was fortunate to grab 2 seats at ippudo last night after walking past momofuku noodle. in short, i’m glad we did. they currently have 2 special ramens with very dark broth, black miso i think, which was on the verge of mind-blowing.
while there are many things that momo noodle does better (vegetables, seasonal dishes, wine!) the ramen last night was a few steps beynd chang’s.
get there if you can as this special is over at month’s end iirc.
highly recommended ![[cheers.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/0ff9bfcdb0964982cd3240b6159868fbdf215b1a.gif "cheers"){kind=small}
what is sad is that while ippudo is very good ramen in the states, it’s only a good, middle of the pack ramen chain in Japan.
+99999
tokyo makes the round trip a little too long
for nyc it seems to be near the top of the food chain
Personally I have Ippudo third in NYC. For overall experience I like the ramen at Momofuku best, though they do need to dial back on the salt. My second favorite is Menku tei, which is my favorite overall broth. I should note that I prefer a tonkotsu based broth to a shoyu or miso one.
brad
i always thought the salt at noodle was due to that incredible pork in some way. for whatever reason, i just never thought it was from the kitchen oversalting.
It’s certainly possible that the addition of the pork belly and shoulder while plating adds something, but my belief is that the broth itself tends to be a bit salty.
Is there a Santouka in NYC? that’s another Japanese chain import that’s popular in norcal and socal.
My favorite type of broth varies with my mood, but often it is a shio (salt based tare to the base broth versus a shoyu or miso). It is a “cleaner” saltiness and it highlights the flavors in the broth more.
Like Brad, I have Ippudo after Menkuitei, but to me the salt factor in Momo’s broth throws it way down the list. To me, the more traditional places like Menkuitei or Rai Rai Ken and recently Hide Chan (they’ve improved markedly all of a sudden) are better than Ippudo. Nothing terribly wrong with Ippudo, I just prefer those other places.
michel
just to distinguish, this special dark broth ramen was far better than the standard ippudo offering. i wish i knew more about how to describe it, but it was a very dark broth, and very complex. as i said above, i thought it was a black miso.
I haven’t looked at their menu in years, but I wonder if it’s a version of kuro ramen which is literally “black ramen”. A place I know uses a dark (some may say kinda burnt) garlic oil to give the broth a dark color.
from the menu
Kogashi Miso Ramen $16
“Chintan” chicken and pork base noodle soup, a dard, rich broth made from black charred miso, topped with pork chashu, cabbage, leafy greens, and glazed with a layer of oil.
Kogashi Karaka Miso Ramen $17
“Chintan” chicken and pork base noodle soup, a dard, rich broth made from black charred miso, with Ippudo special blended hot spice, topped with pork chashu, cabbage, leafy greens, and glazed with a layer of oil.
these were the special ramens
That’s very expensive for a bowl of noodles…
Mmmm…ippudo is really great ramen. I guess I don’t mind the salt, as I still give the edge to Momo’s ramen. I think I just love the noodles there.
+1
That’s another of my pet peeves, considering Menkuitei or Rai Rai Ken are around the corner at better prices and what I consider better broths.
Normally ramen is around $7-10.
Anything over $10 is a bit too much in my book.
In Japan, it normally goes for 400-600 yen (at todays’s exchange rate, $4-6)
At $16, it better be on par with the best I’ve had in Japan, otherwise it will just be a disappointment…
I’m a chubby american. I order oomori ramen with extra chashu and extra yasai. 1000yen easily.
Yes here in Tokyo a decent ramen place where you order Oomori and add a topping or two will set you back 1000yen for sure. The 400-600 yen places are in the sticks or are college oriented places generally. Even AzaRa is more than that 
$16 is just silly though and that is for the stuff that passes as ramen stateside.
Any of you ramen guys want to meet up when over here, shoot me a PM. Wine dinner with a late night ramen stop afterwards. That is the great thing about ramen too. Always available at 4 in the morning.
How much is a Big Mac in Tokyo ?
At today’s exchange rate, and depending which store you buy it at: US$3.01-US$3.53.
That reference to the Economist’s index does not make the noodles in NYC reasonable, sorry. 