ramblings of a Seattle travel, food and photography hound
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 →
At the spur of the moment, my daughter asked if we wanted to go out and have ramen for lunch. Sounded like a good idea. Since she'd never been to Ramen Fujisan, that's where five of us headed. Located along Valley Blvd in San Gabriel where there are more strip malls than you can shake... Continue Reading →
It's been a particularly curious phenomenon that the Seattle area, claiming as much connection to Japan as any other major U.S. city, has had a mediocre track record as far as having great ramen restaurants. As any ramen fanatic can tell you, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Vancouver, B.C., are several steps ahead of Seattle... Continue Reading →
When I started looking for a place to have dinner after a movie, my friend KirkJ suggested Setsuna Japanese Restaurant & Bar in the Northgate area of Seattle. As a restaurant to have ramen, Setsuna fell under my radar as it is not explicitly a ramenya. If I'd read the Yelp reviews carefully, I would have been duly... Continue Reading →
"Thick noodles or thin?" "Heavy, medium or thin broth?" "Lean pork or pork belly?" "Firm, medium or soft noodles?" "How much oil do you want?" (more on this below) These are the battery of questions you get asked by the wait staff when you order ramen at Ramen Fujisan in San Gabriel. On top of... Continue Reading →
The biggest Asian restaurant opening to hit the Eastside since Din Tai Fung has been that of Kukai Ramen & Izakaya. Kukai is a highly successful ramen chain in Japan. The Bellevue branch is the first in the States. No sooner had Kukai opened its doors than the lines started forming. For weeks, you could... Continue Reading →
We were really eager for lunch after the forgettable breakfast on our flight from Auckland. Only a few blocks from our friend's condo where we were staying, we headed straight for Ramen Nakamura on Kalakaua for their specialty, ox-tail ramen. While my usual choice for ramen broth is miso, Nakamura offering it (as well as... Continue Reading →
This was interesting. A Chinese restaurant that serves ramen and large signs in Japanese clearly in view behind the expansive storefront windows. A good friend of ours recommended this place for ramen. Located in the International District, Fu Lin has a special ramen menu, among which are included variations of shoyu, miso and tonkotsu ramen. Marketing ploy?... Continue Reading →
While I was getting my Hawaiian meal at Island Grill (see below), my wife was ordering tonkotsu ramen from Ai Sushi, also located in the Crossroads Mall food court. Let me first start off by saying that I'm always wary when a restaurant that does not specialize in it offers tonkotsu, a ramen that requires... Continue Reading →
Before the crush of food preparation for osechi ryori, five of us headed over to Ton-Chan for lunch. A previous review of it is here. Instead of the usual Sapporo miso tonkotsu ramen that others ordered, I went for one appropriately called The Bomb, basically a miso tonkotsu ramen with spicy ground pork. As noted before,... Continue Reading →
zoomeboshi 