A tiny joint to be sure, but big, fatty ramen, and a unique dessert offering.

I gotta be honest. This place is not my favorite, but it is unique, for a couple reasons. Let's dig in!

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KISSOU

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"Kissou" (吉相) means "auspicious appearance, good or luck omen." First of all, I love the name. Jesus. That's great. Now, how about the ramen?

Well, as I said, the place is not my favorite, but there are a few unique points that stand out to me, the first being the mountainous negi (Welsh onion) in the negi ramen. Holy camoly.

Now that is a mountain of shredded Welsh onions.

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Like Akashamoji in the previous Steemy Ramen post, Kissou offers two selections when it comes to the fat and flavor content of the broth: Assari and Kotteri. Assari being the lighter, less fatty broth, and Kotteri being the dank shit for true maniacs. I say "maniac," because the Kotteri here really is something else. You can see the thousands of tiny globules of fat floating around in the broth. I opt for kotteri every time, but I gotta be honest: compared to Akashamoji, the broth flavor here is, well, sub-par.

The Kissou menu. The darker colored side is the Kotteri option.

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As I said, I order the shoyu (soy-sauce-based) broth, negi-ramen. I ordered the Kotteri version. It was okay, but I was a bit disappointed after last week's amazing experience at Akashamoji. Noodle size was also not really a strong point, in my opinion. Well, to my personal taste, I suppose. The noodles here at Kissou are supposed to be thin (how I like them), but the kotteri broth comes with slightly thicker noodles that did little more for me than make me feel bloated.

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Speaking of noodles, it took me about five hours to get to them. I had to dig through this pile of negi first.

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Miyuki partaking of some gyouza. She said the shells weren't fried with a crunch at all, so they were a bit "meh."

The atmosphere is very basic. Mellowed colors, no radio (just the din of Japanese TV in the background), and some posters and such here and there.

Ice cream!!!

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I mentioned there were a few special things about this place. They are:

• The onion mountains on the ramen.
• The super fat-laden broth
• ICE CREAM!!!

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Everyone gets to help themselves to a free ice cream bar on the way out.

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Yes, the free ice cream treat at the end is pretty cool, indeed!

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FINAL RATING!

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Atmosphere - 5

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Broth - 4.5

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Noodles - 5

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Onion Mountains Bonus - .2

Ice Cream Bonus - .2

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FINAL SCORE: 5.2

"Meh," but fun "meh." :)

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~KafkA

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Graham Smith is a Voluntaryist activist, creator, and peaceful parent residing in Niigata City, Japan. Graham runs the "Voluntary Japan" online initiative with a presence here on Steem, as well as Facebook and Twitter. (Hit me up so I can stop talking about myself in the third person!)