ramblings of a Seattle travel, food and photography hound
Amid the current craze to start ramen restaurants, it's refreshing to find a restaurant that serves only soba. Sobaya (restaurants that specialize in soba) are not common in the States, though many Japanese restaurants have it on the menu among their other offerings. Seattle has a sobaya (and izakaya) in the form of Wallingford's Miyabi 45th, which began business... Continue Reading →
Major construction on the northwest corner of Main Street and Bellevue Way prevented a friend and me from having lunch at La Cocina del Puerco because of the lack of parking spaces. So as I drove up to Hokkaido Ramen Santouka, I noticed no one standing outside waiting to be seated. Friend was agreeable to... Continue Reading →
The Taiwanese presence in the Bellevue Chinese restaurant scene is unmistakeable. And why not? The Eastside city has a large demographic of Americans of Taiwanese descent. It was no surprise that Din Tai Fung established its first Northwest location in Bellevue's Lincoln Square complex. Many Chinese restaurants in the city, some explicitly serving Taiwanese cuisine and others... Continue Reading →
The concept of customizing udon to suit your personal preference is not new. In my neck of the woods, U:Don in Seattle’s University District has been offering it for several years. Marukame Udon made a big splash in Waikiki when it opened in 2011, a udonya that copies the cafeteria-style service that made it so... Continue Reading →
On the Eastside, I Love Sushi is one place to get good sushi. While the chefs may not bask in the fame of the big names in Seattle, they quietly go about their business of making praiseworthy sushi which reflects extensive training in Japan, a rarity in this age of cookie-cutter sushiya. There are two locations, one on Lake Union in... Continue Reading →
To make our signature tonkotsu broth, we simmer pork bones for about 20 hours until it is pearly white. Finally, after such a long, low-temperature cook, we add vegetables, dried fish, kelp, and other savory ingredients. So explains Santouka's website on its approach to making ramen broth. It surely qualifies as the legendary dedication (some say a fanaticism) that... Continue Reading →
I was seriously thinking of not going in. I stood outside for a minute or two, but decided to give Jinya Ramen Bar a shot anyway. A little background. Our good friends ate there after it soon opened in Bellevue in March, along with so many other eager rameniacs that the two of them had to sit... Continue Reading →
My four-year-old grandson loves ramen. His first exposures to it were the dried, packaged quick-cooking kinds that come from Japan by way of the U.S., specifically, Sapporo Ichiban (original flavor) and Myojo Chukazanmai (miso flavor). Our care packages to Christchurch usually include these, and we were sure to bring a good supply with us on... Continue Reading →
We arrived at LAX just before the noon hour. The cacophony and immensity of the airport easily dwarf those of Sea-Tac which we left a few hours before, the warm and sunny weather in Southern California being a fair exchange for Seattle's current spate of rainstorms and relative chill. My wife's sister and her good... Continue Reading →
Whither the new ramen restaurants? Maybe we're victims of the digital age where rumors and hype of restaurant openings hit the fan so far in advance that when they finally do open, it's almost a non-event. Since last fall, Seattle rameniacs have been waiting for the opening of two high-profile restaurants—Shibumi and Jinya. We're still... Continue Reading →
zoomeboshi 