Ramen Setagaya At University Place
90 University Place
(between 11th St & 12th St)
New York, NY 10003
(212) 229-1489
www.setaga-ya.com

Continuing on my quest for great ramen,  I went to Setagaya Ramen at University Place for dinner.  There are two other Setagayas in the city, but this one was the closest at the time.
It was around 6pm on Saturday and there was only one other person in the place.  By the time I left, half of the restaurant was filled with customers.  The setup is comprised of large communal tables and stools, and I was …

Souen Organic Ramen
326 East 6th Street
New York, NY  10003
Souen Organic Ramen is the third Souen location in New York City, and as you might have guessed, it focuses on all natural, organic ramen.
Don’t expect to find any fatty pork or any kind of meat on the menu.  The only thing that’s as close to meat is the organic chicken broth,seafood broth, and the steamed ‘meat’ dumplings.
The Decor/Ambiance

Yes, it’s really that dim inside.
The decor wasn’t anything extraordinary.  The place is dimly lit, and I counted 10 tables total, laid out in …

Sure, New York City is home to a number of decent ramen places.  Ra Ra Ken and Ippudo always come to mind, but living on the other side of the GW Bridge, driving to the city and circling the neighborhood to find a half-decent parking spot just for ramen is too much of a headache.  If I’m already out in the city for other matters, then yes, a ramen stop will most likely make it on the itenary.
I live close to Fort Lee and Edgewater in New Jersey, and ramen …

I’ve been waiting to satisfy my ramen crave for the past 2 months. This place is packed on a Saturday night and the line is almost out the door. Since I’m only a party of one, I was seated almost immediately. I enjoy eating out on my own, not that I don’t like company, I’m just able to focus on my food more. It seems like parties of two get seated rather quickly too.
This time around, I ordered the salad and the original ramen. …

So I’m watching this new HK drama, “Speech of Silence” and I was blown away by the size of the ramen bowls in this scene.   The combined diameter of the bowls are longer than the length of the table! The story goes, if they can finish their ramen in seven minutes or less, they eat for free.  The next scene didn’t show if they finished the ramen in time.  Seriously, if there was something like this in the states, I am up to the challenge!  Six minutes is all …

I wrote this while I was dining at Ippudo NY on Saturday between 5:30pm and 6:30pm.
It’s hard to imagine a ramen lover like me took so long to finally come to the much heralded Ippudo NY. Well, here I am, waiting for my food to come. This place is where the ramen is supposed to end all ramens. I’ll be the judge of that.
As I was brought to my seat by the hostess, one of the waitresses went ahead and pulled out one of the bar stools …

Image: Kin
There are times when I just don’t feel like cooking anything that takes more than five minutes of preparation work. I can get pretty busy sometimes and cooking is the last thing on my mind. That’s when I reach for one of my favorite foods, ramen. There’s something about it. It’s simple, it’s tasty, it’s trustworthy, it has no nutritional value. It blows my mind away.
 
I’m not talking about the dried ramen that takes three minutes to cook in a pot of boiling …