神戸

Kobe

三宮

Sannomiya

担担麵 KOBE ENISHI 三宮

Tantanmen Kobe Enishi Sannomiya

Kobe's Michelin Bib Ramen

Operating Hours

11:00 to 21:00, L.O. 20:30 (Mon-Sat)

11:00 to 20:00, L.O. 19:30 (Sun)

Budget

￥￥

Enishi is a Michelin Bib Gourmand Tantanmen (担々麺) restaurant in Kobe (神戸, Kōbe) that is one of the most unique ramen (ラーメン, Rāmen) dishes that you will find in Japan. While tantanmen is one of those iconic chuka-ryori (中華料理, Chūka-ryōri, Chinese-style cooking) dishes that you see across Japan, it can often be overly commercialised and generic. Here at Enishi, they offer a spice-focused Tantanmen with over 20 different spices, to really give you a flavour experience when you mix it all together and eat it for the first time.

The recommended way of eating it is:

To take a photo of the food within 20 seconds of it arriving
To give the entire bowl a proper mixing
To slurp down the noodles as you enjoy the richness of 32 different spices
If it's more spicy than you like, you can add an ontama (温玉) and mix it in, in order to mellow out the spices
Mix up the taste with the condiments on the table, including black pepper, apple vinegar, and chilli vinegar
For coriander lovers, you can also ask for a coriander add-on
When you run out of noodles, you can ask for a shime-gohan, a single mouthful of rice, that you can mix together with the remaining sauce in order to finish it up.
Lastly, to post it on social media and to tag Enishi on it.

Tantanmen Kobe Enishi Sannomiya's Unique Points (こだわり, Kodawari)

Enishi's motto is that "is it really alright if you've never tried it?" (体感しなくていいのか, taikan shinakute iino ka). Their main dish is a tantanmen that is extremely spice-focused. In their homemade chili oil alone, there are more than 20 different type of spices. For the chashu (チャシュウ, Chashū, Roasted Pork) they use the thigh meat of locally Kobe-produced pork that is stir-fried over a high-heat with a sweet tare (たれ, Sauce) as a base together with some sweetness from a Miso (味噌) and Minced Meat mixture. For the tamanegi (玉ねぎ, Onion), they are fresh and sweet, produced in the neighbouring Awaji Island, with some served diced and fresh, and some deep-fried to make fried onions that are served with freshly roasted cashew nuts from Indonesia. Lastly, a special pickle sauce made with cucumbers mixed with nasu (茄, Eggplant) using a special recipe learnt from a Three-Star Michelin Restaurant to serve as an accent for the dish. The spiciness from the dish comes from a mixture of four different peppers from Sichuan, China including sansho (山椒, Sanshō, Japanese pepper) and green chilli peppers.

Tantanmen Kobe Enishi Sannomiya Review and Thoughts

Recommended

Enishi's spice-focused tantanmen is one of those unique ramen dishes that you will find no where else in the world. This very unique take on tantanmen is a flavour-packed explosion of spices. When you first mix it up and take your first bite, it has that instant "wow factor" of a delicious dish that you've never had before. There's that iconic peanut fragrance that tantanmen has, combined with the umami (旨味, Savoriness) and fragrance of the spices that are mixed into it.

The noodles are also perfectly chewy, and absorb the sauce well. It's an extremely rich taste that will keep you coming back for more. Towards the midpoint, if you feel a bit overwhelmed by the richness, you can also add in some of the vinegar that lightens up the sauce. This brings the dish to a new dimension of flavour, balancing together spiciness, saltiness and sourness. The sour notes will help you keep going to finish devouring up the dish.

And in classic Japanese fashion, because the sauce is just so good and mottainai (勿体無い), you can get just a little bit of rice to mix into the sauce, soak it all up, and clean up the entire bowl. There's really no better ramen to recommend trying out in Kobe than Enishi, especially for its extremely unique take on this dish, that is definitely worth of getting a Michelin Bib Gourmand award.

The spice levels of the dish are customisable, where you can choose the level of spiciness and the level of shibikara (シビから, Numbing Spiciness). For those who want the fragrance of the spice, without the spiciness, there is a non-spicy option. For most people, we recommend the medium spiciness (中辛, chūkara). Those who want a challenge can go for the Mala version, which maxes out both the spiciness and the shibikara.

Tantanmen Kobe Enishi Sannomiya Menu Recommendations

担々麺と温玉セット - 中辛

Tantanmen Medium-Spicy with Ontama Set

¥1,020

This version has the best combination of spiciness and shibikara, together with the ontama (温玉) to mix into the noodles, and a bit of rice at the end to cap it all off.

麻辣と温玉セット

Mala with Ontama Set

¥1,090

Those who want to challenge their spice tolerance should go for the Mala version of the noodles, that also comes with the ontama (温玉) and the rice.

Getting to Tantanmen Kobe Enishi Sannomiya

From

三ノ宮駅

Sannomiya Station

JR-A61

JR神戸線

JR Kobe Line

阪神電気鉄道本線

Hanshin Main Line

神戸本線

Kobe Main Line

阪神神戸高速線

Hanshin Kobe Kosoku Line

S03

西神山手線

Seishin-Yamate Line

P01

ポートアイランド線

Port Island Line

Take Hankyu West Exit

Walk

5 mins

300m

Check out other spots in Sannomiya

神戸牛丼広重

Kobe Gyudon Hiroshige

ステーキランド神戸

Steakland Kobe

三宮

Sannomiya

神戸

Kobe

Due to changing circumstances, readers are advised to do their own additional research. All information on this site is purely for reference only.

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