Tag Archives: soup

Puff Cha Ramen

In the annals of not-quite-ramen joints that use the word “ramen” in their name to draw in Ippudo and Totto overflow business in the midtown west area, Puff Cha has to be one of the best.

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The place is small inside, with seating for a maximum of 18 guests, but it is very nicely and basically decorated. Colorful.

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Like Kung Fu Little Steamed Buns “Ramen,” Puff Cha serves up a bunch of dry and soup noodle dishes, among other things like Thai curry puffs and bubble teas. These are essentially empanada-like puff pastry dough turnovers filled with all sorts of goodies. We tried the Korean BBQ varietal, which was okay but I imagine their signature Thai offerings are much better.

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We also dabbled into their chicken wings, which, despite not being as crispy as I like, were definitely nice and flavorful, with a soy-based sticky sauce coating them.

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We tried some lunch specials since we were both off from work and wandered in for the deal. I tried the roast pork noodle soup, which was really awesome.

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The broth was packed with flavor, yet thin and clear. It was served with thinly sliced roast pork, fresh baby bok choy, scallions, cilantro, and a fried egg roll wrapper of some sort. The noodles were ramen style, and cooked just right.

My soup came with a spring roll too, which was decent. Not greasy, and very light.

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My wife tried a “mock duck” in Thai peanut curry sauce, which was surprisingly delicious and very reminiscent of actual fatty duck skin. Nicely done! It was served with rice, baby bok choy, and a bowl of clear fish broth.

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My wife’s dish came with a steamed dumpling, which was definitely more Thai or Vietnamese flavored as opposed to Chinese.

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The greatest part of this meal was discovering that they have fresh, lightly pickled spicy jalapeño peppers and red onions in a dish for adding to your soups or rice/noodle dishes. Awesome!

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In the back, they have a counter-top display case with some homemade desserts that looked simple and nice as well.

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Very affordable – especially during the lunch deal times (until 4pm).

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PUFF CHA
457 W 50th St
New York, NY 10019

CoBa 53

NOTE: THIS JOINT IS NOW CLOSED

My wife and I came to this joint to try some of the Vietnamese basics. We started with some drinks. I had “33,” which is a beer from Vietnam, and my wife had a lemonade mixed drink.

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The first staple item to order is the spring rolls. These were not a hit for us. They were a little bland.

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Next, the banh mi sandwich. This had good flavor, but the bread was all wrong (it needs to be a French baguette), and it needed more pate and another layer of meats to really fill it out. I would have liked some more slices of jalepenos and also less cilantro stems and more leaves.

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The next big item to get is the pho. I liked the broth. It needed just a slight more oomph, but otherwise it was pretty enjoyable. It had sliced eye round as well as brisket. I added beef balls for an extra $2.

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This next items isn’t necessarily a staple item to order, but my wife and I are fond of clay pot dishes. We got the pork belly version and it was really great. It was packed with lots of great porky and fatty meat, a boiled egg, fried tofu, squash and lemongrass.

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For dessert we had the coconut lemongrass ice cream. It was a little gummy in texture, but otherwise was an interesting flavor.

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Here’s the Willy:

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COBA 53
401 W. 53rd St.
New York, NY 10019

Jin

I had heard good things about Jin, a ramen joint way up on Broadway near 125th Street. My wife and I were on our way home from a trip to the botanical garden, so we stopped off for a bowl.

It was pretty good. I had the tonkotsu broth with the spicy shit on the side. Noodles were a little over cooked, but the components and broth were all pretty good. Even with just a little bit of the spicy blob, this thing packed some kick. The spicy paste is also rich with a fermented garlic flavor as well. I’ve had better, softer meat in other places, and some of the mushrooms were a bit chewy, but otherwise I did enjoy it.

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My wife had the green curry coconut chicken ramen, which was really nice. Different, spicy, and lots of flavor:

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On another trip I’d like to try the kim chi ramen.

