This was my second bowl of ramen in one day and most definitely the noodle highlight of my trip to New York. This ramen was the bomb! I had heard about Ramen Lab and couldn’t wait to try it. I arrived just as it opened at 5 pm and put my name on the waiting list. I was already third on the list and since it’s a no reservation restaurant standing room only for 10 people I felt pretty darn lucky. When I say standing room let’s just say be prepared to stand. There aren’t any seats so don’t expect to relax and stay for long. The long bar has a hook underneath to hang your purse and that’s about it. Be prepared to cut the conversation and just slurp and enjoy the noodles. No idling if you know what I mean. This was fine for me since I came solo this evening but quickly met my neighbors a couple originally from Australia but living and working in the city. They serendipitously discovered the restaurant as they were wandering around Nolita and wanted to give it a try. Ramen Lab is kind of like a pop-up ramen shop showcasing monthly chefs from Japan and around the world presenting their versions of ramen. Machida Shoten, from Yokohama, Japan, was serving their signature tonkotsu broth served three ways either spicy miso, shoyu or shio which you then get to customize to your liking for noodle texture, soup flavor and fattiness. I chose shio, al dente noodles, light soup flavor and light fattiness. You then select three condiments served separately which included spicy soybean paste, sesame, grated garlic, fried onion, diced onion and black garlic oil. I picked the grated garlic and sesame and skipped the egg since I was still a bit full from my earlier ramen lunch. I chatted briefly with my neighbors until my piping hot bowl of noodles was placed in front of me. I really liked the simplicity of the bowl with just the seaweed, spinach and the fatty chashu. I took one slurp and knew that this was the real deal. So smooth and flavorful and light like requested. The thickness of the noodles was a nice surprise along with the single piece of fatty melt in the mouth chashu. Just the right amount of fat and meat. I added just a bit of the grated garlic and sesame but felt the broth and noodles didn’t really need anything added to it. It was special as is — unadorned. Since it was an open kitchen I got to talk to the waitress and also to the cook as I was curious if they served a similar type of noodle in Japan and he said that the noodle they were using is very similar but not exact. After all Ramen Lab is the product of the company Sun Noodle which provides most of the ramen noodles to restaurants and markets in the U.S. I wouldn’t be the wiser since it tasted delicious. The concept is rather exciting to have a revolving menu of ramen presented by different chefs. I highly recommend Ramen Lab and hope to make my way back here again.
Ramen Lab
70 Kenmare Street
New York, NY 10012
(646) 613-7522
www.ramen-lab.com
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