Rating: 4 paws out of 5
Spent:.$25 per person
Chain: No
Date Friendly: Yes
Note: Everybody always say hello.

65 4th Ave
New York, NY 10003
(212) 388-0088
http://www.ippudony.com

On a food adventure throughout the city with a Japanese ferret, she suggested that we stop by here at her favorite ramen place in the city.  Oh you know how this guy can get, get an idea in the head, it not coming out.  This hungry ferret needed ramen and fast.  Hopefully it be better than the ones from the old college dorm days, and not burn the place down getting it.

The bar area has a nice cool interior.  They have various ramen bowls on the walls to decorate the place.

The dining area is also very trendy.  There are plenty of modern art looking items around.

The walls by our booth also has some fancy Japanese writing that is highlighted by the light within the restaurant.  Nice touch here.

The menu was easy to read.  They have description for every dish and list all the ingredients.  It shouldn’t be intimidating for anybody to decide what to order.

There usually a slight wait since this place is usually busy.  Azumaichi Junmai Sake was there to entertain this ferret.  This sake was served cold and have a pure taste.  The flavors of the sake can probably be described as smooth and having a slight dry after taste.  It is served in a modern shot glass but at the same time within a traditional sake box.  Paws up for this one.  Note also at the bar, the dry ramen under glass as a decoration.

Hirata Buns are steamed bread buns filled with a juicy fatty pork, lettuce and a sauce.  These buns are excellent here and have slight spicy kick to them.  I recommend getting these as an appetizer.

Akamaru Modern is a tonkotsu soup with pork belly, cabbage, mushroom, scallions, miso paste, and garlic oil.  The ramen in this dish was excellent.  They had the right balance between texture, taste and length.  The soup had a strong pork flavor and went very well with all the ingredients in the bowl.  This dish was very satisfying.

Miso Ramen is a bit different, it contained Soy bean paste flavored ramen noodles in tonkotsu soup with pork belly chashu, cabbage, spinach, manma, ginger & scallions.  The ramen noodles in this dish was also excellent.  The flavor of the soup is much more milder and not as strong as the tonkotsu one, it not as salty.  But still excellent also, this would be a second choice.

Note also for all the Ramen dishes, you can get a Kae-dama order for additional $2.  Which is extra noodle on a plate to add back into your ramen dish.  This is worth the extra two dollars since ramen here cost $13 per bowl.  As long as you have a decent amount of broth left it be a good option, most likely people can finish another order of noodles.

Related articles

• Roaming for Ramen (dinersjournal.blogs.nytimes.com)
• $25 and Under: Totto Ramen and Hide-Chan Ramen (nytimes.com)
• The Feed first look: Totto Ramen (timeoutny.com)
• Start Slurping: It’s National Noodle Day (laist.com)
• The surprising pedigree of Ramen Kuidouraku (timeoutny.com)
• Just in time for the cold, Ramen Setagaya adds new flavors (timeoutny.com)

Rating: 2.5 paws out of 5
Spent: $10 per person
Chain: Yes
Date Friendly: Quick Hangout
Note: They call out the numbers in the front with a bullhorn.  Might be annoying to sit in the front of the counter in the food court.
Queens Crossing Mall
38-10 138th St, 1st Fl
Flushing, NY 11354
(212) 267-9680
www.ajisenusa.com

While roaming the street of Flushing.  This hungry ferret was attracted to the shiny lights of a new building called the Queens Crossing Mall.  Within this mall there was a interesting shop in the food court serving some Japanese Ramen.  Since it from Japan, lets give it a shot, hopefully, I won’t pay dearly for this import.

Pork Dumplings were well cooked and pre soy sauced on the plate.  There wasn’t really anything special about them.  I suspect they are of the frozen kind.

Tenderous Rib Ramen was interesting.  In the sense that the broth was very white.  There is a slight layer of oil in the broth also.  I needed to add a couple of shakes of the seasoning jar to enjoy the taste of the broth.  The noodle was firm, I generally prefer a softer fresher tasting noodle, but it wasn’t bad.  There portions are majority noodle / broth and smaller portion of vegetable / meat.  This is typical of Japanese ramen dishes so don’t be surprised.  The rib was fatty and tasted good, but there was just two pieces and 1/2 an egg.

Beef SukiYaki Ramen had the same noodle, broth and vegetables as the Tenderous Rib Ramen.  It is basically a cookie cutter menu for all the ramens.  The only difference are the meat and combinations of meat.  The meat was cooked well and had a nice flavor.

Overall, the meal was not bad but I would call this the “golden arches” of the ramen world.  For a quick lunch bite, this can be a way to go.

Pork Dumplings

Tenderous Rib Ramen

Beef SukiYaki Ramen

Inside Sign

Another Sign

View of the kitchen

Rating: 3 1/2 paws out of 5
Spent: $15 per person
Chain: Yes
Date Friendly: Yes
Note: Cash Only
137-80 Northern Blvd
Flushing, NY 11354
(718) 359-2324

The Japanese are well known for noodle houses. Here you can see your dish being crafted through the window. The subtle flavors from the noodles and broth mixing in a bowl of goodness can bring a warm feeling inside. Did Udon West bring the mastery of the Japanese Noodle house to the US? Grab your beer and you can meet the Hungry Ferret at this noodle house to dive deep in noodles and curies from the east.

The Shrimp tempura with a light soy sauce was one of the appetizers first to make an appearance. The tempura did not have a heavy crust, which was good. Often many places have them with a goo between the shrimp and crust. This was not the case, very crisp and crunchy.

The next appetizer the Potato Croque with Tonkatsu Sauce (a thick Worcestershire sauce) had a very nice crispy outside and mash potato inside. It was not greasy and the outside was crisp. They delicately fried it to make sure that the outer layer did not break during the frying process leaving the inside nice and moist.

Next up was the Pork Tonkatsu with Japanese curry. The pork chop was crispy on the outside with a nice tasty crust. The inside was also very tender and moist. Often this meat, the inside would be overly fatty or overcooked and dry. The curry had the taste of a traditional Japanese curry, slight hot and strong “curry” flavors.

Nabeyaki the udon dish, consisted of an poached egg, 2 shrimp tempura pieces, fish cake, pork meat and other various vegetables. This dish comes in a special mini metal pot and a wooden spoon. The noodles were tender and tasty, had a very good texture. The broth was very flavorful and not too salty. The only complaint is maybe the shrimp tempura should come on the side. Having the tempura sitting in the broth for a couple secs pretty much destroyed the crispy exterior.

Shrimp tempura

Potato Croque with Tonkatsu Sauce

Pork Tonkatsu with Japanese curry

Nabeyaki

Sapporo Beer