Japan Travel – Visiting Shin Yokohama Ramen Museum

March 15, 2016 by 4 Comments

Last week, I covered part one of our day trip to the Yokohama area, and visiting the Cup Noodles Ramen Museum and making our own custom Cup Noodles. Part two is when we headed to the Shin Yokohama Ramen Museum. Shin Yokohama is located about 15 minutes from Yokohama, or about 45 minutes from Tokyo.

Just outside the doors fo the Shin-Yokohama Ramen Museum indicating you have reached the right place!

We didn’t stay to eat ramen at the Cup Noodles Ramen Museum during our visit because it isn’t vegetarian friendly – and by vegetarian I include not eating seafood. There are lots of places in Japan to eat delicious ramen, and you can even find several areas where there are many ramen joints close together so you can progressively enjoy multiple ramen shops at once  – the famous areas particularly are Tokyo Ramen Street at Tokyo Station, and Kyoto Ramen Koji/Street. But, good luck again finding multiple vegetarian ramen.

The Shin Yokohama Ramen Museum, on the other hand, not only offers multiple ramen, including “mini” portions that are smaller intentionally to help you try multiple bowls of ramen. And, there are  multiple vegetarian ramen choices if you combine all the 9 shop options. And, the vegetarian ones are clearly marked. If you don’t eat pork, these are also clearly marked.

Atmosphere

After purchasing your entrance admission (310 yen) to the Ramen Museum here, you have a day pass – so you could come for lunch and then leave and get your hand stamped and return for dinner. After going through the turnstile showing your ticket or handstamp, you enter a entrance hallway. Here, you can see boards listing the free wifi information as well as info about the different ramen shops you can dine at and what they specialize in. They have brochures too with a map in multiple languages.
On the boards in the entrance hallway are free wifi information as well as info about the different ramen shops you can dine at and what they specialize in. There are 9 different food stands to choose from. there is also a museum shop, bar, cafe and snack shop, fortune teller at a table you can visit, a old fashioned neighborhood sweets shop, and there seems to be a game for kids in Japanese where they help look for clues and solve a crime/Wanted case as we saw them turning it into a 'uniformed officer' during our visits

I should warn now that although it is titled the Shin Yokohama Ramen Museum, I would not really call this a museum. It really qualifies more as a food amusement park featuring ramen dishes from different regions of Japan. The museum is part of the gift shop and maybe has only 2 walls worth of information letting you know about the 26 prefectures and showing you some historical ramen items, but not much else in terms of content. The museum is the same size as the gift shop, which is smaller than the slot race track which I’m not quite sure why it’s also here.
The Shin-Yokahama Raumen Museum is more of a food park then a museum, since this is one of the few exhibits they have on ramen, and this museum is maybe the same size as the gift shop right next to it The Shin-Yokahama Raumen Museum is more of a food park then a museum, since this is one of the few exhibits they have on ramen, and this museum is maybe the same size as the gift shop right next to it

To get to the food part, descend to the 2 floors of basement below – you can find small lockers on your way down here to leave your coats if you’d like. As you go down the stairs, the effect is as if you had just walked down the stairs from the train, and it’s also a jump back in time because the streetscape is like it’s almost dusk in 1958. Even though this area is really 2 floors of basement, the details of the sky, the 2nd floor windows with laundry and lights like they are apartments, and first floor windows are decorated like storefronts or movie theaters, really add to a cool atmosphere of old era Tokyo.
Inside the Shin-Yokohama Raumen Museum, featuring a streetscape like it's 1958 and nine ramen shops from around Japan with different specialty ramen to eat Inside the Shin-Yokohama Raumen Museum, featuring a streetscape like it's 1958 and nine ramen shops from around Japan with different specialty ramen to eat Inside the Shin-Yokohama Raumen Museum, featuring a streetscape like it's 1958 and nine ramen shops from around Japan with different specialty ramen to eat Inside the Shin-Yokohama Raumen Museum, featuring a streetscape like it's 1958 and nine ramen shops from around Japan with different specialty ramen to eat Inside the Shin-Yokohama Raumen Museum, featuring a streetscape like it's 1958 and nine ramen shops from around Japan with different specialty ramen to eat Inside the Shin-Yokohama Raumen Museum, featuring a streetscape like it's 1958 and nine ramen shops from around Japan with different specialty ramen to eat Inside the Shin-Yokohama Raumen Museum, featuring a streetscape like it's 1958 and nine ramen shops from around Japan with different specialty ramen to eat Inside the Shin-Yokohama Raumen Museum, featuring a streetscape like it's 1958 and nine ramen shops from around Japan with different specialty ramen to eat

