麺や勝治 (Katsuji Kannai)

I returned to Katsuji after loosing my SD card to recapture some pictures and the experience. Kannai is a neighborhood close to Yokohama famous for a "red light" district, but also home to some thrifty shopping, and the office of my current employer! I have to go there for meetings so it is a perfect excuse to check out Katsuji once again. On the other side of the station from Isezaki (the main shopping area) you will find this ramen shop tucked away on a side street. Don't worry about missing it though, they are one of the shops that have an awesome mechanical bowl outside that emulates chopsticks bringing noodles out of an oversized bowl:

As you can see, Katsuji has a bone crossed with a chili pepper as their logo. They also have a point card system, which I used on my 2nd visit to get a free egg! I am a wimp when it comes to very hot spice in my ramen (maybe next time, as it is a convenient shop for me) so I just went with their number one recommended ramen.

The staff here is pretty gaijin friendly and they made sure I was OK with having a soft boiled egg. Of course I was, so out came my ramen with a lovely seasoned egg. A real standout of Katsuji is their use of caramelized onion bits that you can see there hanging out near the nori. They are absolutely fantastic, as is the shio stock. The egg was cooked to perfection as well. It is disappointing to note that their pork was slightly dry and lacking of any character or flavor. This is often the case, where I find most things to be perfect, there is one detraction. Overall Katsuji is delcious and I will report back if I try their signature super spicy ramen. 4/5

Map and link to the tabelog!