JIN
462 Amsterdam Ave
New York, NY 10024

Ippudo (west side)

I’ve tried almost everything here except for the Hakata classic, which I definitely need to get down on at some point soon.

First off, this place has an excellent selection of Japanese beers and cocktails. I have a photo somewhere… let me see if I can find it:

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Next, a great assortment of apps and small plates to get the belly ready for ramen. We had some octopus items (Tako & Eringi Karaage), some fried fish, and spicy bacon shit (Pork Teppan).

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Now on to the ramen. First is spicy Karaka-men with added pork belly. This was a great bowl of food:

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Akamaru. A little thin on pork meat in my opinion, but tasty.

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Torishio. My wife had this; a bit thin for my liking, but had good flavor and was light.

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Yup. I even tried the veggie ramen. Definitely a soy sauce base with mushroom flavor, and small portion size.

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IPPUDO WEST
321 W 51st St
New York, NY 10019

Totto

Totto and Totto II essentially have the exact same menu; chicken or miso based. I actually enjoyed the ramen more at Totto II than here at the original location, but I could deb going bonkers in thinking there is a difference in taste. Here’s a shot of the mega ramen from Totto, along with a little shot of the kitchen.

As you may have guessed from my review of Ivan Ramen Slurp Shop, I do not like the way these green onions are sliced (though these are still not as bad as Ivan). Aside from that, mega ramen might be one of the best bowls around.

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TOTTO – HELL’S KITCHEN
464 W 51st St
New York, NY 10019

TOTTO – MIDTOWN WEST
248 E 52nd St
New York, NY 10022

Kung Fu Little Steamed Buns Ramen

My wife and I have seen this place in passing for many months now, and we were always curious about it. Tonight I gave it a try. I knew right away it probably wasn’t a real-deal Japanese ramen place (Kung Fu is Chinese, not Japanese), so I was sort of expecting the worst. It turned out to be pretty freaking tasty though. It’s definitely NOT ramen. The flavor of the broth/soup I had was more like a mix between Vietnamese pho and standard Chinese noodle soup.

I ordered the house special “ramen,” which was a clear-ish broth with sliced beef, shrimp, a hard boiled egg, baby bok choy, cilantro and hazelnuts. I ordered it spicy, which meant it came with a blob of the house spicy sauce (the red stuff in the middle of the pic below), which was really tasty. A little bit of that shit goes a long way. I pulled more than half out just because I didn’t want my nose running and my upper lip sweating into my bowl. It’s also more like a hybrid between standard Chinese hot pepper (like the dry chili pepper flakes you get with oil when you order noodles) and Japanese spicy paste for ramen.

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I am definitely going back here to try the other items. This soup was really fantastic. The beef was packed with flavor and very tender; even those ripples of fatty tendon stuff were like butter. I’m actually curious as to what cut of beef it is. The shrimp were not boiled to shit either, like I expected. They were cooked relatively nicely. And the egg was the best tasting hard boiled egg I’ve ever eaten. Not even kidding. The seasonings penetrated deep into the center. Maybe they boil them in broth or soak them in broth after they’re cooked? Whatever they’re doing, it’s fucking working!

One thing to beware of: the not-so-sneaky service charge. They added 15% to my bill without asking.

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I thought that was shitty, and, in fact, I was prepared to leave them a bigger tip! I had it in my head that I was going to just leave $15. Oh well. Their loss. I handed the waiter a $20, and when he retuned my change to me I just left the $0.92 remainder. Still a pretty good tip!

UPDATE!!! I tried the fried ramen, which is essentially just like a lo mien dish with all the same components from the soup. It was tasty and not too greasy, but I like the soup version better.

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The soup dumplings were excellent – I could eat these all fuckin’ day. Give them a few minutes to cool down so you don’t burn the fuck out of your mouth. I like to plop one into a soy sauce bath before eating. It helps cool them down, and gives it some earthy flavor.

