Things have been pretty slow in the Asian celeb world these two days so let’s talk about food (another subject I love dearly!). Ramen has been all the rage in the major U.S. cities as of late. I am not talking about the little ramen packets that you used to eat in college to save money for drinking. I am talking about a steamy bowl of noodles served in a delicious broth with some sliced pork, egg and seaweed (I am salivating as I am writing this) . There are four common types of ramen - shio (salt), tonkatsu (pork bone), shoyu (soy sauce) and miso ramen. My personal favorite is the tonkatsu ramen. I used to get my ramen fix at one of the many hole in the wall japanese noodles/yakitori places on St. Marks Place, where your entrance and exit are usually accompanied by a loud and zesty Japanese greeting by the restaurant staff.  Now I get them at newer establishments that specialize in serving ramen. These places seem to be popping up in the city like mushroom. Every month there is a new ramen place for New Yorkers to try out. 

Of all the ramen I have tasted, my top three choices have to be the shio ramen from Ramen Setagaya (the shoyu one is good too!), the original ramen from Momofuku Noodle Bar and the tonkatsu ramen from Yakitori Taisho.  Ramen lovers in NY are talking about the new Hakata Ippudo which is clearly the favor of the month but I find the ramen there quite easily forgettable. I once took my mom to a Japanese ramen place and ordered her a bowl of shoyu ramen. She took one bite of it and then said, “son, why didn’t we go for wonton noodles instead?”.  My traditional Chinese mom clearly prefers her Char Siu over the two pork slices in the ramen and who could blame her? Char siu is yummy too! 



3 Comments

Heh that looks like something you would see in a Japanese anime like Naruto. I haven’t had ramen in awhile, but I normally go to Menchinko-Tai in NYC.

ROFL yea it looks just like something you see in Naruto. Good call xD

Ohhh this looks really good. I wish I lived in a city that had all these ramen shops. The thick ramen is called udon right?