I don’t normally shill for ramenyas that haven’t opened yet, especially one that I haven’t tried first hand, but in this case, I’ll make an exception.
Shigemi Kawahara, “Ramen King”, will be opening the first American outpost of his famous Ippudo in New York City at the end of the month. Kawahara-san gained fame by taking 1st place in televised ramen battles 3 years in a row, and then won the title of “Ramen King” in a TV competition in 2005. Ippudo was first opened in Hakata in 1985, and has grown to 34 locations throughout Japan.
Big in Japan has a recent review of Ippudo’s hakata ramen in japan while the Feisty Foodie and Eater report on last Tuesday’s sneak preview.
Kohryu Restaurant has gone through not only a change in ownership but a complete remodel since my last review. After their grand re-opening in January, I thought I’d give them another try. We arrived in time for a late lunch, hoping there’d be less people…wait, why are all these people huddled outside (it was really cold that day). We ended up waiting for 45 mins…45 mins!?! (Apparently, my idea of having a nice hot bowl of ramen on a windy cold day wasn’t quite as inspired as I hoped.) My expectations soared as my stomach growled even louder.
When we were finally seated, I was eager to order the special-order paiko ramen. Alas, not only do they not serve paiko ramen any more, but I didn’t even see paiko-don on the menu. Still determined to try something new, I ordered the “new” Koi (”love”) ramen. (Hmm…I dug out an old pre-ownership-change menu from over a year ago and noticed that Koi ramen is still there, under the “new” section.) Read the rest of this entry →
Boy, do I have a lot of ramen to eat before I catch up…i-ramen has info, quick facts, pictures, and videos on almost 4000 instant ramen in Japan. Unfortunately, it’s entirely in Japanese, but here’s a tip: click on the 2nd tab (next to “home”) on the top, then scroll down and click on the picture of each ramen to see the videos.
“Three Daly City men have been accused of stealing nearly $1.8 million worth of ramen noodles, rubber tires, barbecue grills and other consumer goods…” Yes, you read that right; part of their haul was a 53 foot trailer of ramen!
Anyone who’s ever been to Japan, or anyone’s who’s been following this blog knows that ramen is more than the 100-packs-for-10-cents food most people think of. Even so, the connection between instant ramen and starving college students is probably permanently seared into everybody’s minds. With the country in/about to enter a recession, and with everything from gas to –ahem– ramen going up in price, people are understandably concerned about saving money and being frugal. As the American economy slowly sinks, I have no doubt you’ll starting seeing more and more references to people “eating ramen to save money” in the news. Ah…if only my car ran on cheap ramen!
With that crafty segue, I’d like to introduce writer extraordinaire Xin Lu at Wisebread.com, a web site devoted to “living large on a small budget.” Xin Lu was kind enough to interview me and call me a “folk hero to ramen lovers everywhere”?! Blush…maybe, maybe not. But if you do want tips on how to manage your personal finances and save money, check them out!
(Disclosure: I’m very sleepy, so if this review comes across as a bit loopy…well…you’ve been warned.)
The-wife-is-away-so-I’m-eating-ramen-all-week week continues with this special ramen. It’s got “PH adjustment” and “antioxidant”! Really! Scroll down and look at the label for yourself! Oh, It looks like the tonkotsu ramen I had a few days ago also had antioxidant (yes, it’s also singular). Who says instant ramen isn’t healthy?
I don’t know why you readers voted for us to show nutritional info on the ramen we review. I think I was happier not knowing what I was eating.
I was excited when I opened this bowl ramen…it came with four packets of accoutrements! Somehow, my expectations go up with every packet I see in my instant ramen. Oh, and ginger gets its own packet…yay…(I don’t like ginger, which always makes my wife roll her eyes and ask “are you really Asian?”). On the plus side, the soup powder has a very strong pork smell that reminds me of Chinese “pork sung,” which, according to wikipedia, is also known as “pork floss.” That sure sounds appetizing.
The noodles were decent, with a nice hard texture, and had a hint of instant-noodleness to them. The toppings gave the ramen good flavor, and the tonkotsu soup was rich and well-balanced. Being negi ramen, there were lots and lots of green onions, which suits me just fine. The strange thing was, while the soup had good flavor, you could barely smell it, which was especially surprising after the strong smell of the soup powder.
Overall, this was a slightly above average ramen. If you like green onions, it’s hard to go wrong with negi ramen. Marutai’s negi ramen gets a 7.
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