Browsing Tag

New York Ramen

New York City

Tonchin

Posted on July 13, 2019

Ramen boy and I ventured to Midtown West for Michelin bib gourmand ramen at Tonchin. We hadn’t tried this Tokyo-based chain while living in Japan and had missed opportunities when visiting New York. Since my son is a creature of habit and very loyal to Ippudo ramen it required some convincing to try something new this time around. We waited for about 40 minutes and then we were seated in the back of the restaurant near the open kitchen. Watching the chefs at each of their stations was mesmerizing as I ate my smoked dashi ramen filled with clams topped with pea sprouts, menma, egg, tobiko, dried seaweed in a tonkotsu broth with a drizzle of smoked fish oil. The homemade noodles were springy and al dente and the broth was deep in flavor with a slight fish essence – truly sublime. Ramen boy had a classic tonkotsu bowl with extra noodles along with some bite-size pan fried gyoza which were delicious.

The finishing touch to our meal was the kakigori. We shared the Tokyo strawberry milk shaved ice with strawberries and honey cream sauce. I could eat this for days.

Tokyo strawberry shaved ice

TONCHIN NEW YORK
13 W 36th Street
New York City, NY 10018
(646) 692-9912

New York City

Nakamura NYC

Posted on June 19, 2018

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