Browsing Tag

ramen

Beaverton, OR

Yuzu

Yuzu serves delicious ramen. A true gem in Oregon for a really good bowl of Kyushu style noodles. We were in Portland for a short summer break pretty excited about the food delights that the city has to offer. Ramen was not on the top of our list except for ramen boy of course. Noodles on the mind all the time especially when he is hungry. At the time we were in Beaverton checking out the Nike campus. I did a Yelp search for Japanese ramen and Yuzu popped up and we decided to give it a try. It is in a nondescript shopping strip so easy to miss that we drove twice in the parking lot till we found the storefront sign. There were a few customers inside and the Japanese waitress seated us quickly. Yuzu serves ramen but also small plates/tapas izakaya style. We ordered their house kakuni ramen with a milky tonkotsu broth. It’s a Kyushu style ramen with thin noodles. The pieces of pork inside the broth were meaty but with equal amount of fatty melt in the mouth goodness with chopped scallions and pickled ginger. The soft boiled egg was to die for oozy and just the right consistency. Hubby and ramen boy were in noodle heaven exclaiming it was the best ramen they’ve had in the U.S. Now that is a tall order! I have to agree it is the best that I have had so far too. We were impressed that they offered gyoza which is a common appetizer in Japan to have with your ramen but hard to find in ramen shops in the U.S. Oftentimes the gyoza is frozen and usually mediocre at best. Not here. The gyoza is homemade, small enough to easily pop in your mouth and with the perfect crust. Absolutely the best gyoza we have had in the U.S. Portland and its surroundings blew us away with its culinary delights and we can’t wait to go back to eat our way through the city.

Yuzu
4130 SW 117th Avenue
Beaverton, Oregon 97005
(503) 350-1801

New York City

Ippudo NY

Blurry eyed from a red eye flight ramen boy and I dropped off our bags, hopped on the subway and made our way to the East Village just in time for Ippudo NY to open. I was in town to run the More Fitness Shape Women’s Half Marathon in Central Park and ramen boy came to cheer me on, see the sights, visit with old friends and most importantly to eat ramen. We were frequent regulars of the Ippudo in Ebisu near our house when we lived in Tokyo but this was our first time to Ippudo in New York’s East Village. The other Ippudo is in Midtown and the only two restaurants in the United States. Now you can find Ippudo worldwide in Hong Kong, Singapore, Sydney, London, Manila, Kuala Lumpur, Indonesia, Seoul, Taiwan and China. It is so internationally available I wondered if the quality would remain true to what we were accustomed to in Japan. The restaurant was already packed with the lunch crowd and buzzing with action. Waiters and waitresses rushing around taking orders and bringing food to the tables. Luckily we didn’t have to wait too long ramen boy was impatiently hungry.

We both ordered the Shiromaru Hakata Classic which is the original tonkotsu (pork broth) noodles topped with pork loin chashu, menma (seasoned bamboo shoots), sesame kikurage mushrooms, red pickled ginger and scallions. Ramen boy had his usual basic which is soup, noodles and extra chashu.

Mine came out and it was a sloppy mess not at all visually appealing. It was as if they quickly slapped it together and plopped it in front of me. The restaurant was busy after all but for a $14 bowl of noodles I expected it to at least look pretty. Looks aside the taste was pretty good and uniformally the same as in Tokyo. I prefer the sliced thin fatty version of chashu that melts in your mouth. This pork loin chashu is definitely a healthier meatier version which ramen boy approved. The noodles came out katame (harder) per request but not steaming hot where it fogs up your glasses as you slurp away.

With a tummy full of noodles ramen boy was pretty content. For the uninitiated Ippudo is definitely a great first time experience. Ramen mom on the other hand just felt Ippudo NY is a bit overrated. Sorry once you have it in Japan it’s just not the same.

Ippudo NY (East Village)
65 Fourth Avenue (Between 9th and 10th Street)
New York, NY 10003
(212) 388-0088
www.ippudony.com