Japanese ramen has been in vogue for the past several years in New York, Hong Kong and London. Since Philadelphia is so close to NYC, and we do get NYC’s hand-me-downs, I was wondering why the ramen tornado hasn’t landed in Philly yet (after all, we do have kabob carts now...). As I was wondering around town over the weekend, heading to Sang Kee in Chinatown (not that Sang Kee in University City, and you know why I won’t go back), I noticed a new ramen joint along the street. My companion and I decided to abandon Sang Kee and gave this new place a shot.
This brand new place gave me the trendy ramen house vibe. Wooden chairs, open kitchen, and Japanese greetings from the waiters were are hallmarks of Ippudo at NYC. Here’s an interior shot:
Here’s a copy of their menu.
Seeing that they put their store name on their “ramen boy classic” ramen with tonkotsu soup (see soup choices on wiki), pork loin charshu (wiki here, not to be confused with the Chinese charsiu or barbecue pork in American lingo. Just like their countrymen, the charsius are really sensitive so don’t get their origins confused!), naruto (a type of Japanese fish cake roll), menma (pickled bamboo shoots), boiled egg, and other fixings, I decided to order that to try it out. My companion ordered a gyu don (Japanese beef rice bowl).
After some waiting, the food arrived! Here’s the ramen:
So far, so good. The soup base had a milky-yellow appearance. Although the charshu on the menu had more roasted surface area, I wouldn’t say I got jipped based on the what I got. I went ahead and tried the soup first. The taste test gave me a “it’s almost right, but not quite there” feeling. Flavor-wise, it was fairly rich, but not quite making it. My companion made a comment about how it tasted like chicken fat. I’m not averse to the chicken fat taste, but I think there’s a grain of truth there. The “meaty fresh” flavor was missing in the flavor profile, hence to my companion, it tasted more like chicken fat. I think the pork to chicken bone ratio may need to be adjusted. The soup was also a bit on the salty side, but that’s more of a personal preference. The charshu had a layer of fat on top of the meat. The fat was not chewy-- which is a good sign-- but it was a little bit shy of tender and in need of a bump in the cooking time. Here’s a shot with the ramen from the bowl:
It wasn’t overly tender but it’s not really al dente either. When I bit into the noodles, there wasn’t a lot of “bounce.” I expected something a bit more bouncy.
Comparing to Ippudo NYC (wiki on Ippudo here, official website, yelp review), everything is almost there but a bit lacking. Granted, Ippudo is one of the best ramen places around, and there may be some regional difference (Ramen Boy’s Yokohama vs. Ippudo’s Fukuoka) which can explain what is lacking in my mind. Ippudo’s ramen was very bouncy and the soup was rich with a balanced flavor. Ramen Boy’s rendition just doesn’t quite cut it.
I would like to make a special mention of their spoons. See the pictures below:
To prevent the spoon from falling, these spoons have a notch cut out on the side so you can hang it on the side of the bowl. Genius huh?
Onto the gyu don!
It looked decent in the bowl. I liked that the beef was thinly sliced, but it wasn’t quite thin enough. However, there wasn’t enough fat on the meat so it ended up a bit drier than it should. I think it can use a little more punch (not salt-wise, but flavor-wise) in the marinade as well. The rice is just normal short grain rice, but it was a little bit on the moist and too soft side. This is a personal preference though. Adding shichimi tōgarashi (Japanese seven-spices powder, wiki here) definitely enhanced the flavor and I compulsorily recommend you add it. Speaking of gyu don, I have always had a soft spot for it. I had my first gyu don at the ripe age of 11 at Yoshinoya (wiki here) in Hong Kong and I was hooked. While Yoshinoya probably isn’t the best place for gyu don, I liked their slightly fatty beef in their razor-thin slices and their soft but not overly moist rice. I always begged my parents to take me there whenever we went out, but after the plastic gloves incident, we didn’t go back anymore. After moving to the states, I didn't have an opportunity to hit a Yoshinoya for several years due to lack of availability in my area-- until I hit Los Angeles. The Yoshinoya in LA was at a very sketchy neighborhood (If I were to come to Hollywood, I don't wanna make it in the neighborhood...). I went there with my crew... crew... crew... crew... before a Rave dance... dance... dance... dance... several years ago (FYI: your love music is my drugs. I don’t do drugs and drugs are bad, m’kay?) to use their bathroom, but they had a coin-op door and we witnessed homeless people sponge-bathing in there. I didn’t remember their gyu don being very good. This speaks to the power of how memory changes the taste of food... anyway, I digress.
