Ramen Smackdown: NYC Edition - Ramen-Ya, Momofuku Noodle Bar, Ippudo

RETURN? (or in this case, WINNER?) Ramen Ya, by a long shot. Special mention to Ippudo for best pork buns though!


Yeah so I moved to NYC and neglected to tell 90% of the people I know. That's fine.

Anyways,  I've been lucky enough to have a chance to sample some of this city's finest ramen houses... and also Ramen-Ya, which, oddly enough, turned out to be the delicious winner of this fiercest of competition. But of course, I would go to any of these places again in a heart beat.

Now, for the assessment:

AMBIANCE: All three restaurants are winners here. Although, I do have a personal preference towards Ramen-Ya, with its dark/light colour juxtaposition, was small and serene. I actually felt like I was in Japan, and I left my petty troubles at the door.

By contrast, both Ippudo and Momofuku were definitely more bustling in atmosphere, which Momofuku being a regular-sized oblong-shaped restaurant, and Ippudo being a venerable giant among restaurant sizes in the city.

Having sat at the bar at all three establishments, I can say the following: Ramen Ya's cooking style is still a secret to me (because it was done in the kitchen area behind a beaded curtain), Ippudo's is chaotic, with lots of yelling, screaming, and not-so-secret drinking among chefs, and Momofuku's is calm, organized, and full of multi-tasking. All cool, all amazing, but I'd have to say that Ippudo most accurately depicts my style of organization... unfortunately.

SERVICE: The service at all these places were good. Everything was pretty much on time. Nothing to report here. Moving right along...

DELICIOUSNESS: Let's get one thing straight here. All three are stars. Still, we'll go into details here:

Ramen-Ya: I ordered the Shoyu Tonkatsu. Ramen-Ya's chewy noodles were the lightest of the bunch, and thus my favorite. The broth had this fragrant, light, sweet, milky-silky quality to it that I've never had with any other ramen. Eating it was a sensory explosion. As well, the pork was soft, sweet, I'd even have to say it was also silky. There was just something about this place. I also had the steamed dumplings, which were your typical "good" dumplings (i.e. better than so-so, but not amazing.) This places just rocks.

Ramen-Ya's Shoyu Tonkatsu. Yum yum yum! Plus, love the spoon!

Ippudo: Two words. Pork buns. These things were positively DE-LEC-TA-BLE. Sweet, sour, saucy, melt-in-your-mouth, pillowy bun. Wowee. But apart from what I think was a squeeze of spicy mayo and a boring piece of iceberg lettuce, there was nothing else to crisp up the dish. Anyways, their ramen was pretty good too, but the broth was much oilier and heavier, and coated my mouth with every slurp. It was full of umami, which was great, but it lacked the ethereal quality of Ramen-Ya. As well, I found the noodles just a tad bit crumbly. I wasn't really able to chew them thoroughly. Now, it would be wrong of me to mislead you and tell you that I got a particular bowl of ramen, when in reality I got another one. The problem is that I forget which one I got. So before this gets awkward, let's move on to Momo's, thaaaanks!

Ippudo's porkalicious buns

Momofuku: Okay so this place's pork buns are pretty tasty, and I really enjoyed the addition of the sweet pickled cucumbers and chives, but bless its heart, that's an ugly pork bun. Seriously, it looks like someone dropped a log of tofu in dirt, then sliced it up. The bun has a face only a mother could love. Just for the appearance alone, I gave it 3 demerit points. Maybe it was more delicious, I don't know -- frankly, I don't want to know. In my mind, it tasted worse because it looked worse. I ordered the Momofuku Ramen, which was great - pork two different ways, nice chewy noodles, broth was lighter than Ippudo plus with a refreshing citrus note combined with a smoky one. I'd have to say this was my second favorite restaurant.

Momofuku pork buns. Look at that "appetizing" pork.                               Momofuku Ramen                         

In conclusion: Ramen-Ya? More like Ramen-YEAH!!!!

ADDRESSES:

Ramen-Ya: 181 W 4th St., New York, NY 10014
Ippudo: 65 4th Ave., New York, NY 10003
Momofuku Noodle Bar: 171 1st Ave., New York, NY 10003