This Lower East Side ramen shop is obscurely located next to the entrance of the Williamsburg Bridge reminiscent of the ramen-ya’s you would find in Japan. I walked the stretch of Delancey Street from my hotel to work up an appetite for the noodles to come and to explore the gentrified neighborhood – a blast from the past when I lived in the East Village in the late 80’s. The day before my visit I had run the the United New York Half Marathon with the course starting in Brooklyn and taking me over the very same bridge into Manhattan. Good ramen shops usually have a queue and I like to avoid this by arriving early just before they open. I was the first one in and quickly perused the menu. Everything looked good to me and I was surprisingly pleased that they served a lunch-size smaller portion of noodles reminding me of the lunch specials you’d find in Japan. Although I debated getting the Torigara (Chef’s Signature) ramen I knew that I had to try the Yuzu Dashi ramen. Afuri serves a mean bowl of this and I wanted to compare it. Well, it did not disappoint. The shio based yuzu seasoned chicken broth simply adorned with a lean piece of chashu pork that had been nicely grilled, scallions, spinach, menma and nori with springy thin noodles. Very light tasting and delicious and I had no problem finishing every bit to the very last drop. Hands down the best ramen I had on my New York trip. Looking forward to another visit in a couple of weeks with ramen boy!
Nakamura NYC
172 Delancey Street
New York, NY 10002
(212) 614-1810
