Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Best Ramen on Oahu

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • #61
    Re: Best Ramen on Oahu

    Originally posted by 1stwahine View Post
    I just went to Shirokiya with Beau. But. As soon as we walked into Shirokiya, the Security Guard saw my camera on my hand and told me I couldn't take pictures. I understood and quickly put my camera away in my purse. Auntie Lynn
    When I visited last fall went to Shirokiya as well. I walked around and was salivating at all the food displayed. I wanted to photograph the displays for my eCards website but when I asked a woman behind the counter if I could photograph the food, she promptly told me no!

    Lovena
    Lovena

    Comment


    • #62
      Re: Best Ramen on Oahu

      i need to amend my opinion on tenkaippin.

      the ramen is muchmuchmuch better, as i guessed, if you don't have it "straight" but accompanied by something that will cut some of the deep, intense flavor of the soup.

      my friend (i'll call him sam) whose sister had gone there before and found the soup "salty" was interested (i make sure to surround myself with friends who are food-adventurous so i always have a date in case eric can't make it). this time, we ordered matching bottles of kirin. he ordered the kotteri ramen with side order gyoza and side order fried rice; i ordered it with side of gyoza.

      the gyoza itself is okay--better than the frozen kind you buy at holiday mart. of course, we did see our server making some on the side (so that pre-emptively answers the "are they homemade" question).

      i like to soak my gyoza in a mix of shoyu, rice vinegar, chili oil, and generous amounts of togarashi. whenever i needed a "break" from the soup, i'd guzzle some beer or take a bite of the gyoza after i've had it sitting in the sauce mix.

      but the real secret is to have some of the chopped garlic/chilies from the jar or the chili-garlic dark sauce on the side and plunk some on your noodles (kinda like how some people, including me, dabble hoisin & chili sauce on pho noodles). oh my. it makes such a big diff! once you do that, it's pretty addictive. i ate the whole thing and gained several inches in ramen & beer bloat. had to go to starbucks for tea afterwards with sam. 24 hours later, i'm still thirstier than usual.

      but my ramen scoring still stands - taiskoken #1, kyoto#2, and tenkaippin #3. but tenkaippin comes much closer to the other two than in my last post bcs of beer (yay, beer!) and the two chili condiments. still, no other ramen place has ever done what taishoken did to me--make me such a fan that i went four times in one week.

      my suggestion to anyone who goes: if you can't find parking in the lot shared with starbucks/jamba/tanning salon/sushi take-out, then park on the ala wai golf course side of kapahulu in the gravel lot across from zippy's. it's free.
      superbia (pride), avaritia (greed), luxuria (lust), invidia (envy), gula (gluttony), ira (wrath) & acedia (sloth)--the seven deadly sins.

      "when you wake up in the morning, tell yourself: the people i deal with today will be meddling, ungrateful, arrogant, dishonest, jealous, and surly..."--meditations, marcus aurelius (make sure you read the rest of the passage, ya lazy wankers!)

      nothing humiliates like the truth.--me, in conversation w/mixedplatebroker re 3rd party, 2009-11-11, 1213

      Comment


      • #63
        Re: Best Ramen on Oahu

        Originally posted by cynsaligia View Post
        i need to amend my opinion on tenkaippin.

        but my ramen scoring still stands - taiskoken #1, kyoto#2, and tenkaippin #3. but tenkaippin comes much closer to the other two than in my last post bcs of beer (yay, beer!) and the two chili condiments. still, no other ramen place has ever done what taishoken did to me--make me such a fan that i went four times in one week.
        Thanks for the tip. I've tried none of the above, but after reading this thread, I must!

        Cyn, you should start your own food blog. I love your perspective on each dish. Dyasu is also a fantastic writer and critic. Good stuff!

        As far as Ramen broth, a Nijonjin friend of mine said the "secret ingredient" to greatness are Scallops. Yup. Scallops. So Craig, if you make that broth using Saba, try also adding scallops into the pot. I'm not sure on the method though. That's a secret.

        I pretty much mastered making Chashu for ramen. It's easy.
        sigpic The Tasty Island

        Comment


        • #64
          Re: Best Ramen on Oahu

          Originally posted by Pomai View Post
          Thanks for the tip. I've tried none of the above, but after reading this thread, I must!
          you're welcome. any one of those three places would provide an experience above-and-beyond having even one of your doctored myojo or sun noodle creations at home. but that's no insult to your cooking; if you're gonna pay $8 for a bowl of ramen, it better be waay better than the $3 version you can have at home, right?


