Jiji-kun's light chicken broth ramen features a clear soy sauce soup base and elastic fine noodles, while the rich chicken soup has a strong flavor. The char siu rice has a balanced meat texture, with the taste being just right. Customers particularly appreciate its refreshing taste, making it suitable for hot summer days.
The branch in Ximen Town has a convenient location, decorated in a Japanese style, with a comfortable environment suitable for dining, making people feel relaxed and pleasant. Each seat thoughtfully provides shichimi powder, ice water, and tissues, enhancing the comfort of the dining experience.
The staff are friendly and willing to help, able to provide suitable soup base options according to the customer's needs, and remind customers that the bowl is very hot, making the dining experience more enjoyable. The clerks proactively introduce the menu, which feels considerate.
In the past, when Jiji-kun only had a shop at West Lake, there would be long lines almost every day. Recently, they finally opened a branch in Ximen, which makes me very satisfied as a ramen lover🤣. This time, I ordered the light Jiji-kun, the rich Jiji-kun, and a bowl of char siu rice, but when the rich Jiji-kun arrived, I was so happy that I forgot to take a photo🤣. The taste is as excellent as always, but the rich one is really rich! When the staff brings the meal, they also provide a cup of clear broth, and if you are still worried it’s too rich, you can ask them for more! Eating the rich one first and then the light one gives an incredibly refreshing feeling🤣. The char siu rice is also truly delicious! The meat, whether fatty or lean, has the perfect flavor—it’s the kind of dish you can eat more than half of in one sitting. The staff also kindly remind you that the bowl is very hot, which is very thoughtful🫶.
Dining Environment:
The design of the seating area fully reflects the characteristics of a Japanese ramen shop. Each seat thoughtfully provides shichimi powder, iced water, and tissues, allowing customers to adjust the flavor according to their preferences and enjoy a comfortable dining experience.
Meal Review: Light and Refreshing
This bowl of ramen is one of the shop's signatures, featuring a chicken broth ramen with a soy sauce clear soup. From the very first bite, you can feel its difference from traditional rich-flavored ramen.
Broth: The clear broth exudes an enticing soy sauce aroma, and upon tasting, one is pleasantly surprised to discover the deliciousness of the chicken broth blooming on the palate. This refreshing and rich flavor balances the savory saltiness of the soy sauce with the sweet freshness of the chicken broth, making it hard to resist another bite.
Noodles: The accompanying thin noodles perfectly match this light broth. The noodles are incredibly elastic, absorbing the right amount of broth, allowing you to savor both the chewiness of the noodles and the deliciousness of the broth with every bite.
Overall Rating: "Light and Refreshing Chicken Ramen" proves that ramen doesn't need to follow a rich flavor path to make a lasting impression.
Its refreshing taste is perfect for those who dislike overly greasy flavors, making it an excellent choice for hot summer days, cleverly balancing texture and flavor, and bringing new possibilities to traditional soy sauce ramen.
📍Ximen Station, Taipei
Located on Kunyang Street, about a 6-minute walk from the MRT station, the overall decor at the entrance is very Japanese, making it particularly eye-catching among the surrounding shops. I had previously eaten at the JiJiKun branch in Neihu and remember that after hiking up Jinmian Mountain, I headed straight there, arriving 40 minutes before opening time. Even then, I couldn't be in the first batch to enter, so I had to wait for about an hour. At that time, I thought the food was quite good, but considering the long wait, it slightly decreased my desire to return. Luckily, the new branch in Ximen doesn’t require a queue for lunch on weekdays!
Dishes 🥘
📍Located in the Ximen shopping district, this is a branch of a famous ramen shop from Neihu.
🍽️Environment
The decor follows a Japanese ramen style, with walls made of cement wall-patterned wooden boards. Just like most Japanese ramen shops, you place your order at the machine outside before entering, although the staff will come out to introduce the menu. The shop can accommodate about 20 people, the air conditioning is moderately strong, and there are no restrooms.
🍜Food
▪️Salted Chicken White Soup Ramen $300
The noodle dishes in the shop are divided into three categories: salted chicken clear soup, salted chicken white soup, and delicate chicken broth. The staff mentioned that the chicken white soup is lighter at lunchtime than in the evening, so I ordered the salted chicken white soup ramen. The only options are no green onions and no garlic, while the firmness of the noodles is fixed. The chicken white soup has a rich chicken flavor; at first sip, it doesn’t feel overly greasy, but the soup is thicker with a smaller amount. The sous-vide chicken breast lacks flavor on its own, but it pairs nicely with the chicken white soup. However, the char siu (braised pork) performs excellently, being tender and flavorful. This time, I received two extra pieces of random char siu, making the overall meat portion quite sufficient.🤣 Additionally, the white cap on the table contains chili powder, which spicy food lovers can add. The rich chicken white soup becomes even smoother with a bit of spice, which can help prevent it from becoming too greasy by the end.
In summary, it's a decent ramen shop. The Ximen branch doesn't require as long of a queue as the Neihu branch, making it worthwhile for ramen lovers to give it a try.
One of the most well-known chicken soup ramen restaurants in Taiwan is probably Jijijun. It was originally located on Huanshan Road in Neihu, which is quite far from the city. It is really not easy to get there to eat.
This is the official branch of Jijijun that has not been around for about ten years. It is located in Ximending, which is extremely convenient in location.
Today I enjoyed light chicken jelly, thick chicken jelly, and barbecued pork rice. The total cost was NT$620.
Tanli Chicken Jijun: The soup is chicken clear soup, which is quite refreshing and delicious.
The noodle is thin, with just the right amount of softness and hardness, and the onions add to the refreshing feeling.
Thick Chicken Jijun: The soup is changed to chicken white soup, which has a rich flavor.
The noodle body has also been changed to thick noodles that are elastic enough to hold the soup.
In addition to onions, the vegetables included include pomelo slices, shredded chives and pomelo pepper.
As the key to changing the taste, it functions effectively.
Whether it is chicken barbecued pork or pork barbecued pork, they are very tender and of consistent quality.
Barbecued pork rice: It is a combination of chicken barbecued pork, diced pork barbecued pork and mayonnaise sauce.
The grilled aroma is very rich, and as a garnish for the main meal of ramen, the amount of rice is just right.
If there is still rice left after eating the barbecued pork, you can mix it into the thick chicken soup to try the third taste.
You will be satisfied.
Clear soup: If you think the soup is too salty, you can ask the store for clear soup to reduce the saltiness. Of course, if you just want to drink more soup, you can’t lie about it being too salty and ask for a bowl...😅
Overall, since the Ximen store does not sell the thick chicken Jijun, I will go to Neihu to taste it again if I have the chance.
But this does not change my opinion of Jijijun Ximen, especially considering the extremely convenient transportation, it is definitely worth a special trip to have a meal.
Recommended to everyone!