Robata JINYA, LA

I had a nice supper at West Hollywood's Robata Jinya. My friend Dan raved about their Hakata Tonkotsu Ramen, which is the same style of ramen they serve at Ippudo in NYC. The broth is a fatty white broth made with pork bones. When the restaurant started serving this, they used to only make enough broth for 20 bowls/day. We both got our own bowls, and boy was it good. The ramen had a great chew to it and a wonderful alkali flavor, and the broth was wonderful. I cleaned the bowl.

Since their specialty was "robata grill", we ordered a few skewers with our meal. First off was a set of shishito peppers. On special, they had a tender miso grilled beef tongue. We finished off with a skewer of incredible chicken thigh "oysters".



8050 West 3rd Street
Los Angeles, CA
(323) 653-8877

Totto Ramen, NYC

Vegetable Ramen

I was lucky to go to a taping of The Colbert Report last month, and afterwards, we grabbed dinner at Totto Ramen nearby. Their ramen is different that what I've had before, as their broth is based in chicken and soy instead of pork.
I got the Totto Miso Ramen, which came with a scoop of Koji Miso & pork, egg, scallions, bean sprouts, onion and char siu pork. I also got a side of their very spicy bamboo shoots. The broth, even though it was chicken based, was hearty and flavorful. The noodles were also very good, a little toothsome and good alkaline taste.
My friend ordered the vegetable ramen, which was also very good. I believe it was made with seaweed and shitake mushroom, and the toppings included avocado and yuzu paste, one of my favorite Japanese condiments. The yuzu added a pleasant salty-citrus flavor.

Totto Miso Ramen

366 West 52nd Street
New York, NY
(212) 582-0052

Monta Japanese Noodle House, Las Vegas

For lunch on one of the day in Las Vegas, I popped into Monta Japanese Noodle House just west of Chinatown in the same shopping center as Aburiya Raku.
We started with an appetizer of pan fried gyoza. They were pleasant and light, with a little spiciness.
Monta offers several different kinds of broth for their noodles. I selected the miso ramen. In true "Hokkaido style", I ordered it with corn and a pat of butter. I also added an egg.
When you get the butter, it slowly melts into the miso broth, gradually turning it more creamy. It pairs perfectly with the sweet corn.
The noodles at Monta were very good. I don't think they make them, but they have the right texture I expect from ramen.
Monta is part of a family of Japanese restaurant in Vegas. Sushi Mon and Goyemon are sister places, and my friend in town told me that after Monta closes at 11 pm, the remaining broth is brought to Goyemon and made part of their all you can eat menu.

5030 West Spring Mountain Road, #6
Las Vegas, NV
(702)367-4600 ‎

DInner at Masa 14, DC

This post is a bit of a food porn post. Last Saturday night, I was invited to go to a dinner at DC's Masa 14 specially put together by their chef de cuisine, Antonio Burrell. It was amazing, specializing in pig and incorporating seasonal ingredients.

We started with 4 appetizers. First up was a plate of flash grilled shishito peppers with bonito, goat cheese, and sherry vinegar.

Next was a bowl of warm spicy chicharrones.

Third was some grilled pig's kidneys. These were fantastic. The texture of the kidney was more akin to rare beef than the usual firmness of offal. I would say this ranks as one of the best iterations of kidney I've ever had.

The final app was housemade sausage with wasabi mustard.
The first course was spectacular: a piece of deep fried housemade scrapple, softshell crab, ramps prepared three ways, and mustard. Chef said he has some leftover pig heads around, so he decided to make scrapple.

The second course was a hash made of BBQ pork cheek, a fried egg yolk on toast, and spring garlic.

The third course was ramen in pork broth topped with pork belly, ribs, cracklings and morel mushrooms. The broth was really rich with piggy flavors. Fortunately, this was not a deep bowl of "ramen" as I was already getting stuffed.






Certainly, I had room for the fourth course, a crispy pave of pork saddle with baby vegetables, carrots & corn, and peppercress. The pork skin was wonderful, but I was happy to have some veggies at this point in the meal.

Dessert was a dulce de leche ice cream with candied bacon, two ways. There was a piece of candied bacon on top and under the ice cream were bacon bits and peanuts.

