Ramen NYC Community

🍜 Ramen Rating: 4.0 / 5

“my favorite here is the shoyu. chiken broth is surprisingly rich. Tare makes me confused tho but I think thats what makes me keep drinking the soup. yuzu and greenonions good combo”

🍜 Ramen Rating: 5.0 / 5

“I’ve never had anything like this before. The level of craftsmanship was completely out of this world and honestly changed the way I think about miso ramen. I usually gravitate toward shoyu, but this bowl made me a huge fan of miso. The flavor was unbelievably deep, rich, and layered without ever feeling too heavy. Every topping brought a different flavor and texture, and together the bowl kept evolving as I ate it. The entire appetizer plate was also specially made off-menu for the launch event, and every item incorporated miso in a different way. From the miso-cured egg to the potatoes and special chashu preparation, everything felt intentional and thoughtfully connected to the ramen itself. The beer and sparkling tea pairings were also chosen perfectly to complement the meal without overpowering it. On top of all that, the atmosphere was warm, welcoming, and full of people genuinely excited about ramen. One of the most memorable ramen experiences I’ve had in NYC @zappa”

🍜 Ramen Rating: 5.0 / 5

“The curry ramen is underrated.”

🍜 Ramen Rating: 5.0 / 5

“I've been here so many times. This is my favorite bowl, my comfort bowl, the bowl that made me fall in love with ramen. 🍜😁😄. Thank you Yohei Ishida for your craft.”

🍜 Ramen Rating: 4.0 / 5

“Ramen Danbo’s name roughly translates to “warm night”, and the ramen will certainly warm up your night. This chain specializes in Kyushu Hakata style ramen and has other locations in Brooklyn, Seattle and Vancouver. I went with the Classic Tonkotsu and it really hit the spot. The soup is nostalgic creamy pork bone that many places in the US try to emulate but few do it as well as Danbo. A couple of dollops of pureed fresh garlic transform the soup into an absolute elixir. The noodles are the traditional thin and firm, and they had good wheaty taste and bite. And so many of them! The chashu was thin and melted away with a few flavorful chews. Hakata is not my favorite style but when the mood strikes this place is very good.”

🍜 Ramen Rating: 5.0 / 5

“The ramen masters Karazishi Botan, Fumehiro Kanegae, studied bread making in France and also worked for a bit at Ippudo. The menu is an eclectic mix of Japanese izakaya items with Western influences. Order of the day was their flagship, The Iron Men IV, featuring a soup made from Iberico pork, chicken and oxtail. It arrives as just a bowl of soup and noodles, with the chashu and a soft boiled egg on the side. It also came with an eyedropper filled with rosemary infused olive oil. I was a bit surprised at the lack of other toppings, but the server explained this offering is all about the soup. The soup was indeed very complex - the pork was the most prominent, with a little brininess and a bit of collagen. A couple of dabs from the eye dropper transformed the soup, a bit piney and a hint of sweetness. The noodles were yeasty and a bit doughy. This was quite a unique bowl. While the rosemary was interesting, I did prefer the soup without where I could really taste the pork.”

🍜 Ramen Rating: 5.0 / 5

“The best I have had of the Jiro style ramens in the US. The soup was funky porky garlicky goodness. The pork back fat and tang of the shoyu taste were in perfect balance. The noodles were thick and full of wheat flavor. The chashu was thin sliced pork belly, a slight departure from usual thick hunks of pork shoulder, but was so succulent and flavorful. An outstanding bowl!”

🍜 Ramen Rating: 3.0 / 5

“Tenjou is located in the high rent district a few doors down from the Flat Iron Eataly. If one were to think of all of the Instagram-worthy Japanese/Asian foods in your feed, you can probably find them on this menu. Unfortunately, at least from what we sampled, none of them are worth returning for. I went with the curry ramen, and Mrs Enthusiast tried the miso ramen, and the best way to describe them both is mechanical. You can see from the pictures, asides from different proteins, the toppings were exactly the same - even in the same place, despite the very different ramen bowls. The curry broth lacked punch, the miso broth lacked umami. It was all just “meh”. We also tried the spicy tuna gyoza, as I have never seen this on a menu before. It was a complete mess - spicy tuna in a fried gyoza wrapper with two random pieces of raw kale, guacamole, fish eggs and Thai sweet chili sauce. Lots of colors for a photo, but the flavors did not work at all. Unless you are feeding the camera instead of yourself I would skip this place.”