Overall, I think Ramen Boy has potential, but just like the namesake of this post, it’s not a boy... not yet a man... (Miss Britney sometimes hits the nail right at the head.) Ramen Boy is stuck in between like Bieber gets stuck in teenage awkward years, where his sweats start to stink, his adam’s apple grows by yards each day, and he can no longer sing “Baby” in a boy-voice to woo the cougars, but some of you not-so-secretly hopes there is no other superstar you know that he’ll be once he’s all “grown-up.” This is the methadone to Ippudo’s heroin: if you have intense ramen craving and can’t get to NYC just to wait 1.5 hours (on average) to get ramen, this would alleviate some of the symtoms, but it will not get you high. I’ll likely go back there and try their other ramen combo to see if they do a better job on those. Being the only ramen-only joint in town now, I would probably make a visit occasionally, but I won’t be raving to other people about it.
By the way, Ramen Boy is on its soft launch right now, so expect things to change in a bit. Also, this place is opened by the same people that opened Yakatori Boy. Thank you intertubes! (see news article here)
Easter egg: See how many music/artist references you can find in my post! Post it in the comment and I’ll tell if you if you got it all!
This brand new place gave me the trendy ramen house vibe. Wooden chairs, open kitchen, and Japanese greetings from the waiters were are hallmarks of Ippudo at NYC. Here’s an interior shot:
Seeing that they put their store name on their “ramen boy classic” ramen with tonkotsu soup (see soup choices on wiki), pork loin charshu (wiki here, not to be confused with the Chinese charsiu or barbecue pork in American lingo. Just like their countrymen, the charsius are really sensitive so don’t get their origins confused!), naruto (a type of Japanese fish cake roll), menma (pickled bamboo shoots), boiled egg, and other fixings, I decided to order that to try it out. My companion ordered a gyu don (Japanese beef rice bowl).
After some waiting, the food arrived! Here’s the ramen:
So far, so good. The soup base had a milky-yellow appearance. Although the charshu on the menu had more roasted surface area, I wouldn’t say I got jipped based on the what I got. I went ahead and tried the soup first. The taste test gave me a “it’s almost right, but not quite there” feeling. Flavor-wise, it was fairly rich, but not quite making it. My companion made a comment about how it tasted like chicken fat. I’m not averse to the chicken fat taste, but I think there’s a grain of truth there. The “meaty fresh” flavor was missing in the flavor profile, hence to my companion, it tasted more like chicken fat. I think the pork to chicken bone ratio may need to be adjusted. The soup was also a bit on the salty side, but that’s more of a personal preference. The charshu had a layer of fat on top of the meat. The fat was not chewy-- which is a good sign-- but it was a little bit shy of tender and in need of a bump in the cooking time. Here’s a shot with the ramen from the bowl:
It wasn’t overly tender but it’s not really al dente either. When I bit into the noodles, there wasn’t a lot of “bounce.” I expected something a bit more bouncy.
Comparing to Ippudo NYC (wiki on Ippudo here, official website, yelp review), everything is almost there but a bit lacking. Granted, Ippudo is one of the best ramen places around, and there may be some regional difference (Ramen Boy’s Yokohama vs. Ippudo’s Fukuoka) which can explain what is lacking in my mind. Ippudo’s ramen was very bouncy and the soup was rich with a balanced flavor. Ramen Boy’s rendition just doesn’t quite cut it.
I would like to make a special mention of their spoons. See the pictures below:
To prevent the spoon from falling, these spoons have a notch cut out on the side so you can hang it on the side of the bowl. Genius huh?
Onto the gyu don!
Overall, I think Ramen Boy has potential, but just like the namesake of this post, it’s not a boy... not yet a man... (Miss Britney sometimes hits the nail right at the head.) Ramen Boy is stuck in between like Bieber gets stuck in teenage awkward years, where his sweats start to stink, his adam’s apple grows by yards each day, and he can no longer sing “Baby” in a boy-voice to woo the cougars, but some of you not-so-secretly hopes there is no other superstar you know that he’ll be once he’s all “grown-up.” This is the methadone to Ippudo’s heroin: if you have intense ramen craving and can’t get to NYC just to wait 1.5 hours (on average) to get ramen, this would alleviate some of the symtoms, but it will not get you high. I’ll likely go back there and try their other ramen combo to see if they do a better job on those. Being the only ramen-only joint in town now, I would probably make a visit occasionally, but I won’t be raving to other people about it.
By the way, Ramen Boy is on its soft launch right now, so expect things to change in a bit. Also, this place is opened by the same people that opened Yakatori Boy. Thank you intertubes! (see news article here)
Easter egg: See how many music/artist references you can find in my post! Post it in the comment and I’ll tell if you if you got it all!
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