Noodle Museum makes mascot shovel snow :)

LOL

[Link to original story HERE]

Double Dragon on Division does Coconut Curry Ramen!

So aside from cheap brews, delicious Banh Mi sandwiches and some on fire Karaoke, Double Dragon on 1235 SE Division has a really good bowl of Coconut Curry Ramen!



The creaminess of this bowl is really unbelievable. As it drops, light spring-onion and cilantro notes linger around a thick curry broth, laced with the uplifting essence of coconut. Upon tasting, the warmth of curry is balanced extremely well with the cool, balmy coconut and as the bowl mixes, the nicely crisped chashu adds a savory pork element that I found really delightful. One thing about this bowl, that is hard to find in a lot of heavier curry broths, is the drinkability of the broth. I found myself really taking time away from my toppings and noodles to sip. It was a nice break from the many salty shoyu broths I have been eating in the past few weeks.



Noticing I was running out of broth (my own fault), I decided to focus more on the noodles and toppings. The noodles here are a good amount of wheatiness and soak up the flavor of the bowl without becoming one giant thick noodle. This is the risk of a thicker broth, clumping the noodles together into a slurpy, vortex tube. A good example of this is Boxer Ramen, who suffers from this a bit with their curry. On the contrary, Double Dragon's noodles remain individually edible and offer a consistent chewiness that doesn't expire. In place of decorative nori, sprigs of coriander lay over a medium boiled egg and some of the better pork belly I have had in the city. Both are dusted with a light, salty blend of spices which add to the mouth watering quality of this bowl. Some sliced snap pea shoots lay at the bottom of the bowl, offering me a palette cleansing freshness at the end of my meal. So good.

I rarely give all positive ratings but I really must say that DD's Coconut Curry Ramen really impressed me. The only problem I have with this bowl of ramen is that there wasn't MORE.
Of the curry bowls I have had in Portland, Double Dragon's is my favorite and I wasn't the only one who thought so... As I look around the restaurant, it seems that every other table is enjoying a bowl! I think ONE person of 20 was just having a beer. That's ramen progress, folks.

Rating
Broth: 10/10

Noodles: 9/10
Meat: 9/10
(two pieces would be a 10/10)
Veggies: 8/10

So the Ramen Taco happened this week...

The ramen taco is born!
However...It may be something akin to Rosemary's baby.

Check out The Vulgar Chef website for more info :P

DIY Shoyu Ramen!

Unnecessary pressure in perfection can lead a lot of people away from making great ramen at home. Naruto, Nori, the broth making process, finding the premium noodles... It can all be a lot to accomplish on your first attempt and it's not uncommon to feel like you're (like our friend Goemon above) boiling in the process! That's why, for ramen at home, I suggest people make a solid Shoyu broth as their first pot. It can be from scratch or you can buy premium starter broths (fish/chicken/beef/pork) from a local market. Personally, I like to make a quick broth from scratch in a crock pot for slowwww cooking, but it's not for everyone.



The Paupered Chef, on of my favorite foodie blogs, put out an easy, delicious-looking recipe for Shoyu ramen! Check it out below and start up your own!

[The Paupered Chef Shoyu Ramen Recipe!]

Boke Bowl revisited! Seafood Miso and Pork Ramen stand up to King Duck.

When it comes to great ramen, Boke Bowl has it down to a science. Touting house-made noodles, rich yet sippable broths, and an array of super scrumptious add-ons, Boke is a true gem amongst the Portland ramen scene. My most recent visit was with some Portland ramen newbies, who didn't know Boke even existed. I was ultra excited to mix-and-match items with these New York noodle connoisseurs and give them a taste of PDX.