🍜 Ramen Rating: 5.0 / 5

“At a whopping $36 a bowl, the Wagyu Black Truffle Ramen bowl comes with high expectations, but it delivers. The Wagyu is sliced thinly and served rare. As it bathes in the broth it becomes medium rare, which itself was pretty cool to taste how the meat changes as it cooks. The bowl comes with a side of onsen tamago (literally hot springs eggs, a consistency between raw and poached), and the idea is to dip the beef in the egg, just as one would do with Sukiyaki. Delicious! Like two meals in one. The soup has intense truffle and mushroom umami, but was nicely balanced with some acidity so it never felt too rich. The noodles are chewy complex multigrain made in-house and for me are the star of a pretty great bowl. Mrs Enthusiast, a fan of the bowl the refined clean style that Shuya uses for its broth, went with the Assari Yuzu Shio ramen, in which the clam and salt broth is accented with the popular Japanese citrus fruit. We yet to try Afuri here in the US, but for us this was the best yuzu ramen we’ve had here. The yuzu played backing vocals to the briny clam frontman. The noodles in this bowl were thicker and less complex than the Wagyu Truffle bowl, soaking up the soup remarkably well and providing a yeastiness to the palette. We began the meal with Tebasaki chicken wings, perfectly crunchy on the outside and moist and well marinated on the inside. Everything I try on the Shuya menu is excellent.”

🍜 Ramen Rating: 5.0 / 5

“Yasubee ramen (pronounced “Yah-sue-bay”) is a famous Tsukemen chain in Japan. They are very highly rated in the Japanese ramen blogs, so when they opened their first shop in Manhattan, I had to give it a try. Despite being known for their dipping ramen, I went with their Shoyu ramen, and it was one of the best bowls of Shoyu I have had in the US. The soup has a great balance between rich pork and umami. It was quite addictive. The noodles were thick and rough cut and scrumptious, soaking up the soup but keeping their bite. The chashu was thin and decently seasoned, but a tad chewy and maybe my least favorite thing about the bowl. The shoyu eggs were served hot (!) and were perfectly seasoned and had the right pudding consistency. Even the menma (bamboo shoots) were surprisingly crisp yet tender and delicious. This was a great bowl. We also sampled the curry wings, which are seasoned with a dry curry powder and a bit of Sichuan pepper. The chicken itself had been well marinated, and the rub had a nice spice kick and bit of tingly numbness. They even had Lemon High Balls made with Ichiiko Shochu. This reminds me of when I visited Ramen Ishida soon after it first opened. Get there soon, because as word gets out there will be long lines to get in.”

🍜 Ramen Rating: 5.0 / 5

“Gogyo Ramen, which is part of the Ippudo ramen group, brings fine dining to the NYC ramen scene. Spacious seating at big wooden tables, oshibori wet napkins before the meal, and attentive service that refills your water glass basically after every sip. I tried the Prix Fixe featuring their signature Kogashi Miso ramen, in which five miso blends are charred at 572 degrees F. The soup comes out scalding hot thanks to a generous helping of pork fat, which momentarily masks the miso. As it cools, the complex umami flavors from the miso begin to shine. The first note was smoky, but quickly turned to what I can best describe as a salty toast-like flavor. And toward the bottom of the bowl as the heat subsided it became more sweet and caramel-like. The noodles were thin and flat with some wheaty substance to them. They grabbed the pork fat and soup well and are just hearty enough to match the rich soup. The chashu is the size of a pork steak in both diameter and thickness, offering both tender and chewy bites as one works their way through the savory tasty topping. Hiding underneath was some bean sprouts and minced pork that had a nice little kick to it. The prix fix also comes with sides of edamame and spicy bean sprouts, which were crisp and tasty. It also comes with gelato which on this occasion I did not try. I will definitely return to try the other bowls and the interesting looking cocktails.”

