Yataimura Maru serves up the hearty chicken noodle your grandma probably didn't make...

Ah, Maru... The east-side sister restaurant to Shigezo that serves up all your favorites from across the river and then some. This week, I took advantage of the chilly weather and made my way to the widely popular food/bev neighborhood that is SE Division to check out what kind of new fare was boiling. 

So some familiar faces on Maru's menu! The Tokyo Ramen, for one, was reviewed a few months ago (along with the Kumamoto) from Shigezo and nearly moved me to name them #1 ramen shop in Portland. Instantly I am aware that this franchise knows when it has a winner. That said, there are two interesting looking bowls ahead of the Tokyo which catch my imagination as they seem more complex than the traditional shoyu option. First being the Sapporo Shio-butter and Corn Ramen, a bowl with seafood kaeshi, corn, mushrooms, and chashu pork---second being the Chicken Paitan Ramen, a chicken broth bowl featuring smoked pork, green onions, and a medium boiled egg...

I have had corn in Ramen before at House of Ramen and though I enjoyed it a bit, I wasn't in the mood for sweet(ish) kernels, plus I am feeling a bit cold and in need of a "farm in a bowl" type of ramen tonight. I order the Chicken Paitan Ramen and a side of Karaage. 

The bowl drops and instantly I am overcome with the old homey feeling brought on by the ancient cure for everything... Chicken noodle soup. This bowl is bright yellow from the dense chicken broth, the flavorful shiodare (chicken/onion salt-stock), and the sunny eggs, bleeding gooey goodness into the topside of this dish. The smoked pork adds a woodsy, heady aroma and all together I am transported to being 6 years old, watching my dad throw together hearty ramen pots at home on a rainy night. This is the quinta essesncia of a homestyle ramen. The broth is like being wrapped in a thick, down blanket-- the noodles are thin yet incredibly sturdy, the meat and veggies add flavor without taking over your mouth. I could have used some mushroom or even spinach in this bowl, but it didn't detract from my overall experience...

For those who don't know, the Japanese term "Paitan" translates roughly to "milky" or "thick". Maru's Chicken Paitan is nothing short of either and the consistency stays present throughout the entire experience and beyond. If the Tokyo Ramen and Shigezo's Kumamoto Ramen nearly won my #1 spot award, Maru's Chicken Paitan certainly wins my Most Umami Bowl in PDX award (really doling them out these days). After finishing this bowl, I was left with an unmistakable fatty slickness that felt as if I had smeared my lips with coconut oil or lip gloss. Totally rad. Not to mention the massive, almost "country" chicken flavor which was something I frankly never expected from Japanese bowl of anything. Another way ramen can change, grow, and exceed your expectations at any time. Just when you think you know quite a bit about the formulation of a given foodie favorite...

As Socrates famously said, "The only true wisdom is knowing that you know nothing..."

This bowl reminded me why I started this blog... There is just so much to experience!

Visit them tomorrow, people.

[Check out Yayaimura Maru HERE!]

Rating
Broth: 10/10
Noodles: 10/10
Meat: 8/10
Veggies: 7/10

Some shots of Luc Lac's scrumptious "Train Bowl"...

For me, sometimes a regular bowl of Pho just won't do the job...
Many times I get a little extra this or that in my soup, but this week Luc Lac had me covered with their "Train" bowl, equipped with every kind of beef-fixin' you can imagine in one place. It was, as usual, a bowl of impeccable quality and ended up being the perfect jous dip for my coconut prawns ^_^
I ended up getting another round of noodles just so I could finish the briney bits---Also I am a noodle beast...
Thanks Luc Lac!

Best/worst of 2014, on it's way for New Years!

Coming next week!
We revise the best and worst of 2014 and compile a short "Top 5 PDX Ramen joints" for the upcoming new year! Get your taste buds ready! 

Hapa Ramen on Division makes me sorry. ...That I don't live on Division ;)

Food carts! Who in Portland doesn't like them? Seriously, who? We should find them and make them leave. Especially because on SE Division there is a precious little nook of a food cart called Hapa Ramen and from what we could tell walking by, it's very likable.