          Originally posted by Pomai View Post
          Cyn, you should start your own food blog. I love your perspective on each dish.
          thanks for the encouragement, pomai. it means something, coming from you.

          eric and i have thought about it before and we have some ideas on how we'd do it, but we don't really have the time at this point. a couple years ago, i had a few reviews published in a local fili community paper and that was fun. what was hard was to find time even to do a once-a-month column, so i gave that up (and that's before i started going to night school).
          superbia (pride), avaritia (greed), luxuria (lust), invidia (envy), gula (gluttony), ira (wrath) & acedia (sloth)--the seven deadly sins.

          "when you wake up in the morning, tell yourself: the people i deal with today will be meddling, ungrateful, arrogant, dishonest, jealous, and surly..."--meditations, marcus aurelius (make sure you read the rest of the passage, ya lazy wankers!)

          nothing humiliates like the truth.--me, in conversation w/mixedplatebroker re 3rd party, 2009-11-11, 1213

          Comment


          • #65
            Re: Best Ramen on Oahu

            Originally posted by Pomai View Post
            As far as Ramen broth, a Nijonjin friend of mine said the "secret ingredient" to greatness are Scallops. Yup. Scallops. So Craig, if you make that broth using Saba, try also adding scallops into the pot. I'm not sure on the method though. That's a secret.

            I pretty much mastered making Chashu for ramen. It's easy.

            Scallops as in the real kine or the fake kine. With scallops I use sake, garlic and butter then broil the whole thing in foil. Tastes great alone but I can see how those drippings would kick any broth up a notch.
            Life is what you make of it...so please read the instructions carefully.

            Comment


            • #66
              Re: Best Ramen on Oahu

              I think the scallops might actually be scallop powder. I remember seeing an episode of Soko Ga Shiritai where scallop powder was revealed to be the "secret ingredient" for ramen broth.

              Comment


              • #67
                Re: Best Ramen on Oahu

                Originally posted by Honoruru View Post
                I think the scallops might actually be scallop powder. I remember seeing an episode of Soko Ga Shiritai where scallop powder was revealed to be the "secret ingredient" for ramen broth.
                I'm thinking that its the powder they are referring to for broths, too.

                Unless they boil down seafood (clams, scallops, etc.) so their juices flavor the ramen broth.
                Eating my way through restaurants at http://www.nomnomfoodie.com

                Growing a local Hawaii food blogger community at http://www.hawaiifoodbloggers.com

                Comment


                • #68
                  Re: Best Ramen on Oahu

                  Originally posted by dyasu View Post
                  I'm thinking that its the powder they are referring to for broths, too.

                  Unless they boil down seafood (clams, scallops, etc.) so their juices flavor the ramen broth.
                  If I were a "ramen chef", I'd go with the latter. Really, anything powdered are just processed, dehydrated versions of the original, like dashinomoto is to Katsuobushi (dried bonito shavings).

                  But you do see scallop powder as an ingredient in various nama ramen broth packets.

                  Speaking of dashinomoto, that's basically the broth used for saimin such as S&S and Okahara. I also think it's all Hamura's Saimin on Kauai uses. Maybe with a little shoyu added. That's it.
                  sigpic The Tasty Island

                  Comment


                  • #69
                    Re: Best Ramen on Oahu

                    Originally posted by 1stwahine View Post
                    Das da one...uh ah. Dances around my computa.
                    http://www.yelp.com/biz/ichi-ryu-noodles-house-honolulu

                    Mahalo,

                    Auntie Lynn
                    Note: Picture taken from Cynthia A.of Yelp.
                    ICHI RYU on Pensacola and S. King

                    Is this place now closed? I drove by today and the sign seemed to be gone and there was a chain around the door and boxes/furniture hanging out. The windows were "white washed" and you couldn't see in. I certainly hope it isn't gone.
                    n'importe

                    Comment


                    • #70
                      Re: Best Ramen on Oahu

                      Originally posted by Kaukura View Post
                      ICHI RYU on Pensacola and S. King

                      Is this place now closed? I drove by today and the sign seemed to be gone and there was a chain around the door and boxes/furniture hanging out. The windows were "white washed" and you couldn't see in. I certainly hope it isn't gone.
                      Oh! No!!

                      I drove passed and it's gone.....

                      onnada one bites the dust.

                      Auntie Lynn
                      Be AKAMAI ~ KOKUA Hawai`i!
                      Philippians 4:13 --- I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

                      Comment


                      • #71
                        Re: Best Ramen on Oahu

                        I noticed Ichi Ryu being renovated, too. For me, it was the first place where I remember a restaurant touting itself as a "ramen" restaurant in Hawaii and I wondered: "what's the difference between 'ramen' and 'saimin'?" It's gone through a lot of names and proprietors over the years, but it has always (in my mind, at least) been what I consider the first ramen restaurant in Hawaii. I may be wrong.