1825 14th Street NW
Washington D.C.
(202)328-1414

Toki Underground, DC

Since I happened to be going to a show in DC Friday night, I decided to drop in to new ramen place, Toki Underground, which was having it's grand opening on H Street in the Atlas District.
They describe themselves as a Taiwanese ramen restaurant, but when you walk in, they greet you with "irasshaimase", the Japanese greeting. Ramen is originally a Chinese dish, and I do understand the distinction between native Taiwanese and Chinese, but a Japanese greeting in a Taiwanese place is a bit odd.
So I started with a cocktail from their fun sounding drink menu. I got the Toki Monster, made with Bulliet bourbon, pepper honey liqueur, Peat Monster scotch, and topped with a skewer of pork belly. It was a good mix pairing the warm salty fatty pork with the bourbon. They also serve Mr. Brown, a Taiwanese ice coffee, Ramune, Calpico, and Apple Sidra.
I started with an order of Taiwanese style cold tofu. It's covered with shaved bonito and a thick soy sauce. It was good. I wonder if the chef considered adding thousand year egg to the dish.
I tried a small side of their kimchee, which was actually pretty fresh. Not too bad either.
I knew I wanted to try some of their dumplings as they make them from scratch. You can order various fillings and there is the option of having them steamed, pan fried, or deep fried. I decided for the staple- steamed pork dumplings. You get 6 dumplings in a small bamboo steamer. The skins were good. I think I tasted ginger in the pork, and the whole group is covered with a tare sauce, which is a like a thick soy sauce. In a lot of Chinese places they have cabbage on the bottom of the steamer, but in this case, it was cheesecloth. Because they kept the place pretty dark, I almost ate this.
I would say my favorite dish was their ramen. I ordered their Toki Hakata classic ramen, which came with nori, sesame seeds, pickled ginger, char siu pork, and a sousvide egg. The broth, made with pork bones, was flavorful, and the noodles they use are quite good as well. The sousvide egg was pretty awesome, but I do like my pork a little more fatty.
For dessert, I had the milk & cookies. The chocolate chip cookies were baked fresh and were still warm. It was served with some ice cold milk.
I would say Toki is good, but I'm not sure if it's worth a long wait. With ramen & dumplings, I expect a quick turnaround for seating, but I heard wait times were up to 3 hours. Hopefully, over time, they will get into a groove.

Lunch at Morimoto, Philadelphia

The problems with living in Baltimore is no real authentic Japanese restaurants nearby. I need to go to DC for the closest sushi place because the places in Baltimore are all either Chinese or Korean run.
When I was in Philadelphia, I was lucky to have enough time to grab some lunch, so I went to Morimoto, the first name restaurant of Iron Chef Japan.
I ordered the Shoyu ramen with pork belly and soft boiled egg. Oh, it was so good.
I then ordered two pieces of sushi: the Madai (red seabream snapper) and the Uni (sea urchin roe). I had never had the Madai before, but it was so fresh and a perfect bite. Of course, the urchin was just like butter. Sigh- I wish I live closer to good sushi.

723 Chestnut Street
Philadelphia, PA
(215) 413-9070‎

Ren's Ramen, Bethesda, MD

I found a very authentic ramen shop in the DC area in Bethesda, Ren's Ramen. It's located inside what used to be the Daruma Japanese market which closed last month.
I ordered "The Sapporo" Tonshio ramen which came with roast pork, but I added fatty pork and a boiled egg. The noodles were really good. I heard that they are imported from Japan (hence the price), but they have amazing flavor and texture.

6931 Arlington Rd
Bethesda, MD 20814
(301) 693-0806

Food Porn- Jangara Ramen, Harajuku, Tokyo

Spicy miso Kyushu style ramen from Jangara Ramen in Harajuku, Tokyo might just be one of my favorite foods. The fatty pork is unbelievable. For 150 yen, you can get an extra order of noodles to help finish off their amazing broth.

Chabuya Tokyo Noodle Bar, LA

After checking out the great Murakami exhibit at the MOCA in LA, coprock and I went over to Sawtelle blvd. and decided to try out Chabuya Tokyo Noodle Bar for lunch.
Of course, I had to get the ramen. I picked the everything ramen with pork charsu, hard boiled egg, noodles, shoots, and fried garlic. The broth was clear, simple, and tasty, and the noodles were pretty authentic to what I've had in Japan.
coprock ordered the ibushi noodles- these were garlic noodles grilled with shrimp. He opted out of the bacon option though. They were really good and the garlic flavor was definitely obvious in the noodles.


2002 Sawtelle Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90025
(310) 473-1013

Momofuku Noodle Bar

We grabbed lunch at the Momofuku Noodle Bar. It's gotten some press as Chef David Chang was awarded Rising Star Chef of 2007 by the James Beard Foundation.
The food was a mix of various Asian cuisines- Korean (the native culture of the chef), Chinese, and Japanese. We started with Berkshire Pork Steam Buns. They were served with cucumber and hoisin sauce- pretty good, the pork was great and fatty but I think the buns could have been more fluffy and would be great piping hot.
We followed the buns with the Honeycomb Spicy Tripe. This was my favorite dish. The sauce was sweet and spicy, and reminded me some of Mexican menudo, but with a Thai influenced flavor.
We also got Fried Veal Sweetbreads. This was also very good- the sweetbreads were tempura-fried and light, and were accompanied by a nice soy-chili dipping sauce.
We then had the Momofuku Ramen which came with Berkshire pork combo and a nicely poached egg. The broth was very light and clear, but could have had a little more flavor in my opinion. I liked the noodles, but they were thinner than I like. I did like the poached egg and appreciated the use of the Berkshire pork.
Personally, the meal was alright. If it weren't so pricey and the wait was less, I would have probably felt that the place is a better place to drop by next time in NYC, but it was just an ok experience. For ramen, give me Minca Ramen Factory any day, and I think Fougoo's parents make far superior buns.