On the first floor of the basement, there are even sound effects on loundspeakers of monks chanting, or a cat meowing, or movies or radio music from the era, as you walk down the different “alleys” of a neighborhood of homes and bars that circle around the since the middle area is open to the second floor.
Inside the Shin-Yokohama Raumen Museum, featuring a streetscape like it's 1958 there are even sound effects on loundspeakers of monks chanting, or a cat meowing, or movies or radio music from the era, as you walk down the fake alleys of a neighborhood of homes and bars Inside the Shin-Yokohama Raumen Museum, featuring a streetscape like it's 1958 there are even sound effects on loundspeakers of monks chanting, or a cat meowing, or movies or radio music from the era, as you walk down the fake alleys of a neighborhood of homes and bars Inside the Shin-Yokohama Raumen Museum, featuring a streetscape like it's 1958 there are even sound effects on loundspeakers of monks chanting, or a cat meowing, or movies or radio music from the era, as you walk down the fake alleys of a neighborhood of homes and bars Inside the Shin-Yokohama Raumen Museum, featuring a streetscape like it's 1958 there are even sound effects on loundspeakers of monks chanting, or a cat meowing, or movies or radio music from the era, as you walk down the fake alleys of a neighborhood of homes and bars

There are different food stands throughout the 2 floors including 8 ramen shops, 1 Okinawa Izakaya tavern, a bar, and a cafe and snack shop. There is also a fortune teller at a table you can visit, a old fashioned neighborhood sweets shop, and there seems to be a game for kids in Japanese where they help look for clues and solve a crime/Wanted Poster cases as we saw them turning their evidence into a “uniformed officer” during our visits. We also saw other performers, like a magician.

To order, like many ramen shops, there is a machine by the door where you put in money. After pushing buttons corresponding to your food, little slips of paper with the dish names print out. This is true of all the ramen shops, the Izakaya tavern, as well as the bar at Shin Yokohama Ramen Museum.
The Bar inside the Shin-Yokohama Raumen Museum where you also order by machine At Shin Yokohama Ramen Museum, similar to many ramen shops, at each place you order from a machine. Here luckily plastic laminated menus explain the dishes in multiple languages with corresponding numbers to match the machine you will insert money and get your food ticket from. When there are seats available you hand it to the attendant at the front and they will bring you your food when it's ready. On the menu, there are always a few mini portions so you can try a couple different ramen from different places. Every person who sits down is expected to order ramen if they are an adult.

As a plus though, here at the Shin Yokohama Ramen Museum there are also several large laminated menus in multiple languages (Japanese, Chinese, Thai, and English) with corresponding numbers to match the machine buttons and with symbols standing for whether a dish has pork, is vegetarian, etc.
At Shin Yokohama Ramen Museum, similar to many ramen shops, at each place you order from a machine. Here luckily plastic laminated menus explain the dishes in Japanese, Chinese, Thai, and English with corresponding numbers to match the machine you will insert money and get your food ticket from. At Shin Yokohama Ramen Museum, similar to many ramen shops, at each place you order from a machine. Here luckily plastic laminated menus explain the dishes in Japanese, Chinese, Thai, and English with corresponding numbers to match the machine you will insert money and get your food ticket from.

Not only are main dishes like ramen on the machine, but so are extra accompaniments you might want to eat such as extra meat, noodles, rice, or side dishes, or beverages. For instance at the shop Nidai-me Genkotsu-ya they offer jumbo gyoza – just look how big they are compared to my chopsticks!
At Shin-Yokohama Raumen Museum, you can get more than ramen- for instance Nidai-me Genkotsu-ya offers jumbo gyoza At Shin-Yokohama Raumen Museum, you can get more than ramen- for instance Nidai-me Genkotsu-ya offers jumbo gyoza

They were super juicy too…
At Shin-Yokohama Raumen Museum, you can get more than ramen- for instance Nidai-me Genkotsu-ya offers jumbo gyoza

When there are seats available you hand it to the attendant at the front and they will bring you your food when it’s ready. On the menu, there are always a few “mini” smaller portions so you can try a couple different ramen from different places. Every person who sits down is expected to order ramen if they are an adult.

