Slurp… Slurp….Mmm… Yummy!

Things have been pretty slow in the Asian celeb world these two days so let’s talk about food (another subject I love dearly!). Ramen
has been all the rage in the major U.S. cities as of late. I am not
talking about the little ramen packets that you used to eat in college
to save money for drinking. I am talking about a steamy bowl of noodles
served in a delicious broth with some sliced pork, egg and seaweed (I
am salivating as I am writing this) . There are four common types of
ramen - shio (salt), tonkatsu (pork bone), shoyu (soy sauce) and miso
ramen. My personal favorite is the tonkatsu ramen. I used to get my
ramen fix at one of the many hole in the wall japanese noodles/yakitori
places on St. Marks Place, where your entrance and exit are usually
accompanied by a loud and zesty Japanese greeting by the restaurant
staff.  Now I get them at newer establishments that specialize in
serving ramen. These places seem to be popping up in the city like
mushroom. Every month there is a new ramen place for New Yorkers to try
out. 

Of all the ramen I have tasted, my top three choices have to be the shio ramen from Ramen Setagaya (the shoyu one is good too!), the original ramen from Momofuku Noodle Bar and the tonkatsu ramen from Yakitori Taisho.  Ramen lovers in NY are talking about the new Hakata Ippudo
which is clearly the favor of the month but I find the ramen there
quite easily forgettable. I once took my mom to a Japanese ramen place
and ordered her a bowl of shoyu ramen. She took one bite of it and then
said, “son, why didn’t we go for wonton noodles instead?”.  My
traditional Chinese mom clearly prefers her Char Siu over the two pork slices in the ramen and who could blame her? Char siu is yummy too!