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| Ippudo - The Ramen Shrine |
Some call it the ramen shrine, others crowned it the noodle temple. And for me, Ippudo is the place where I popped my ramen cherry. Since that fateful first visit with the wife, I had returned many times. But on every visit, while I slurpped down my noodles, I still wondered what took me so friggin' long to discover such wholesomeness in a bowl. And especially for Ippudo, they are simply addictive, and I can't tell you exactly why. I just love that place. Its not just me, ask my friends Michelle, Ben, and Angel, they are the same like me, we are simply are hooked.
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| I walked right in at 11:20am and got sat. The place was 30% full already. |
But when it comes to visiting "mecca," let's say my batting average with them just plain sucked, much like A-Rod and Posada when they went on their hitting slumps. And I don't mean the food, but rather, that stupid wait. I knew not to go during prime time. But recently, no matter how much I tried to time it right, I've run into long waits even in a late hour like 2 or even 3pm. Since I hate to wait, I ended up leaving with the crave still intact, but a growling tummy. No bueno.
Well, let's say that the one positive that I got out of this mean streak is this Blog, as I set out to look for Ippudo alternatives (sans the wait).
But the stars finally aligned recently, when an early appointment took me downtown, and I was able to get seated right away at 11:30am. My mean streak finally ended and I am feeling the blessings of the ramen gods again.
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| anticipation.... |
As this was my first time documenting a bowl of Ippudo ramen, I was both excited yet a little weary. Will the shrine live up to its reputation as the reigning king of ramen? Or have they become complacent and had since gotten mediocre?
Well let's order a dang bowl of sumthin' sumthin' and figure it out. Drum roll please...
SHIROMARU HAKATA CLASSIC (w/extra charshu) A-
This is my first "A" given in this young blog. Am I biased just because I love Ippudo? May be. But what can't be denied is that if you want to look up the definition of "wholesome" in a Japanese dictionary, you just might find this picture next to the word. This is one solid bowl of ramen, my friends.
Ippudo's classic "Tonkotsu" or pork bone broth is simply decadent. When I drank the borth, I found it creamy, rich like milk, dense, nicely seasoned, and very tasty throughout. That milk-like texture really took the broth to a higher level, as I had yet to get this same texture in other joints. Other than that, the seasoning of the broth was subtle, but very enjoyable from start to finish. It had all the richness but not heavy at all, which gave balance to noodles that were chewier.
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| Round two: their noodles are firm, chewy, and fresh |
Toppings include 2 pieces of charshu (+3 in my bowl as I ordered the extra charshu option), scallions, seaweed, bamboo shoots, julienne'd pickled red ginger, sesame seeds and an aromatic sesame oil.
And if there could be one area of weakness in this bowl, toppings would be it. Compared to other joints, Ippudo's looked scant, and uninspiring. Although all the components tasted fine, they didn't add much excitement to the meal. When mixed in with the noodles, I really couldn't taste much of the crunch from neither the scallions nor the red ginger which failed to give that extra kick.
The same goes for the charshu. It was so so, and it looked like they came in two kinds, sliced round pieces from the "eye" of the loin, and the fattier, bacon-like slices with more carmelization from the marinate. As much as I liked pork fat, I had grown to like the round pieces better as it held up its firmness better in the broth than the fattier pieces, which tend to melt in the hot liquid. Overall I found the flavor was merely so-so. Compared to other places that took extra steps with theirs, like Naruto, who soaked theirs in a marinate; or Totto Ramen (review to come), who used a blow torch to char theirs, there's much work to be done with their's.
Their noodles were good. Made like angel hair pasta, it was firm in the mouth, with a nice, chewy texture. Whereas that's a part of me that liked the glassier type wavy noodles, Ippudo's reminded me of the noodles I had during my childhood, and I liked giving my noodles a good "chew" before slurping them down. A tummy-pleasing experience indeed - yum.
At Ippudo they are condiment nazis, because they offer none, which is a little bit of a bummer for me as I like my spice. But as I enjoyed my bowl of ramen, I had all but forgotten my torigashi or sesame grinder, because it was simply so good, so fulfilling. May be that's their point - we do not provide condiments because we want you to focus on the flavors already in the bowl. Well if that's the intent then there might be a reason why we call them the shrine, as they were so zen about their ramen. Well played!
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| great visit! |
But then, the chinese in me kept asking why they are so cheap....
Overall, this is one fine bowl of human creation. The flavors are balanced, and there is a deliberate attempt in showcasing the subtlties with simple, yet sophisticated creations. Ramen and the broth are in center stage, and like perfect tango partners, they did a dance to perfection. And if they would work on their condiments and charshu, a higher grade awaits.
Additional links:
Additional links:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/27/dining/reviews/27rest.html
http://newyork.seriouseats.com/2008/04/ippudo-ny-ramen-worth-waiting-for.html
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