Everything about food, from matching food and wine to recipes, techniques and trends.

Ramen Time!

Moderators: Jenise, Robin Garr, David M. Bueker

no avatar
User

Noel Ermitano

Rank

Wine guru

Posts

850

Joined

Mon Sep 10, 2007 2:28 am

Ramen Time!

by Noel Ermitano » Fri Nov 30, 2012 6:51 am

This past Tuesday, the 27th November 2012, through Elbert's kind invitation, Catha & I and some friends were fortunate to have had a sneak peek at the soon-so-fully-open Yushoken Ramen at the Molito Mall, Alabang. In our group, we were eight in all: Sanju & Cutie Gopaldas, Matt & Chinkee Koppe, Cyrene de la Rosa, Alex "El Demonio" Tiu, and Catha & I.

Image
Yushoken partners Elbert Cuenca & Ryan Cruz.

Image

The partners seem to have left no stone unturned, from the typically Japanese highly specialized, compact ramen house menu (in collaboration with and under the guidance of Koji Tashiro, a disciple of the revered ramen master Yamagishi Kazuo), to strictly no-shortcut pork leg bone-based broth, among many other details.

Image
The staff busy at work.

Image
Recommendations by Elbert & Ryan.

Image

Aside from the ramen on offer, the menu includes typical ramen house side dishes such as the immediately above depicted Aji Tamago, a halfway-boiled egg marinated in a soy-based sauce. Per Elbert, ramen houses in Japan usually serve these already sliced, but he decided to allow his diners the pleasure of slicing for themselves.

Image
Sanju slices.

Image
Sheer perfection.

Image

The ubiquitous Gyoza is also on offer, but this is, to my mind, clearly a cut above the rest. I do not really eat gyoza, but this one I liked (and had quite a few of). The dough is gracefully thinner than usual and has a nice crispness to it without at all being "makunat". The pork stuffing is surprisingly light-footed and well - but discreetly - seasoned. Very nice indeed.

Image
Miso Ramen

The Miso Ramen is more deeply flavored and complex than the run-of-the-mill locally available, yet, again, the distinctive traits are subtle and, I'd even say thought-provoking. The differences don't hit you like a ton of bricks (as that would be vulgar); rather, they emerge gently, surfacing more with each spoonful of goodness, with each chopstick-aided bite of the al dente noodles - and well they should. In this seemingly simple sounding and looking dish, no less than 7 different kinds of miso are used to achieve the desired balance of flavors.

Image
Shoyu Tonkotsu Ramen

The Shoyu Tonkotsu Ramen was one of my most favored of the night - the pork bone broth so deeply flavored but without being overwhelmingly or ponderously fatty. Truth to tell, the tasty viscosity is borne of the pork bones' gelatin rather than fat. The pork slab is tender and moist with good searing, lending a subtle smokiness to the luscious broth. All the flavor with less of the guilt. Lovely stuff.

Image

In the meantime, Alex had arrived, naturally bearing bottles of alcohol - this time of Kiuchi Brewery Junmaishu Saké, a solid, reliable, very accessible and all-too-easily drinkable basic saké (55%-60% polished-down rice) - one of several by Kiuchi Brewery distributed by our drinking buddy, Jim Araneta, through his Global Beer Exchange.

Needless to state, with Alex's arrival began the first of countless "iki" (i.e., a Japanese imperative, when used in drinking, roughly meaning "bottoms up") toasts of the night. Elbert, having before witnessed both the speed, sheer volume, and alarming frequency of Alex's and Sanju's combined iki activities, wisely had his staff hide his bottles of Hibiki.

Image
Tan-Tan Men

The Tan-Tan Men's broth's nutty sesame paste flavors are much more graceful and not as overwhelmingly oily or heavy as that of Ukkokei Ramen Ron. I mentioned to Cyrene that I liked this one much better than even 1 Michelin starred Din Tai Fung's in Hong Kong.