Ramen Recap

The first ramen place we decide to try at Shin Yokohama Ramen Museum is at the shop Ryu Shanghai Honten, whose trademark is in its super-fat noodles folded over 32 times and that their spicy miso ramen is topped off with a scoop of the raw, spicy-hot miso. They had a mini version of this specialty spicy miso ramen that I ordered, while F got a full portion of his first vegetarian ramen.
At Shin Yokohama Ramen Museum, similar to many ramen shops, at each place you order from a machine. Here luckily plastic laminated menus explain the dishes in multiple languages with corresponding numbers to match the machine you will insert money and get your food ticket from. When there are seats available you hand it to the attendant at the front and they will bring you your food when it's ready. On the menu, there are always a few mini portions so you can try a couple different ramen from different places. Every person who sits down is expected to order ramen if they are an adult. The first ramen place we decide to try at Shin Yokohama Eamen Museum is at the shop Ryu Shanghai Honten, whose trademark is in its super-fat noodles folded over 32 times and that their spicy miso ramen is topped off with a scoop of the raw, spicy-hot miso The first ramen place we decide to try at Shin Yokohama Eamen Museum is at the shop Ryu Shanghai Honten, whose trademark is in its super-fat noodles folded over 32 times and that their spicy miso ramen is topped off with a scoop of the raw, spicy-hot miso

The second ramen place we decide to try is an Italian ramen restaurant called  Casa Luca featuring Milano Tonkotsu that is advertised as having Italian flavor, plus you can order it with Peperoncino or with Parmesan, though I did neither. The pork bone broth (tonkotsu) has olive oil added to it, the chashu is grilled after being massaged with Italian rock salt that gives a hint of pancetta, and the noodles use a blend of Japanese flour and Italian flour of Durum Semorena, a flour often used for Italian pasta and bread. This time the vegetarian shoyu ramen version looked different enough to get a photo. You can also order Italian sodas and wine if you’d like at this shop.
The second ramen place we decide to try at Shin-Yokohama Raumen Museum is Casa Luca featuring Milano Tonkotsu that has Italian flavor (you can order it with Peperoncino or with Parmesan) The vegetarian ramen at the second ramen place we decide to try at Shin-Yokohama Raumen Museum, Casa Luca Milano The second ramen place we decide to try at Shin-Yokohama Raumen Museum is Casa Luca featuring Milano Tonkotsu that has Italian flavor (you can order it with Peperoncino or with Parmesan)

Next for the third ramen he and I separated- him to Komurasaki known for their specially-flavored oil, and roasted, crumbled garlic chips on their ramen to get the vegetarian ramen there, while I headed to the famous Sumire which didn’t offer vegetarian ramen. Here’s a look at their shoyu broth ramen and then their famous miso ramen where the meat is minced and distributed throughout the bowl so some people order a bowl of rice to go with their miso ramen. Of all the noodles I had these were my favorite of all the shops, they are Hokkaido-style noodles that are medium-thick, slightly hard and curvy.
Sumire which didn't offer vegetarian ramen. They are famous for their Miso Ramen, but I hit the wrong button and got the shoyu and didn't realize it until the ramen got served... oh well! This shoyu broth was still super delicious, and these were my favorite noodles Sumire which didn't offer vegetarian ramen. They are famous for their Miso Ramen, but I hit the wrong button and got the shoyu and didn't realize it until the ramen got served... oh well! This shoyu broth was still super delicious, and these were my favorite noodles Visiting the Shin Yokohama Ramen Museum - My mini-ramen here from Sumire. They have Hokkaido-style noodles that are medium-thick, slightly hard and curvy and were my favorite among the ramen I tried. I'm getting the famous miso one. The meat is minced so is throughout the bowl - some people order a bowl of rice to go with this Visiting the Shin Yokohama Ramen Museum - My mini-ramen here from Sumire. They have Hokkaido-style noodles that are medium-thick, slightly hard and curvy and were my favorite among the ramen I tried. I'm getting the famous miso one. The meat is minced so is throughout the bowl - some people order a bowl of rice to go with this

