon roe egg rice bowl, and sea urchin kimbap, I ordered the uni kimbap. I’m not good with fishy foods, and I only started eating seafood a few years ago, so this was my first time trying uni.

The uni kimbap came with the black seaweed spread out like wings. A long strip of seaweed with white rice in the middle and topped with plenty of sea urchin. This one bite of uni kimbap costs about 30,000 won. I didn’t realize sea urchin was this expensive.

Taking a bite of the sea urchin kimbap, it wasn’t as fishy as I expected, so it was okay. Honestly, since it was my first time, I’m not sure what sea urchin tastes like, but my sister really enjoyed it. She said sea urchin has a sweet taste. I guess I need to learn more about seafood. Still, I was satisfied to try something new and special. :)

🩷 Mini Chicken Tataki Rice Bowl
Besides ramen and uni kimbap, they also sell rice dishes. Basic rice comes in small, medium, and large sizes. Mini rice bowls include ikura (salmon roe) rice bowl, ikura scallop rice bowl, chicken tataki rice bowl, and chashu mayonnaise rice bowl. Though called mini, the rice portions are quite large, enough for kids.

💜 Tips Before You Go
Ramen Ebi Pachi is run by a single owner. The ramen is made fresh upon order, but if there are many orders, food may take time. It’s best to have a beer or two and wait patiently.

In the Namba area, many small shops still accept cash only. Ramen Ebi Pachi is cash only, so be sure to bring cash.

#RamenEbiPachi #UniKimbap