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On another visit I tried the roast duck “ramen.” It was the same tasty broth but floated with some hacked up pieces of roast duck. For the most part, the duck was not really edible. Too much bone and rubbery fat, and not enough edible meat.

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Stick with the beef “ramen” at this joint and you will be as happy as a pig in shit. This other item we tried was the cold ramen. Essentially this is lo mein style noodles that are cooked really nice to al dente (and probably hand made), then dressed with a peanut-flavored sauce and topped with cucumbers, tomato and shrimp. I’ve had better, but this was pretty tasty.

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KUNG FU LITTLE STEAMED BUNS
811 8th Ave
New York, NY 10019

Roman Ramen

Taking inspiration from Maialino, I tried making my own homemade “Roman Ramen.” It turned out pretty fucking awesome, so I figured I would share my technique with you, my loyal meat minions.

Shit you’ll need:

  • Package of Boneless Pork Ribs or Pork Shoulder
  • Package of Hormel “Salt Pork”
  • Slow Cooker
  • Rosemary
  • Turkey Stock
  • Chicken Stock
  • Beef Bullion Cubes
  • Onion
  • Garlic
  • Garlic Oil
  • Garlic Powder
  • Onion Powder
  • Onion Oil
  • Olive Oil
  • Szechuan Pepper Oil
  • Fresh Cilantro
  • Fresh Italian Basil
  • Oregano
  • Salt
  • Cracked Black Pepper
  • Crushed Red Pepper
  • Egg
  • Mushrooms

Prep: Step 0
Sear or quickly brown your pork meat and salt pork in a frying pan with a little bit of olive oil and seasonings. Then put into a slow cooker with dry spices (oregano, red pepper, salt, black pepper, garlic powder, onion powder), and add water so that meat is just covered with water. Set on low for 6 hours.

Step 1
Put your chicken and turkey stock to a pot. Add two or three beef bullion cubes in, as well as a healthy handful of rosemary, twiggy bits and all. Bring to a simmer, then add your dry spices to taste (oregano, red pepper, salt, black pepper, garlic powder, onion powder). Now add your oils in to taste (garlic, olive, pepper, onion) – all of which are optional, but they really do boost the flavors incredibly.

Step 2
Meanwhile, you should rinse and prep your toppings, which will be fresh cilantro, fresh basil, raw thinly sliced onions, and raw thinly sliced mushrooms.

Step 3
Add water to a large pot and turn on high. Add a few eggs in (these will eventually be part of the toppings). Once the water reaches a boil, remove the eggs and add a box of dry spaghetti. After about nine minutes your spaghetti should be done. Strain it and hit it with some olive oil to prevent sticking.

Step 4
Strain your soup base to get all the rosemary bits out. Then ladle some soup into a bowl. Add a portion of spaghetti, and arrange your toppings neatly, as the Japanese do. Don’t forget your eggs! Peel and slice.

Step 5 (optional)
One thing I wish I added here was a few stalks of broccolini. I had a bunch in the fridge but completely overlooked the shit. A few nicely sauteed stalks laying across the top of the soup bowl would have been a perfect way to get some healthy greens into the meal. Plus it would have looked even more beautiful than it did:

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Homemade Ramen – Just Like The Real Thing

My wife recently went to a food expo at the Javitz Center, where she sampled some ramen that contained black garlic oil. She was blown away by it, so naturally I started looking for black garlic oil online. I couldn’t find anything like a bottle of it. But I DID find this on Amazon, so I ordered it:

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I figured it can’t be any worse than Maruchan, right? Shit – maybe it would even be good.

So the shipment came. I had a serious hankering for good hearty ramen, REAL ramen, but I didn’t feel like getting back on the train to the city to go find a decent bowl (there’s nothing good out on Long Island in terms of ramen – same goes for pho and Vietnamese food in general). So I decided to doll-up some of this instant ramen with some ground pork and various other cuts of pork.

