Browsing Tag

Ramen Lab

New York City

Ramen Lab

Posted on April 16, 2018

My favorite place to stay when I’m in New York is just down the street from the Ramen Lab. My red-eye flight got me into JFK early morning giving me ample time to drop off my luggage at my hotel in SoHo, nourish myself with a complimentary latte, Balthazar toast and a soft-boiled egg with truffle salt thanks to Eduardo at The Broome Hotel’s sweet little cafe. Then off I went to the United New York Half Marathon Expo to pick up my bib for the race. I knew that Ramen Lab’s door opened at 5 pm and I wanted to get there around 4:45 to ensure that I would haven’t to wait too long to get in. There are only ten spots – no chairs. It’s serious noodle business when you have to stand to eat and expectations are high when you have to do so. The ramen very well better be worth it. This is my second time at Ramen Lab and once again impressed me with their manner of ordering before entering the restaurant to putting a delicious bowl of noodles in front of me without any fanfare. I like the concept of the rotating kitchen featuring ramen from ramen shops throughout the U.S. and the world and especially pleased that SacRAMENto has debuted not one but two ramen chefs: Yasushi Ueyama’s Shoki Ramen and ramen blogger David Chan. All of my walking worked up an appetite for the featured Sakekasu Tonkotsu Ramen from Brooklyn Kura. Sake kasu are the lees left over from making sake often used as a pickling agent in Japanese cooking. The lees foam was not overpowering and added a touch of umami to the creamy pork broth. The usual suspects included a fatty but meaty piece of pork belly, slices of fish cake, scallions, seaweed and pickled ginger. The drizzle of anchovy oil and the two slices of tamogayaki (egg omelette) pulled it all together and went well with the thicker Okinawa soba noodles. The ramen truly hit the spot that I quickly devoured it. It was so good I would have ordered another but a line had formed outside the restaurant. Ramen etiquette prevailed so I quickly paid my bill so that next group of customers could come in. I will be noodle slurping with ramen boy this summer so looking forward to the third time around surprise ramen at Ramen Lab.

Ramen Lab
70 Kenmare Street
New York, NY 10012
(646) 613-7522
www.ramen-lab.com

New York City

Ramen Lab

Posted on March 28, 2016

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