Image

With Sanju, Cyrene, and I at the same table, I was a bit concerned about Cutie having to wait for photos to be taken before digging in. She assured me that, having been married to Sanju for well over a decade, she is already quite used to the blogsters' drill.

Image
Hiyashi Chuka

The Hiyashi Chuka is a cold ramen that happens to be Catha's favorite ramen of all. I favor it as well, especially during summer - a bowl of hiyashi having saved my life once in the midst of a gruelingly hot day on the Riviera's Bernhard Langer course many years ago.

Image
We were getting stuffed and had to stretch our legs every so often.

Image
Gyokai Tsukumen

We also sampled two of the tsukumen (i.e., dipping ramen), one of which was the Gyokai Tsukumen. This was another of my favorites of the night, the fish based broth so rich and deeply savory. There were also small, tender chunks of enriching beef within. I'll surely have this, among others, again when I return with my sons. I'm sure they'll love this as well.

Image
Kiuchi Brewery Hitachino Nest White Ale

Naturally, this being a Japanese meal, Sanju & I simply had to bring along bottles of our favorite Japanese white ale. We quickly and easily polished off our 12 bottles of these. Happily, this best seller of a Japanese ale shall also soon be available at Yushoken Ramen.

Image
Smile! Say "Iki"!

Image
Thanks again and congratulations to Elbert and Ryan! Kampai! Iki! Until the next!
no avatar
User

Mike Filigenzi

Rank

Known for his fashionable hair

Posts

8187

Joined

Mon Mar 20, 2006 4:43 pm

Location

Sacramento, CA

Re: Ramen Time!

by Mike Filigenzi » Fri Nov 30, 2012 5:05 pm

As always, beautiful shots of some very good-looking food, Noel.

I love good ramen.
"People who love to eat are always the best people"

- Julia Child
no avatar
User

Jenise

Rank

FLDG Dishwasher

Posts

42547

Joined

Tue Mar 21, 2006 2:45 pm

Location

The Pacific Northest Westest

Re: Ramen Time!

by Jenise » Fri Nov 30, 2012 10:47 pm

Wow. Tell us about ramen house tradition--looks like your table shared all the dishes. Is that normally the case with ramen dining? Though I happily share all dishes in Chinese or Thai dining, and luxuriate in so doing, in noodle restos of which I've not been in that many, we've always ordered separately. Thought that was just the way it was done.
My wine shopping and I have never had a problem. Just a perpetual race between the bankruptcy court and Hell.--Rogov
no avatar
User

Noel Ermitano

Rank

Wine guru

Posts

850

Joined

Mon Sep 10, 2007 2:28 am

Re: Ramen Time!

by Noel Ermitano » Sat Dec 01, 2012 3:57 am

Mike Filigenzi wrote:As always, beautiful shots of some very good-looking food, Noel.

I love good ramen.

Thanks, Mike!

Jenise wrote:Wow. Tell us about ramen house tradition--looks like your table shared all the dishes. Is that normally the case with ramen dining? Though I happily share all dishes in Chinese or Thai dining, and luxuriate in so doing, in noodle restos of which I've not been in that many, we've always ordered separately. Thought that was just the way it was done.

No, ramen is not really for sharing, as I know it.

The reason was the subject restaurant is not yet open to the public (but it will be in a week). The owners just invited us to try the dishes out, and the owners insisted that everything would be free of charge. So that we could try everything and not abuse the hospitality, we opted to share dishes so we wouldn't order too much of everything.

Best to you both,

N
no avatar
User

Lou Kessler

Rank

Doesn't buy green bananas

Posts

3517

Joined

Fri Mar 24, 2006 3:20 pm

Re: Ramen Time!

by Lou Kessler » Sat Dec 01, 2012 9:33 pm

Those delicious looking dishes I gather are only available If we go back to Hong Kong? Ramen of really good quality is not to be had here in Napa. We were in NY in October and had some good Ramen at Momofuko's noodle bar in lower Manhattan. Great pictures, thanks.

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 3 guests

Powered by phpBB ® | phpBB3 Style by KomiDesign