In my last post on Boke, I noted how cool it was to see the noodle-making process in action. Given their open kitchen style, it was no surprise to me that they would offer a bit of transparency regarding their methods of putting together such delicious bowls. No canned/packaged stuff here. The dough table is almost a performance piece at Boke Bowl and nearly everyone in the small restaurant seems captivated by the simple, somewhat theatrical, age-old process of making slurpable bread for every one's enjoyment. The experience hearkens back to turn of the century candy shops, delighting anyone who takes a breath between bites. A difficult feat, given Boke's absolutely stunning quality ramen. 

                           

Our guests order the duck ramen (reviewed here) and the pork ramen. I decide to add a touch of USA to my bowl and order the pork ramen with egg, and fried chicken to top it all off. My partner in crime orders the seafood miso with a side of fried oysters. We begin the meal with our favorite steamed buns; the brisket, porkbelly, and chickenx2. It's turning out to be a packed table. Within 10 minutes, our hot, steaming bowls are coming out. Without missing a beat, we all begin comparing presentation and aroma of everything to New York spots we have been to in the past. Names like Momofuku, Rai Rai Ken, and Totto are dropped. The intense urge to dig in is defeated momentarily as we gaze into the beautiful round frame of art before us...
 I place my side of chicken on top of the buoyant bed of floating noodles and like the "slurp heard round the world", everyone is flung into action!

The pork ramen, which I matched with fried chicken is something of a "down home" type of bowl. Shredded pork, not chashu or shoulder, peaks out like an island in a reddish brown sea of shoyu broth. Personally I would have preferred cuts of pork, in a more traditional manner but the creative element it brought to my bowl was worth while. Also, I expected a tonkotsu broth, but that was my own misunderstanding. As I slurp my noodles, I notice the fried chicken releasing an oily gloss into the soup. I slurp closer to the chicken and the rich taste of buttermilk and peppercorn light up my senses. Taking the morsel out of the bowl, I crunch into a still crispy piece of fried chicken. The batter held up! Overall smokiness amidst the thinner soy broth was something of a treat. Usually, in American cuisine, smoke means HEAVY. The pork ramen breaks out of that mold and offers a light, yet hearty smoke profile that doesn't overwhelm.

Next on my must-try list was the seafood miso, topped with fried oyster. The bits of white fish and whole prawns which swim around this milky broth create such anticipation, it almost felt like I was actually fishing. Some hide near the bottom, some of it is blatant and immediately accessible. The miso is a clever broth, most likely a red, and tastes like it made with a light fish stock, maintaining saltiness over fishyness. I could have used a biiiiit more actual fish in this bowl to balance it out. Adding the fried oysters was an interesting mix of texture which my guests seemed to enjoy both in and out of the soup. The crunch did not yield as well as the chicken did, but they didn't stick around in the broth for long anyway. Overall it was a good bowl of ramen, but I was left wanting a little more.

So, another good night eating at Boke. With two more bowls under the belt, I can conclusively say that I haven't had a bad experience here yet. The mixture of creative extras is something that has become somewhat of a hallmark for Boke Bowl. Their willingness to think outside the box while maintaining traditional staples in quality is something that is hard to find in ramen anywhere. The passion surrounding their love for ramen is obvious and anytime I get to do a review of their soup, I invite as many friends as I can :)

Cheers to Boke!

Rating
Pork Ramen
Broth: 8/10

Noodles: 10/10
Meat: 7/10

Veggies: 5/10

Seafood Miso
Broth: 8/10
Noodles: 10/10
Meat: 9/10
Veggies: 5/10

Upcoming reviews and places to go...

It seems like there a million places a week I have to check out based on reading info online or people emailing me about certain noodle shops in town. Some upcoming Ramen and Pho reviews (some visited, some not) are:

Double Dragon for their new Ramen bowl
1235 SE Division

Mirakutei for the 5th time (bringing cam)
536 E Burnside
Oregon Pho
82nd Ave
Pho VanSandy Blvd
Teriyaki Town (Yes, believe it or not they have Ramen... Can't wait)
Sandy, Hollywood Dist
Yoko's for their acclaimed Ramen broth!
2878 SE Gladstone

Slurp steady, readers.

