Ippudo

New York City, NY

For our last lunch in the city before our flight home on a rainy Sunday, we sought out a warm bowl of ramen. Ippudo in the East Village is perhaps the most popular ramen joint in Manhattan and we were eager to compare it to the favorites from the West Coast. The first thing you notice is that it's a very busy and popular place. We arrived at 11:30 on a Sunday morning, and the whole entry way was filled with patiently waiting guests although it had only opened 30 minutes earlier. But the wait didn't up being terribly long, about 25 minutes to experience the heavily hyped ramen. 

Communal tables

The interior is more like a night club, providing a good mix of music, mood lighting, and lounge like booths for groups. The non-booth seating area features bar seating and large communal tables. The decor is hip and lively, and servers all wearing black "I LOVE RAMEN" tees. We started off with the menu, which is surprisingly large with appetizers drinks, and of course ramen options. We continued to go along with the bun hype and ordered Hirata buns as an appetizer, similar to the Momofuku buns from the night before. 

Hirata Buns ($8)

The actual flavor the pork was tastier here, providing a little spiciness, but the delicateness and fattiness of the pork was better at Momofuku. I also didn't care for the iceburg lettuce in Ippudo's bun.

 Peppered chicken wings ($7)

We also ordered the black pepper chicken wings to start, a costly $7 for three wings. The flavor of the sauce was good, a combination of sweet and peppery. 

Akamaru Modern ($13)

We ordered their most popular ramen, Akamaru modern, Ippudo's interpretation of classic ramen. It's described as 'the original tonkotsu' soup noodle with Ippudo's special sauce, pork belly chashu, cabbage, kikurage, scallions, miso paste & fragrant garlic oil. We were instructed to mix in the miso paste before enjoying the soup. It was definitely not the classic broth but very enjoyable, unlike any ramen flavor I've had before. I worry about the modern twists on the classics, but this one worked well. The one thing that bothered me was the single, thin piece of pork floating lonely in the bowl. The ramen was already pricey at $13, but to skimp to that degree was a little annoying.

Shiromaru Hakata Classic

Chu-Toro went with the more classic flavor of ramen, Shiromaru Hakata, which actually was not classic that at all. 'The original tonkotsu' soup noodle with pork loin chashu, kikurage, menma, 1/2 boiled egg, red pickled ginger, sesame & scallions, actually had a modern interpretation flavor profile as well. It was tasty also, but we both agree that we prefer offerings at Santouka and Daikokuya for a classic, rich pork broth approach. 

Kae-dama 

One thing I did really enjoy at Ippudo is the concept of Kae-dama,  an extra serving of noodles. Good thing order extra noodles since it ended up being only meal we had that day since our flight got delayed on the way home. But we sat in the plane with full bellies after a good showing at Ippudo. 

Rating 7/10

March 6, 2011