F’s vegetarian ramen from Muku Zweite and then my mini ramen with meat. The ingredients for the ramen noodles uses durum flour for pasta and flour for pizza which is unique for this ramen shop with origins from Frankfurt, Germany. For my ramen broth, the soup is boiled for 3 days with pork bone and chicken. You can also order German beer and currywurst sausage here in the shop and include as one of your toppings for the ramen sauerkraut (!? Which I didn’t do).
Visiting the Shin Yokohama Ramen Museum - Fred's vegetarian ramen from Muku Zweite. The ingredients for the ramen noodles uses durum flour for pasta and flour for pizza which is unique for this ramen shop from Frankfurt, Germany Visiting the Shin Yokohama Ramen Museum - My mini-ramen bowl here is from Muku Zweite in which the soup is boiled for 3 days with pork bone and chicken. The ingredients for the ramen noodles uses durum flour for pasta and flour for pizza which is unique for this ramen shop from Frankfurt, Germany. You can also order German beer and currywurst sausage here in the shop and include as one of your toppings sauerkraut

Finally, the Okinawa “Ryukyu new noodles Tondo” by tavern Ryo Next / Izakaya Ryouji with their scorched black shoyu ramen.
My mini bowl of scorched black shoyu ramen, my last bowl at the Shin Yokohama Ramen Museum

Dessert at the bar included shochu and sweet potato ice cream, and beer.
A beer at the bar of Shin Yokohama Ramen Museum Dessert at the bar of Shin Yokohama Ramen Museum included shochu and sweet potato ice cream

I know some online reviews complained about having to pay an admission to then pay for food and drink at shops to eat, but 310 yen is so little for the clean access to restrooms and the wi fi and the English translations I think it’s totally worth it – and even more so if you have a vegetarian with you, or someone who doesn’t eat pork, since both those are labeled on all the menus here. As a vegetarian, F loved that he has multiple options here and so I definitely recommend if you are vegetarian and in Tokyo you come and visit.

Perhaps I could have gotten better ramen at specific shops in Tokyo, but the ones here were pretty good and all conveniently located. I did try to go to Tokyo Street later during the trip, but the lines were so long we ended up coming back to Shin Yokohama Ramen Museum a second time to get ramen we missed during our first visit. I would be impressed if you can fit more than 3 mini ramen portions in a visit – because that’s all I could handle.

Check out the Shin Yokohama Museum website for which ramen shops are here (they may rotate) – they have the menus of each of  the shops, and also an approximate waiting time if any, but only on the Japanese version of the website so you’ll need to translate. They also have videos with subtitles of visits to each shop to give you an idea of the various shop specialties before you visit available on both the Japanese and English versions of the site.

For me, my favorite style of Japanese Ramen is the intense Sapporo style ramen which has the depth of a fermented miso base, especially with the additional topping of corn and a pat of butter, and Hokkaido noodles which are thicker and wavy instead of straight, which makes a different in that they are more firm and I like the texture of the slight folds even though it means more likely splatter when slurping. The soup is so super rich that you can order an additional plate of noodles after your first bowl (kaedama) to add to your soup and still be really happy. At least that’s me.

What do you think of the Shin Yokohama Ramen Museum – would you call it a food amusement park? Would you ever visit a food amusement park – and what of food would you want to see featured?

Next time on my Japan Travel post, I’m finally going to take you out of the Tokyo area and show you our explorations in Kyoto! And if you are getting a craving for ramen after this post, come back on Friday when I talk about where you can get authentic Tokyo ramen in Portland.

Here’s a summary of my Japan Travel post series:

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Warming up with Mirakutei Sushi and Ramen

December 17, 2014 by 7 Comments

Here’s my personal prescription for when you are feeling cold and stuffed up for cheering yourself up.