🍜 Ramen Rating: 5.0 / 5

“While the rest of the Big Apple was crowded into Irish bars, I finally scored a very difficult to get reservation for Tonchin New York on 36th street in Manhattan, just down the street from my favorite steakhouse, Keen’s. While Keen’s is as old school as you can get, Tonchin is on the other end of the spectrum - a modern, culinary school approach to ramen. I went with their signature Tonchin Classic Tokyo Tonkotsu. The soup is rich yet “clean”, with no pork funk and perfectly balanced with a umami-rich shoyu tare. The noodles were medium thick Tokyo wavy made in-house. The chashu was the sous vide roast beef style, but was well seasoned and perfectly sliced. And yes, the egg was a perfect pudding consistency. This is flawless-execution-of-everything-ramen, and while I usually lean toward the more OG style, I very much appreciate a bowl like this. Also tried the fried fish buns, covered in sauces that exploded with flavor, which paired so nicely with crunchy fried fish. And a Tokyo martini that tiptoed down the middle of olive brine and sake sweetness. Worth the hype. And definitely worth a trip back to try the rest of the menu.”

🍜 Ramen Rating: 4.0 / 5

“Kohoko-ku Ramen is named after one of the wards of Yokohama, and having lived in a neighboring ward of Yokohama for three years, I was expecting to find some Yokohama specific things here(like some Iekei ramen?), but instead it is more a celebration of general Japanese ramen culture, with lots of old signage and even some beer crate stools. Their signature is pork broth tonkotsu, so I went with that in their offering of Kumamoto Ramen, which differed from the regular Tonkotsu with the addition of black garlic oil. Their signature broth did not say Kumamoto to me - actually more like a balanced tonkotsu shoyu that felt closer to Iekei than Kumamoto to me. But why get hung up on names, the soup was good though a little on the tepid side. The oodles were standard firm thin straight that were indeed in the style of Kumamoto. The toppings included two pieces of thicker cut chashu, a nice jammy egg, one piece of baby bok choy and an oddly shaped shishito pepper. Suddenly all of the “shishito” peppers in town are wide like mini bell peppers. What the heck is going on? Washed it down with a Kirin, as they had a huge factory a train stop away when I lived in Yokohama so it was the beer of choice locally. Fun tiny spot - not exactly destination ramen but pretty darn good.”

🍜 Ramen Rating: 5.0 / 5

“Normally when visiting Ramen Ishida I go with the off-the-menu Tokyo 80s Shoyu, but I had originally been in the neighborhood to have Miso XO at Nakamura, only to find it closed by the health department (?!). So I walked over to Ramen Ishida and tried their Umami Miso as I had been looking forward to miso all day. Started off with the Echigo Stout, which had a sweet malty taste that I believe may have altered the flavor of the soup. Despite being a miso, the characteristic miso malt was not there. Chicken oil was very pronounced, and there was a bit of the saltiness from the miso, but much more like a mellow tare. Delicious! The noodles were medium thickness and springy. The chashu was the best I have had in a long time - thinly sliced but tender and popping with smoky fatty flavor. Moyashi bean sprouts, a jammy egg, corn and a skinny whisper of bok choy rounded things out. An outstanding bowl.”

🍜 Ramen Rating: 5.0 / 5

“Karazishi Botan is one of my favorites in NYC, but unfortunately I don’t get out to Brooklyn very often. A post-Brooklyn half-marathon replenishment (I didn’t run, but expended some calories cheering 😉) was the perfect occasion to continue working my way through their ever-changing menu. Order of the day was a special, the Paint It Black, a Kyushu style black garlic tonkotsu. As with their flagship Iron Men IV, the soup is refined and achieves incredible balance and depth of flavor. Despite the ample pork oil floating on the top of the very cloudy broth, it is a very clean flavor with no funkiness. The black garlic complements instead of overpowering. Unlike the Iron Men IV, which featured pure-white flat noodles that were very wheaty in taste, the noodles in the Paint It Black were a deep yellow and very springy, with a more traditional flavor. The chashu was thin cut and menma were interestingly julienne cut which I had never had before. A great bowl. Another person at the table went with the Showa classic, and as I stole a few slurps I was impressed with the nostalgic bonito-forward taste, like a much higher end version of the cafeteria ramen served in my office in Tokyo 30 years ago. (30? Yikes! 😳) I also sampled the Zangi chicken, naively ordering each person at the table a piece, unaware one piece is basically a whole chicken thigh. Zangi is Hokkaido’s version of Karaage (fried chicken) and if you ever see it on a menu, get it. This was delicious, though maybe ranked a hair below the offering at Menkoi Sato (will see if the new Menkoi Sao keeps the crown). Wish this place was closer - I absolutely love it.”