Blogspot - Ramenz Kitchen

Local Ramen in Bayonne, France What an adventure! Jean Baptiste from Kodawari Ramen and I went to the south of France to visit his pork provider. Using local ingredients and a makeshift outdoor kitchen, we made our own ramen. Everything except the soy sauce was from the area around this beautiful vineyard. Enjoy the video. Could this be the start of something new? A ramen Tour de France? France's local terroir is incredible, and every corner of the country is a celebration of quality cooking and quality products.

Sanjo in Paris, France Let's face it, I love ramen but I will choose good non-ramen food over mediocre ramen any day. This presents a problem when I travel abroad. People expect me to crush every noteworthy bowl in town. And the town of Paris, France has a lot of noteworthy shops. Not necessarily good, just famous. The food scene in the 2nd district is especially strong. Chinese, Japanese, Thai . . . the area is littered with questionable Asian cuisine. Historically, most shops served a mismatched menu of whatever was trending at the time. It was (is) common to find a restaurant serving Chinese stir fry, Japanese salmon sushi rolls, and Thai pad thai at budget prices. I wanted to check out Sanjo for a few reasons. First of all, the origin story is kind of interesting. A Japanese fashion designer, after spending time at Paris Fashion Week, wasn't happy with the ramen scene. He wanted a simple tonkotsu ramen. Soup de porc would be the staple at Sanjo. Sure, you can't run a ra...

Slurp x 鬼金棒 My dream became a reality. Kikanbo in Copenhagen. Two days of ramen bliss for those lucky enough to score a seat.  Check out the video! The short story is that a year and a half ago I visited Copenhagen for the first time to try my friend Philip's new ramen shop. Slurp ramen was great! At the same time, I had the pleasure of dining at Noma. I learned that the Noma staff had spent almost one month in Tokyo for a popup at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel a few years prior. During their residency, the staff of 20 plus people would walk to Kikanbo for a bowl almost daily. They became obsessed. Kikanbo is pure comfort food. And though the Noma-Tokyo menu had exotic shrimp topped with local ants, some "demon ramen", as head chef René Redzepi called it, was what the staff wanted more than anything. In the back of my mind, I told myself I would bring Kikanbo to Copenhagen. Want to hear more about this project? I'll make a Patreon-only video for my supporters on Patreon...

Ivan Ramen x ラーメンとビール Europe 2018 was lit when it came to ramen. I had a three-week plan to do a popup, meet friends, and slurp my way across three or four countries. By chance, Ivan Ramen from New York was in Copenhagen at the same time that I was there. Ivan Orkin wasn't just in town to hang out, he was there to do his own collaboration event with Mikkeller Beer's Ramen to Biru . The five-day ticketed event included a bowl, a snack, and a can of their original craft beer. I was in town with Mirua-san and Yama-san, chefs from Kikanbo Ramen in Tokyo. We arrived Wednesday morning and slurped here Wednesday night. Not a bad way to start the trip. I absolutely loved the outdoor tables. Anyone who has been to Europe knows that outdoor seating is normal. In Japan, not so much. Sitting on the street with friends, drinking good beer and slurping good ramen. What could be better? The ramen was excellent, but I think my choice, the creamy toripaitan, was the standout. Part of this is b...

日本の中華そば 富田 成田空港第一ターミナル店 Tomita is one of Japan's most famous tsukemen shops. The recent Ramen Heads movie means that many people around the world know about the shop. And while the shop in Matsuda is the real deal, they recently opened a branch at Narita Airport. Convenient! Keep in mind, this is not a carbon copy clone of the original shop. Part of what makes Tomita so great is that the master, Osama Tomita, is always there making sure every detail is perfect. This is what the Japanese call a shokunin (職人) or craftsman. People will wait up to four hours at the head shop for what is arguably the number one shop in all of Japan. Tomita at the airport, on the other hand, uses an off-site industrial kitchen. The whole thing was overseen by Tomita-san, but the experience is nonetheless different. That aside, this is one amazing bowl. I've had airport ramen from Sapporo to Kyushu, and this one is legit. Thick tonkotsu gyokai soup, heavy on the dried fish flavors. Underlying umami ...

Tabelog Awards 2019 Tabelog is Japan's internet portal to the vast number of restaurants across the country. The site serves up general information, like addresses and hours, but the most popular feature of the site is the user reviews. Shops are given a ranking, with five being the highest. Shops with a ranking above four are generally considered excellent. Most of these are in the realm of fine dining. Among the over 50,000 ramen shops on the site, only five have scored above four. To put this in perspective, sushi has 90 shops with a ranking above four. For a ramen shop to be put alongside great kaiseki or French cooking is a huge honor. In 2016, Tabelog began the Tabelog Awards to honor the most revered shops. https://award.tabelog.com/en?lang=en It's the Grammys of Japanese cuisine and the 30 restaurants in the gold category are coveted by food lovers from around the world. Although no ramen shops were given gold or silver, six were awarded bronze awards. Muginae Muginae i...

人類みな麺類 I missed my train back to Tokyo for this one. Ramen over reserved seating on the bullet train any day. The line on a Sunday evening was about an hour. Normal for famous shops. 原点 (genten), micro, and macro. All are 800 yen. The genten is their original recipe, shoyu a little on the sweet side made with dried bonito fish. Micro is a straight soy version. Macro uses shellfish to add deeper flavors. I had to try the genten. It's the one that made them famous. Both the pork and the menma are bonkers here. Thick cut (both). Homemade (both). Incredible (both). I'm always surprised at how amazing ramen in Osaka is. Sure, they don't have the sheer number of shops that Tokyo has, but the stellar shops really shine. That pork. Worth the wait for this alone. Human beings everybody noodles. This shop is part of the UNCHI group, who run seven shops, all with equally mysterious English names. A couple winners: The old man's best swing - くそオヤジ最後のひとふり The most deserted ramen ba...

大阪麺哲 What a bowl! I met up with Ben for a bowl in his home of Osaka. Mentetsu was on the list, but I didn't really know what kind of ramen I was in for. We sat down and started looking over the menu. Ben mentioned that this spot has a secret menu. The idea is that only those in the know will know. A perk for regulars and fans. In a big voice, I asked the staff what is on the 裏 menu for the day. They said they don't have any idea what I was talking about. So here's how it works. Check their Facebook page. Do NOT ask them about it. This is the rule, meant to keep their secret menu a secret. My bad. So I ordered off the normal (yawn!) menu. Yama (山) looks interesting. Ramen topped with grated Japanese yam and a raw egg. This is ネバネバ food. Neba-neba means slimy, and they love it in Japan. I'm not a fan of about half the neba-neba stuff out there (natto, okra, nameko), but Japanese yam blends perfectly with soup. It might look like a mess, but it is wonderful. I'll be ...