The Ramen Crawl

So, Porthos and I met up with a cast of crazies in the East Village and decided to do a Ramen Crawl - you know, visit three supposedly top notch Ramen Joints, get a bowl at each place and compare. Great times and as usual great food - albeit a wee bit too much. Below are some quick reviews based on our ramen excursion.

FYI - most of the noodles I take the greatest pleasure in are the Italian pastas. So, my tastes definitely lean towards pasta like qualities - al denteness is very important to me. However, I've had complete what the f moments with Taiwanese noodles as well, just haven't had that food-gasmic experience with ramen yet. Any who, on to the reviews...

Ramen Setagaya - Recommended
141 First Ave, New York, NY 10003
nr. 9th St.
212-529-2740
Comments - Shio-Ramen is basically ramen noodles with a salt based broth. This particular broth was complex with hints of seafood and seaweed. The ramen with decent chew in my opinion, but it was slightly undercooked. Pork was tender, but not very flavorful. Much improved from my previous experience.


Le Miu - Not Recommended
107 Avenue A, New York 10009
Btwn 6th & 7th St
Phone: 212-473-3100
Comments - Ordered the Cha Shuu Shio-Ramen here and it was a big letdown compared to Setagaya. The broth here tasted like barely salted water and the pork was super dry. However, the flavor of the pork was more intense here and the noodles had the best texture and flavor of the night. We ordered an uni special for the hell of it and it was decent, but not worth it.


Ippudo - Highly Recommended
65 4th Ave, New York 10003
Btwn 9th & 10th St
Phone: 212-388-0088
Comments - Ordered the Pork Ramen Original - Akamaru Shin - Aji. This was by far the best ramen of the night and a complete what the f moment. The broth was so rich and thick, almost like a porcine porridge. Great, great pork flavor and the pork belly was perfect, just falling apart upon the touch. The noodle was good, but no big wow moment for me - better than Setagaya's but not better than Le Miu's. The best was when you took a break from drinking the soup, the broth actually starts to form a solidified layer...that's some good broth my friend. The only disappointment was the lack of a soft boiled egg to add to the soup...only hard boiled. Ippudo also has great sides as well including the daikon kakuni (root veg) and buta kakuni (pork belly). Can't wait to go back...