Why is Ramen so Damn Good?

Hi Meltingpot Readers,

Last night we had to go out to celebrate the fact that el esposo made it through day one of his comprehensive exams. He has another round next Saturday and then he is done. But the worst is over so we decided to go out for dinner. Now, going out for dinner for us means hauling the kids with us since we are too lazy, cheap, broke, in love with our kids to hire a babysitter.

Truthfully, el esposo and I love to try new foods and the kids do too. And we love to expose them to different restaurants. They are such adventurous eaters, it’s fun to eat out with them. Even babygirl is proving to be an “I’ll-eat-anything-you put-in-front-of-me” type of girl. But she is a baby. And the boys did have to get up for school this morning, so we had to be strategic in our choice of restaurant. Nothing too fancy or expensive. Nothing too far from home and service should be speedy. Our cuisine of choice? Ramen noodles.

Authentic Japanese ramen noodle restaurants are all the rage right now in Philly.  To be honest, I never knew ramen noodles could be anything other than those 99 cent packages of fried MSG one lives off in college. I experienced the real deal in Los Angeles a few years back at this hole in the wall ramen noodle shop in Little Tokyo. I’ve been searching for a similar experience ever since to no avail. Until last night. This is what I ate last night.

Imagine a thick, rich, savory soup broth piled high with house made noodles, thin slices of succulent pork, a hard-boiled egg, pickled ginger, scallion, mushrooms and bamboo shoots. Sweet baby Jesus, I thought I’d died and gone to heaven. I wanted to dive into my bowl and swim around in the yumminess. Yes, it was that good. The restaurant we went to was in Chinatown, so afterwards we stumbled into a nearby Chinese bakery for coffee and custard tarts. Oh, it was scrumptious. And affordable. *score!*

I know it’s wrong, but I’m trying to figure out how soon we can go back for a repeat. The kids loved it too. Babygirl was slurping down her noodles faster than we could cut them up and put them on her plate. And the boys practically licked their bowls clean. Did I mention my boys have been expertly using chopsticks since age five? Sorry, I have to brag on that one.

Anywho, I’m done sharing now. There are a couple of other ramen noodle joints in Philly that are supposedly better than the one we went to last night. That’s cool. I have no problem checking them out in the name of research, of course.

Anybody else out there a ramen noodle fan? Any suggestions for restaurants on the East Coast? Any suggestions on the best way to enjoy ramen or what to ask for when ordering. I’m so listening.

Peace.