When it comes to Hama on Sandy, stick to what's from the shore...

Ah, the old hole in the wall sushi bar. Hama has been a curiosity of mine since I moved into the Hollywood district and recently, I found out that they have a pretty extensive noodle menu. The red imperial lamps in the window, the railroad style interior, a sushi bar that takes up half of the restaurant---this could turn out to be a pretty sweet little ramen spot! Walking in, there are a few people seated with various dishes in front of them so they must be doing SOMETHING right... Here goes nothing.

I check the menu, the only thing that concerns me is that the word "Flavor" in front of terms like "pork bone", "soy", and "miso". This may indicate a spice packet, synthetic flavoring, or even MSG laced stock. I hack it up to a simple translation error and salivate at the surprisingly numerous choices which lay before me. When my waiter comes over, I ask him if they make their noodles fresh and he doesn't seem to understand what I am talking about. After some discussion with the chef in the back, he comes back to the bar and barks out, "Frozen." to which I am not particularly offended by. Frozen just means they were fresh at one time, right? I go with the Tonkotsu Pork Ramen for $7.95 and a side of sushi for $8.50.

So about 15-20 minutes go by and I have cleared my sushi and some edamame, which were of okay quality. Nothing off the charts. I see a large, steaming bowl leave the kitchen and I just about jump out of my seat to grab it. As it is set down before me I smell the faint aromatics of cooked pork and a sweet smell that must be coming from the yellow corn sprinkled over the soup. I notice immediately that the pork was boiled in the broth, and that the egg is hard boiled. Interesting. Enoki mushrooms and a cabbage-like leafy green top the cloudy, "pork bone flavor soup base"; something that lures me in, as I haven't seen Enoki on ramen in Portland yet. So far, I am rooting for this ramen to be an okay bowl but as I bite into my slice of chashu, I begin to wander down the solemn road of disappointment.



So to preface the utter anticlimax of this ramen, I will say that I (again) realize that this is a sushi bar, not a noodle bar. My purpose isn't to shame restaurants who don't primarily serve ramen by spotlighting their sub-par noodle menus. However, like I said in my harsh critique of Hana Japanese Bistro, if you are going to have noodles on your menu, DO THEM JUSTICE! A half-assed menu item is a half-assed menu item; it just so happens that I hope to illuminate every single bowl of ramen menu items in Portland. No one deserves a crappy bowl of soup, period.

So aside from the chashu being immediately recognized as boiled, the broth that everything in this bowl was boiled in (huge mistake off the bat) is pretty bland. I tasted mild notes of pork, but mostly water and (oddly) cabbage. Both the Enoki mushrooms and the leafy green are really chewy, a result of hard-boiling everything in one pot. As I dig into the cloudy "tonkotsu flavor" to find noodles, I see they too have been potentially boiled in the broth. Bummer. As I bring the noodles to my mouth, I am praying for them to save this bowl but they only drive the last nail into it's coffin. These noodles are so mushy and off-consistency that I could only take three forced bites before feeling nauseated. The texture was like European wheat pasta, overcooked and then left out to dry. Very odd. It's not the worst bowl of ramen I have ever had, but it is a close runner-up.



So here we are again, NoodleTimePDX... A little Japanese nook in Portland producing a sub-par, careless ramen bowl. Wtf, right? MUST there be a hip staff and TV on the Radio playing in a joint for it to produce good ramen? Thank goodness for Mirakutei, right? It's almost as if the silly American notion that ramen belongs alongside dishes like Kraft Mac n' Cheese and freezer burgers has affected the quality of ramen in legitimate Japanese restaurants. As demand grows for our favorite noodle soup, will the quality grow in places like Hama, or will it be up to a new wave of entrepreneurs to set the noodle straight?

NoodleTimePDX will be there to find out.

Rating

Broth: 3/10
Noodles: 1/10
Veggies: 2/10
Meat: 2/10