Amidst the sizzling of taco meat, the smell of waffle sandwiches, and the chatter of happy foodies finding a place to sit, there lies a black cart decorated in red kanji.  The mini-ramen bar features an array of Ramune Sodas, spices to top, and the girl behind them is bright and fun to chat with. Inside the tiny kitchen, pots of steaming broth simmer and as soon as dinner hour begins (5:00pm) the line begins to grow. This is the face of Hapa Ramen, a food cart on SE Division that has been serving up hot bowls of umami goodness since 2013. It's a cold autumn evening and I brought my appetite, so I check out the menu with plans to destroy at least two of these bowls.

My strategy going into any first tasting is to try a staple, then try the house favorite. I decide to go with the Shoyu broth ramen ($9) with an extra egg and the apparent house favorite, the tsukemen-style Shaka Bowl ($8.50) in winter form (all-together). Typically "tsukemen" is eaten in the summertime because the noodles are served separately from the broth. This allows the consumer to dip the noodles into a highly concentrated broth rather than hover over a steaming bowl. I opt for the winterized version because it is 35 degrees out and my face is craving a boiling, bone marrow steambath.

So my first bowl comes out (shoyu) and the aromatics are light soy and savory meat with a bit of fresh green onion. Inside the bowl is chashu pork (looks to be roasted), spinach, nori, marinated eggs, and narutomaki (fish cake). Diving in, I immediately recognize the world famous kansui Sun Noodles peeking out from beneath the pork. They are springy and complementary to the wholesome, healthy tasting soy broth I seem to be inhaling. The only issue I had with this bowl was the chashu pork not being seared to bring out some of that meat grizzle flavor. Without it, the bowl stands on it's own (the pork is still good though room temp) but a quick few seconds over piping hot oil and cracked pepper may have thrown this bowl into the dangerously addictive zone. I'll be back for this one none the less.

So my Shaka Bowl comes out and I am so bewildered by the intensely pleasant aroma of this bowl that I forget to take a before photo(it looks a lot like the Shoyu but with pork belly bits strewn about). As I walk back over to my table, the smell of fried rice wafts up into my nostrils and immediately my mouth is watering for a taste. As I dig in, I realize why this bowl won Portland's Summer Food Cart Festival's "Grand Champion" trophy. The thing is packed to the brim with flavor. As I furiously slurp down noodles, I am experiencing a litany of salt, pork flavor, savory onion, a bit of the sea, earthy mushroom, and that delicious bone marrow slickness which dominates my taste buds the entire time. The jewels of fat in this bowl are innumerable, looking more like one thick layer of oil sitting on the top, coating every bite I take. The shiitakes are well prepared, not mushy but the meat again misses the mark by juuuuuust a tad. I found that eating the pork belly was a bit difficult given the size of the bits. If I were to design this bowl, the pork belly would have been a little larger, maybe in strips so to provide the same flavor but with the ease of eating one or two pieces rather than fifteen to twenty. I noticed that the belly was also mostly soft fat, with a light amount of chewy fat/meat morsels. This is probably due to the dish originally being tsukemen, and the belly being a sidenote to the dipping broth. Next time, I will order some chashu in this bowl or even request that the pork be deep fried (I know, I'm gonna die of a clogged artery but chicharrón ramen sounds soooo goooood).

Hapa Ramen is a simple, enjoyable, delicious experience. With a small, bowl centered menu (Donburi also available), Hapa isn't attempting to reinvent the wheel. They stick to basic, soothing formulas which ignite the taste buds without being overly complex. As a traditional ramen spot, Hapa gets points for being the kind of place I will visit again and again because with their menu, there are no losing options. Someday, I hope to stroll by and see a "Bowl of the month" or some kind of seasonal up on their board. Maybe even a house-made noodle? Being only a year and a half old, though, I can understand the need to simply carve out a niche, then color outside the lines later on.
Thanks, Hapa!

[Visit Hapa's website here!]

Rating
Broth: 8/10
Noodles: 8/10
Meat: 5/10
Veggies: 9/10