Momofuku Noodle Bar
163 1st Ave
NY, NY 10003
(212) 475-7899

Ramen in Jiyogaoka

Personally, as exemplified by my lard ramen post, I prefer a heavy, rich, and fatty broth for my ramen. While in Tokyo, my cousin, took me to a ramen shop in his neighborhood one evening for guy's night out for ramen. Sorry, there was no English name for this place, and I can't translate the sign.
I got a bowl of ramen that consisted of a heavy miso soy broth that was the density of split pea soup. The noodles were firm and consisted of two types- one thick, one thin. Included were pork meatballs, seaweed, and a soft boiled soy egg. It hit the spot.

My cousin ordered a noodle with an even richer broth. It was more of a noodle dish for warm weather. The noodles were served cool with pork, a gently poached egg, and green onion. Then, the broth came as a side that he would dip the noodles into before eating. This broth was really rich with a thick layer of oil on top.

Additional: According to a poster, this place is called Buta Soba Dai Dai. Thanks for the info.

Jangara Ramen in Harajuku, Tokyo

Fougoo's and my first favorite ramen shop in Tokyo is Jangara Ramen located in Harajuku. It is right ouside the JR station and always has a line to get in. It's originally from the island of Kyushu, and it's specialty is ramen served in a tonkotsu broth made from pork bones. It's rich, delicious, and hits the spot every time.


Fougoo ordered the straight ahead broth up top, but I am partial to the one with spicy miso just above which is a little heavier. The noodles are yummy, and the pieces of fatty pork floating about are what is so right (and wrong) about really good pork. If that's not enough, there is also a hard boiled soy egg in the soup as well. I admit it, after finishing my bowl, soup and all, I had Fougoo give me her remaining broth and added an extra order of noodles to finish her bowl off.

In Japan, it is considered rude to blow you nose. This label was on the tissue box used for napkins at the shop, but how can you not want to blow your nose after a hot bowl of ramen?

Hachiya Ramen Shop at Yokohama Ramen Museum

So here is my experience at the Shin-Yokohama Ramen Musem (or Raumen as they spelled it). Their website calls it a "Ramusement Park" and it was indeed. I loved the throwback 1950's Japan atmosphere where all the Ramen shops were set up, especially the Mechagodzilla billboard.
I agree with Fougoo about the Shinasobaya Ramen from the "Demon of Ingredients"- it was simple elegant ramen.
In counterpoint, I went to the Hachiya Ramen shop because of one enticing work - LARD. The shop's broth consists of pork bone with a taste of fish, but the special ingredient is grilled lard added to the broth and noodles. Needless to say, the broth is very rich and filling. Of course I prefer the "hard" noodles, and the soup included sliced pork and cabbage. I added the garlic paste made by the shop to the broth which added a further complexity to the broth's flavor.
I already want to go back to the museum to try more bowls.

Yokohama Ramen Museum

1000yregg and I are currently in Japan (thus the lack of recent blog posts). We've been eating really well, but yesterday's trip to the Ramen Museum in Yokohama was just too good to wait until we got home.

I adore ramen and lament the fact that most Americans only think of the instant cup noodle variety. Watch the movie Tampopo if you want to understand the passion these noodles can elicit. So finding this place was like the Holy Grail for me...

The museum is a "Ramusment Park" just a few minutes walk from Shin-Yokohama station and the Nissan soccer stadium. You walk down from a modern lobby, down a rather industrial looking flight of stairs, past a big clock whose hands are spinning backwards and descend into a large 2-story recreation of 1950s Japan (the year 1958 precisely, the year instant ramen was invented and the Chinese-style noodles became popular all over Japan). All dark alleys, neon signs, hanging laundry, telephone boxes -- I felt like a kid at Epcot Center! The stores are all different ramen stands - 8 total to choose from - all chefs from different regions of Japan. Apparently they also get star ramen chefs for guest runs.

You buy tickets for full or half bowls from vending machines outside each stand and sample as much as your stomach can hold. I had two 1/2 bowls -- the first from ramen shop Shinosobaya's chef Minoru Sano, the "Demon of Ingredients." Simple, elegant perfection -- thin straight firm noodles, mild perfect clear broth (generally I can't finish a whole bowl of ramen broth because it's too rich and salty, but this broth was eminently drinkable!)

My second bowl was a good complement to the first -- from ramen shop Ryu Shanghai, which invented this "karamiso" ramen in 1960. A much richer broth, this one had thick curly homemade noodles and it's distinguishing feature was a dollop of spicy karamiso paste on top that you mixed into the broth. Even though blowing your nose in public is considered rude in Japan (probably the equivalent of spitting or picking your nose), I wasn't the only one there having to blow my nose from the spice!

I wished I could eat more... but sadly no... We did split up for variety, so 1000yregg will add his own post, and more ramen from Tokyo to come.