Step 1. Go to Mirakutei at 536 E Burnside Street. It’s a small little cute place that only seats maybe 40, so best if you are in a party of 4 or less. If you are truly not feeling well, it would be best to go alone and not get anyone else sick and also don’t have to try to make conversation while eating, you can just focus on slurping as messily as you want. Or you can make the funny faces necessary. Funny Faces? Slurping? You’ll see soon.
Mirakutei Portland at 536 E Burnside

Step 2. Order some sushi and sashimi.
Sushi at Mirakutei, the Buri Belly, Salmon Belly Aburi, Tuna, and Yellowtail

If you are stuffed up, be a little generous with the wasabi that you dip the end of your chopstick into and mix into your soy sauce to clear your sinuses. Pour very little soy sauce because you want to make sure you taste the fish, not the soy sauce. In fact, it’s best if the reason you are having soy sauce and wasabi is to after you eat a sushi, then a little taste of wasabi + soy sauce, and then a piece of ginger. And then a sip of water. Then the next piece.

I went for Buri Belly, Fresh Salmon, Salmon Belly Aburi, Tuna, Unagi, Uni, and Yellowtail. ALL my favorites.
Sushi at Mirakutei, I ordered the Buri Belly, Fresh Salmon, Salmon Belly Aburi, Tuna, Unagi, Uni, and Yellowtail Sushi at Mirakutei, I ordered the Buri Belly, Fresh Salmon, Salmon Belly Aburi, Tuna, Unagi, Uni, and Yellowtail Sushi at Mirakutei, I ordered the Buri Belly, Fresh Salmon, Salmon Belly Aburi, Tuna, Unagi, Uni, and Yellowtail Sushi at Mirakutei, I ordered the Buri Belly, Fresh Salmon, Salmon Belly Aburi, Tuna, Unagi, Uni, and Yellowtail Sushi at Mirakutei, I ordered the Buri Belly, Fresh Salmon, Salmon Belly Aburi, Tuna, Unagi, Uni, and Yellowtail Sushi at Mirakutei, I ordered the Buri Belly, Fresh Salmon, Salmon Belly Aburi, Tuna, Unagi, Uni, and Yellowtail Sushi at Mirakutei, I ordered the Buri Belly, Fresh Salmon, Salmon Belly Aburi, Tuna, Unagi, Uni, and Yellowtail Sushi at Mirakutei, I ordered the Buri Belly, Fresh Salmon, Salmon Belly Aburi, Tuna, Unagi, Uni, and Yellowtail

Step 3. Make sure that you instruct the servers to not bring you your ramen until you signal completion of your sushi and/or sashimi course. Perhaps if you came with friends, you might want to also get some yakitori, or gyoza too. But now it’s time for Genki Ramen or Tonkatsu Ramen.
Genki Ramen at Mirakutei, which is white miso based and has shredded ground char siu and scrambled egg

Pictured below is the Genki one that sacrifices having the chashu pork for a mass of shredded chair siu pork and scrambled egg that you can break up and get little floating pieces of deliciousness as a reward for spoonfuls of the ramen broth, rather than one big piece of meat. They are both valid, good choices- it’s sort of the equivalent in my head of asking for pasta with marinara and big meatballs or pasta with a meaty ragu that is full of little chunks of meat all over.
Genki Ramen at Mirakutei, which is white miso based and has shredded ground char siu and scrambled egg Genki Ramen at Mirakutei, which is white miso based and has shredded ground char siu and scrambled egg

Don’t be shy about if you can’t finish all the broth, asking to take it home to drink later 🙂

What s your favorite comfort foods when it is super cold or you are feeling unwell?

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Jinya Ramen Bar in Los Angeles

October 29, 2014 by 2 Comments

Shortly after arriving at LAX and being picked up by my sister/bride to be, we grabbed a quick and very satisfying lunch at Jinya Ramen Bar before we went off to pick up her wedding dress in Koreatown and then off to check into the house we selected to rent for the bridesmaids via VRBO. Before picking me up, the car had already gotten filled up at Costco with muffins, croissants, OJ etc to help stock our rental home.

But, we needed a little more fuel before we continued on, and Jinya Ramen provided that warm tummy to help us out.
Jinya Ramen Bar, at Mid-Wilshire in Los Angeles Jinya Ramen Bar, at Mid-Wilshire in Los Angeles Jinya Ramen Bar, at Mid-Wilshire in Los Angeles

It was ironic that I had just written a post about takoyaki and how it had been a couple years since I had it, but then within just this past few weeks I had an opportunity to have it twice!

