Posted by Robyn Lee, July 29, 2008 at 12:30 PM
"I don't taste much garlic in this," said Amy. I stared at my friend in disbelief as we dug into our bowls of ramen at Minca. She said...what? The pork-based broth of our basic ramens was completely saturated with garlic, maybe so much that my friend's taste buds had been shocked out of its ability to taste garlic. But I could taste it fine. And it was delicious.
Minca is my favorite ramen shop. That doesn't necessarily mean it's the best, but it caters to my desire for a gut busting mass of springy noodles bathed in a thick, salty broth. Thick like, 'I think this would solidify into a giant blob if I refrigerated it." The noodles are accompanied by bamboo shoots, black mushrooms, half of a hard boiled egg, a square of nori, chopped scallions, and the best part—slices of fatty pork that melt in your mouth like butter. I can finish off a whole bowl, despite the fact that it's probably larger than the average human stomach. Then again maybe my stomach is larger than average.
Minca
536 East 5th Street, New York NY 10009 (b/n Avenue A and Avenue B; map)
212-505-8001
Posted by Ed Levine, April 8, 2008 at 8:30 AM
Ippudo's Karaka-men, from Cocktailian on Flickr
For some serious eaters both here and especially in Japan, ramen noodles are a religion. They worship at the altar of firm noodles made in-house, intensely flavorful broth, and the porkiest of pork slices. I, on the other hand, am a ramen noodle agnostic. At least until now. Until this weekend, my favorite ramen noodles in New York have been the mighty tasty made-in-Chinatown noodles served with tender, delicious pork and wonderful broth at Momofuku. Ramen purists have scoffed at Momofuku's noodle preparations because the restaurant's chef-owner, David Chang, did not train as a legitimate ramen chef (though he did work briefly in a ramen shop in Tokyo).
Because I know it's not politically or culinarily correct to anoint ramen noodles not made in the restaurant they're served in, I decided to go ramen-hunting this weekend. What I found was surprising and delightful. I finally found ramen noodles made in-house served with killer broth and fantastically porky pork. In other words, I found ramen noodles worthy of worship and worth waiting for.
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