After months of waiting and two failed attempts to eat at the newest Asian-cuisine addition to Pittsburgh, we finally scored our bowls of noodles last night!
I ordered a miso-base ramen that had one large chunk of stewed (chashu) pork and a bunch of bean sprouts. I also added a soft-center egg. It was great. The noodles were chewy and plentiful, the egg yolk was wonderfully unctuous, the meat was tender and very generously sized, and there was plenty of soup to slurp.
Michael opted for a soy sauce based soup with wontons. He had five wontons, a decently sized piece of tender white meat pork, and plenty of slightly pickled bamboo shoots. He enjoyed it and gives it 3.5 truffles out of 5 truffles.
So would we go back and recommend it to others? I would say yes and yes, but with an asterisk. We wouldn't necessarily frequent it very often as a random weekend dinner, as it is indeed a bit pricey ($9-10) for an-only-slightly-better bowl of noodle soup than we could make at home with frozen ramen kits from the Japanese grocery store (~$4, serves 2).
But it would be a fun experience with friends, good amount of food for the price, and they have some wild crazy ramen choices that you can't get from the grocery store (e.g. kimchi ramen, curry ramen). Unlike many Yelp reviewers, I think the amount of meat they give you is really quite tasty and generous (obviously those reviewers haven't eaten at noodle establishments in Asia where they only give you a few super thin slices of meat per bowl of noodles). And it really isn't that much more expensive in price than noodle bowls at other Asian restaurants, like Vietnamese pho.
Next time, curry ramen!
Fun ramen times predicted for the Spring!!! Curry ramen sounds pretty promising! It sounds like you guys had a lot of meet (and wontons) in your respective ramen... those scornful yelpers sound crazy. But them people can get all sniffy about ramen: I trust your judgement more.
ReplyDeleteAnd $9-10 is about on par with most of the pho I've had, depending on what kind you get.