This Jinya is in a small strip mall so there are several parking spaces you can grab right in front of the restaurant. If you come when it is busy, there will be a sign up sheet for you that you should add your name and party size ASAP. We arrived around 1:45, so after the lunch rush had already subsided, so we were seated within 5 minutes.
Jinya Ramen Bar, at Mid-Wilshire in Los Angeles

The service is quick, with us quickly placing our orders for their classic and best seller ramen, the Jinya Number 1 of Tonkatsu Black which includes pork broth, pork chashu, kirukage, and egg along with the regular expected ramen flavorings like green onion, dried seaweed/nori, garlic chips, fried onion and a ramen special that was a bit spicier with jalapenos. There are additional toppings you can also add to your ramen, varying from spinach to tofu to corn, wonton, chicken, bok choy, etc. They have 9 other ramens, such as those with chicken if you don’t eat pork, and even a vegetarian one.

Looking at this photo now, with the cooler weather and cold rains, I can’t help but crave some more ramen right now!
Jinya Ramen bar at Mid-Wilshire, their classic and best seller ramen, the Jinya Number 1 of Tonkatsu Black which includes pork broth, pork chashu, kirukage, and egg along with the regular expected ramen flavorings like green onion, dried seaweed/nori, garlic chips, fried onion

You can also get combinations with your ramen, such as adding on pork gyoza and salad, or california roll and salad, or a curry rice… At the Mid-Wilshire location, we opted not only for pork gyoza but brussels sprouts tempura.
Jinya Ramen bar at Mid-Wilshire, pork gyoza that you can get with salad in addition to your ramen to make a combo Jinya Ramen bar at Mid-Wilshire, brussels sprouts tempura

And we got takoyaki, or octopus balls!
Jinya Ramen bar at Mid-Wilshire, takoyaki or octopus balls Jinya Ramen bar at Mid-Wilshire, takoyaki or octopus balls

Besides the 3 location in Los Angeles, you can also find Jinya Ramen in Las Vegas, Houston, and Vancouver Canada, and I think there might be one in Seattle (Bellevue) as well?!

Do you ever crave ramen on a cold rainy day? Where do you get your ramen fix at?

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Tokyo Weekend: Visits to Shinjuku, Akihabara = Noodle Day

March 16, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Breakfast hot dog? I’m not sure what is the fascination of hot dogs in buns (although the bread for their buns has a slightly sweet taste) as a breakfast pastry. I suppose it’s just a different twist on breakfast sausage.
Breakfast hot dog, Tokyo, Japan

After a visit to TMG, I had a lunch of udon- I’m going for the one at the bottom row for 600 yen- because a sign in the plastic food window says their specialty is buckwheat noodle. One of the quirks of Japanese places is many have machines where you match what you saw in the picture or in the display of plastic foods to what you want to press to get a ticket for that dish which you just hand to your server or the counter. They never need to handle your money and you get to order as quickly as you decide (or go back to the machine for more). The tempura at this place wasn’t as good as my business lunch, but eating the warm soba helped prepare me for the chilly weather of Tokyo that I would be walking through all day.

For dinner I was in the Akihabara area and saw two ramen places right next to each other. I had been anticipating ramen since the beginning of my trip. On the plane from Newark to Tel Aviv, they had individual players for each seat, and usually I like to watch foreign movies since I could get stuck on another plane and be forced to watch the US releases on a cabin screen, so might as well save those for later. One of the movies I watched was about a man trying to invent his own ramen recipe after inheriting his father’s ramen cart, and the movie told their story simultaneously on their pursuit of delicious excellence. Then, in China, I had watched a whole NHK special on unique ramens. So I had to have it.

Inside both little tiny shops that only seated maybe a dozen people, it was packed elbow to elbow with all men on little stools on very little counterspace around the open ramen kitchen, so I walked around a bit more and then came back. I thought I saw a woman in there so stepped up in line. In retrospect maybe it was a guy with dyed reddish hair that was shoulder length. I could not quite slurp as loudly and well as my neighbor though and in retrospect I should tie my hair back, heh. I don’t know how everyone around me was eating it so fast, it was so hot, but I was definitely conscious about the line waiting outside, and also that this was so delicious. It was the only time I had ramen during my visit, though I was tempted every single time I walked by a packed ramen bar. Oh well- yum tonkatsu ramen was still mine!
ramen, Tokyo, Japan ramen, Tokyo, Japan

Next post: a Sunday full of snacks

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Boke Bowl

March 30, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Boke Bowl is a pop-up restaurant in Portland that bills itself as a raving ramen party. They appear just once a month, on the last Monday of the month, for one meal (lunch or dinner) as they take over another restaurant’s space temporarily like a secret private party. I was able to go to a lunch they were having at host restaurant/kitchen space  Oba this past week, and got to experience myself that the food is as delicious as it looks.

