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Portland, OR

Portland, OR

Hapa PDX

Posted on January 8, 2017

I really wanted to check out this ramen food cart. Since the boys were getting haircuts and I needed my morning cup of coffee we wandered across the street from the barbershop to a cute cafe called Qui Presse. They didn’t want anything so I ordered a cup of coffee and some toast with butter and jam. The woman who took my order said she would bring it out to my table when it was done. She brought over two large thick pieces of toasted bread with a slab of butter and homemade apricot jam slathered over it. Ramen boy took one look at it and suddenly wanted to share it with me. The bread was super crusty on the outside but the inside was chewy soft goodness. You could see the air pockets in the bread with a slight pungency and just the right amount of salt to it. It was the best bread I’ve had in ages and I am comparing it to the bread I had in Japan and France. The owner of this cafe sources her bread from her boyfriend. Her boyfriend is Ken Forkish a well-known Portland baker with a James Beard pedigree. This simple toast was absolutely sublime.

A bit later we went for a walk around the Southeast Division. Hapa PDX is situated on a corner with some other food carts and had picnic tables with heaters. It was pretty brisk out so we were looking forward to a bowl of steaming noodles to warm us up. We ordered tonkotsu ramen. The broth was nice and creamy and mine was simply adorned with chashu, scallions, bamboo and egg. It was tasty but not noteworthy and only because the bread I had earlier was so good I was still thinking about it.

I love the food truck/cart concept. No doubt this place is a popular noodle establishment since many of its customers were willing to slurp noodles in the cold. Sorry Hapa PDX we promise to come again to enjoy your ramen.

Hapa PDX
TidBit Food, Farm and Garden Center
SE Division St & SE 28th Pl
Portland, OR 97202

Portland, OR

Marukin Ramen – SE Ankeny

Posted on January 3, 2017

We had to try the other Marukin Ramen outpost and figured it was the perfect meal right before the Portland Trailblazers and Sacramento Kings basketball game. Winter evenings in Portland get bone chilly so we were looking forward to a bowl of noodles to warm us up before we took Uber to the Moda Center. Ramen boy and his dad ordered the tonkotsu shoyu ramen with just chashu and I decided to try the paitan shio that is only served three times a week. This had a rich creamy chicken broth seasoned with sea salt. The noodles were springy and al dente and the toppings were spinach, bamboo shoots, kikurage mushrooms leeks, green onion, chashu pork and soft boiled egg. My favorite bowl of ramen in Portland so far and the most economical bowl at $11. Seriously a delicious good deal.

Ramen boy didn’t want to be late for the game so we rushed through our meal. Needless to say the game was unbelievably painful to watch and I’m not a huge basketball fan. Portland fans, perhaps most fans in general, despise DeMarcus Cousins and since ramen boy is a devout Kings fan I was a bit worried about his safety.

Not all was a loss though. We had Salt & Straw ice cream. Sea salt with caramel ribbons is absolutely the best. The last time we were in Portland I ate Salt & Straw ice cream every day. Fortunately for my waist this time it was a tad too cold for daily consumption.

Marukin Ramen – SE Ankeny
609 SE Ankeny, Suite A
Portland, OR

Portland, OR

Marukin Ramen

Posted on December 28, 2016

Marukin Ramen takes me down memory lane. My first time was when my grandmother had passed away and my mother and I flew in from California for the memorial. We were blurry eyed from the trip when my friend suggested getting noodles. It was a snowy day and the Tokyo streets were empty when he drove us to the outskirts of Shirokane for a bowl of ramen. This was over twenty years ago.

The last time I went to Marukin Ramen in Tokyo was with ramen boy and his dad. It was also a memorable visit since I got a parking ticket which took me to the police station in tears. I truly didn’t plan to cry but the police officers took pity on me. Let’s just say our ramen that day was an expensive one.

Portland is truly a foodie town with really good and authentic Japanese ramen. I doubt we will be able to touch all of the ramen joints while we are here but luckily we have not just one but two Marukin Ramen restaurants to choose from. We tried the downtown location which is definitely a Portland experience. The restaurant is inside a food hall called the Pine Street Market amongst other food establishments. You order your food in advance and then take a seat with your number so that the food is brought out to you. It’s conveniently modern with bright bold colors inviting you in. The polar opposite of what greets you in Tokyo which is in an out of the way location with a pretty shabby interior. It’s all about the ramen.

So we were skeptical. The gyozas came out first and the boys inhaled both orders. It was that tasty. I tried one and had to agree the gyozas were pretty delightful. I ordered the tonkotsu red ramen with a spicy tonkotsu broth topped with spinach, kikurage mushrooms, bamboo shoots, leeks, green onion, chashu pork and a soft boiled egg. At first I thought the bowl looked too oily imagining it would be overpowering. The noodles were cooked perfectly and the ratio of the soup and noodles along with the toppings were delicious. The egg was divine. The ramenheads in my family were quite content with their bowls too.

Our other go to place in Portland is Nong’s Khao Man Gai’s chicken rice and so we were very pleasantly surprised to discover that the other Marukin is right next door.

No doubt it won’t be our last bowl of noodles in Portland.

Marukin Ramen
126 SW 2nd Avenue
Portland, Oregon