What you see below is center cut pork chops (top/back), boneless country style pork ribs (center) and pork belly (the ground pork was not pictured). That slab of bacon isn’t anything special either, by the way. My grocery store doesn’t normally sell big hunks of pork belly, so I picked up a $4 package of Hormel brand “salt pork.” I figured if I cooked it correctly, it would taste like the real thing.

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So what did I do to the meat? I prepared the pork by using a slow cooker for about 6 hours on low. I filled the pot with about a half cup of soy sauce, 2 Tbsp duck sauce, 2 Tbsp sugar in the raw simple syrup, 2 tsp Chinese 5-spice, a stick of cinnamon along with a few shakes of ground cinnamon, 3 red chili peppers, 2 cloves of garlic, 1 tsp ginger powder, a few shakes of garlic powder, 1 tsp Sriracha sauce, a shake of nutmeg, 1 roughly cut scallion shoot, and about 8 or 10 cloves. I whisked it all together with 2.5 pints of water. At first I was thinking this was too much liquid, but as it turns out it was just the right amount. You’ll see why later.

Then all I had to do was wait… But I bore easily. So I went out and got a little drunk with some friends at a local St. Patrick’s Day parade. There’s nothing quite like day-drinking. My wife was at a baby shower, so I would have just been sitting around playing with myself or watching horror flicks anyway. She picked me up after the shower and the timing was perfect. I came home to this, which I scooped out of the slow cooker:

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I tasted it. Holy shit. Fucking perfect! Four beers and two shots didn’t take me off my cooking game, either. With all that excess slow-cooker liquid that I thought was too much, I decided to make a concentrated reduction to use later on as a dressing of sorts for plain noodles, or for SOMETHING. I’d figure out a way to use it because it was delicious. But then I had this brilliant idea to make the freeze-dried instant ramen noodles taste better: I boiled them in the slow-cooker liquid as it reduced. As a bonus, the starch helped to thicken the reduction as well.

In the meantime I cooked the ground pork with soy sauce and garlic, and made the ramen broth, which essentially was just the seasoning packets from the ramen package + water + heat. I also sliced some fresh scallions and some baby bella mushrooms for garnish, and sliced some boiled eggs that we already had in the fridge.

When we put it all together, we popped open the little package of elusive black garlic oil. Here’s the end result:

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It came out a slight bit salty, so next time I will adjust seasonings accordingly. But if I ordered this in a NYC ramen shop for $15 I would be none the wiser that it was made with instant packets, and I would love it.

Flushing & Shabu Shabu

We, my wife, and a friend took a trip to Flushing to explore some of the great food joints in the area – this was a while back, in mid 2012.

It’s kind of like a food paradise here. There are secret, hidden indoor (and sometimes underground) malls of food kiosks tucked away in unassuming buildings. Check out some of the pics:

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tables in underground food mall
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noodle maker

After some wandering, we ended up trying hot pot at Baidu Shabu Shabu. I think it was like $25-$35pp all you can eat, and all you can drink beer. We got the spicy pot, and a shit-heap of different stuff to throw in, like lamb, beef tongue, beef brisket, beef rib eye, beef belly, pork belly, a host of veggies, and noodles. Needless to say we were fattened up like pigs afterward. I recommend this place – lots of fun. Check out the pics:

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Okay so fast-forward over a year later. My wife is feeling sick. We were about to go back to Flushing just to get some soup, but we ended up finding out about a tiny little place called Tao’s Delicacies out on Long Island that we were interested to try out. Turns out it was pretty legit, and $25pp all you can eat, with unlimited soda/canned drinks. They had quality beef stomach, lotus root, mushrooms, shrimp (with the heads on), fish balls with pork inside, veggies, and even tofu skin (my favorite). If you are out on the island, and feel up for the experience of eating in someone’s living room, then check out this hidden gem of a restaurant. Pics below:

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seafood, tofu & veg

BAIDU SHABU SHABU
37-04 Prince St.
Flushing, NY 11354

TAO’S DELICACIES
1310 Middle Country Rd.
Selden, NY 11784