Unfortunately since it was lunch, and we had to account for travel time, we had to eat quickly- but the service helped us get in and out quickly. As a side benefit, at this particular lunch 5% of the sales would go to the Mercy Corp fundraiser for Japan… so I felt less greedy about ordering so much.

We started out with steam buns. I had wanted these as soon as I had seen them in the blogosphere- and despite showing them to F, he was still surprised to see these are not the usual round buns you see in Chinese bakeries. Instead, these are a bit like tacos in that they are folded to envelope the filling, but they are thick and doughy and spongy. His steam buns were with grilled eggplant, cucumber, pickled mustard sauce while mine were with char sui pork, cucumber, green onion. After tasting both of these, mine were better- but he liked his buns as the best part of the lunch.

Boke Bowl, ramen, Portland Oregon Boke Bowl, ramen, Portland Oregon Boke Bowl, ramen, Portland Oregon Boke Bowl, ramen, Portland Oregon

Meanwhile, the salad Boke Bowl offered this month as a salad with warm brussels sprouts, cauliflower, blood orange, house tofu, croutons with Thai vinaigrette. We liked having the crunch texture but wanted a lot more brussels sprouts for it to live up to its “salad” billing.

Boke Bowl, ramen, Portland Oregon

And finally, the mains. For this month, the seasonal additions to the ramen choices that along with the usual hand made noodles, every dish also had greens, mushrooms, butternut squash and roasted fresh water chestnuts. He tried the ramen in caramelized fennel broth, Japanese eggplant, butternut squash rice cakes. Because of the fennel broth, it was a sweeter broth then you might expect with ramen so he liked it at first but the sweetness started to get to him as he continued in the bowl- he would have preferred something spicier instead, and I agree that after a while that caramelized sweetness gets too cloying. Some of the homemade hot boke sauce probably would have helped here, but it wasn’t mentioned or offered, the only glitch in the service.

Boke Bowl, ramen, Portland Oregon

Mine was soooo good. Ramen with hand made noodles, greens, mushrooms, butternut squash, roasted fresh water chestnuts, pork and chicken broth, slow smoked pulled pork, buttermilk fried chicken.

Boke Bowl, ramen, Portland Oregon

Just look at it. It tastes even better then it looks.

Boke Bowl, ramen, Portland Oregon

See that chicken closeup? That chicken was still crunchy as I got towards the bottom as I tried to distribute that chicken taste between everything else. The sauce on top is a pickled mustard that I swirled into my noodles and soup a bit to distribute the kick. The only thing I could ask for is to be able to get this deliciousness more often. I love you Boke Bowl. When can you grow up from pop up restaurant into addictive permanent ramen party place that can make everyone love ramen like it deserves? Because Boke Bowl will make you realize what Tampopo is about. Maybe the broth isn’t as good as Daikokuya’s Tonkotsu, but the entire experience of everything in the bowl made me enjoy it more then any other ramen I’ve had thus far.

It’s not traditional ramen- from the list of components you can see there is a lot going on in that big bowl. And I didn’t even add everything that I could have, including a slow poached egg which sounded so tempting (but my ego told me buttermilk chicken was enough) or pork belly or miso black cod rice cakes. But Boke’s take seems like a natural modern adaption- traditional ramen still has its place, just like a cheeseburger that is just good meat with a fresh bun and a slice of cheese. But, adding bacon and homemade pickles and spicy ketchup and grilled onions and mushrooms and jalepenos and a side of truffle parmesan fries washed down with a local microbrew can be a good additions too.

Boke Bowl can really be the opening move to bring the cult of ramen to Portland, let’s move on to addictive deep soups and fresh noodles… because this is seriously amazing, and Boke has the stuff that is worthy and too easy to enthrall anyone and be food to obsess about. Just looking at the photos, don’t you want to be converted?

Boke Bowl, ramen, Portland Oregon

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