                        But what caught my eye during this closure was the old Coca-Cola sign above it. Just below the "Coca-Cola" on the left was a neon sign that said "saimin"; and on the right, a neon sign that said "fountain". That corner restaurant has been there a long, long time. But a saimin stand, or a soda fountain, would be a natural in that location (right across McKinley High School).

                        My question is: What was the original saimin stand/fountain that was there in the first place?

                        Here's a photo of the sign (taken from 1stwahine's post [photo courtesty of Cynthia A.of Yelp]). I cropped it and tried to highlight it, but the sunlight was too strong.

                        ichi-ryu.jpg

                        Comment


                        • #72
                          Re: Best Ramen on Oahu

                          do you think it's being renovated?

                          I was doing a google search on "Ichi+ryu+closed" and there was a post on Yelp in April asking the same question. It must have been closed then. In a way I hope they are just renovating, but I would hate that ambiance to change. Sometimes when they do so, the flavor of the place never really stays the same.
                          n'importe

                          Comment


                          • #73
                            Re: Best Ramen on Oahu

                            ok this is totally random, but because of this ramen thread, I stuck Tampopo in my amazon cart and saved it for later just in case the price dropped. Welp, it dropped to 14.99 and I bought it lastnight (and it shipped this morning whee!). Just a small note for anyone who wants to pick up a copy

                            Edit: here's the link!

                            Comment


                            • #74
                              Re: Best Ramen on Oahu

                              bumping this thread.

                              eric and i visit ramen nakamura on the edge of waikiki, just a couple doors away from the former ghiradelli ice cream shop on kalakaua, at least once a month since last year. now that taishoken has gone (moment of silence please, for the only ramen shop that compelled me to revel in the thick, spicy carby glory that was their miso ramen four times in one week), ramen nakamura has taken the top spot on my list of ramen places on this island. i rate them #1 bcs of their quality, variety of ramen, service (quick and adequately friendly--it's always fairly busy both with people eating in and taking out, yet the counter lady always manages to refill water timely), and price.

                              having returned last week from the pacific northwest, and flown on the plane with a bunch of coughing, sneezing, groaning folk (not sure why--the weather was glorious in portland and seattle while we were there), we are now fighting off cooties. every day, we've either eaten something spicy or soupy if not both. this is why we found ourselves at ramen nakamura this past sunday.

                              between the two of us, we've tried practically all the choices available. they have shio and shoyu or course, plus hakata, spicy, kim chee and oxtail. they also have fried rice, fried noodles and gyoza. eric's favorites are the oxtail ramen and spicy ramen. i adore their hakata. we pretty much stuck to our faves that night: spicy for eric, hakata for me.

                              first pic: hakata ramen. the hakata broth is a bit milky in body since it's pork bone based. it comes with pickled wakame, bamboo shoots, green onions and a slice of japanese style chasu pork (which is more like rafute or okinawan shoyu pork than chinese char siu). i just add several drops of chili oil and some shakes of togarashi and i'm in heaven.

                              second pic: spicy ramen. eric ordered the spicy ramen, which you can see has a much darker broth and has bits of ground pork as well as choi sum in it. it's fairly sinus-clearing but not overbearingly spicy. i can never convince myself to order this because i'm really fond of their hakata, but whenever i taste eric's spicy ramen, i have ramen envy.

                              what differentiates ramen nakamura from other places is the nuance of their broth. we're not talking one-note-wonderbroth, here. these people take time in their soup making. i know there are some goma tei fans here, and by comparison, the broth at ala moana goma tei might have a strong flavor, but there's nothing interesting about it--it's just all about that one note that keeps smacking you in the face. plus their noodles, which aren't housemade like taishoken's were, are still that perfect balance between chewy with a little bit of give.

                              the really great thing about ramen nakamura is they offer a kamaaina discount. if you're a hawaii resident, the first time you go, when you order, show your id. this will get you a 15% discount and automatic membership in their frequent diner card. they'll give you a card that they stamp every time you come (make sure you give the card when you order) and after you've spent $50, you get a free ramen combo. in fact, you'll see in the third pic that our tab (not incl tip) should have been $18.80 for two bowls of ramen plus a side order of gyoza, but we actually paid $7.48. how's that??!! superior ramen house quality & taste for nearly the grocery price of sun noodle.

                              one thing to keep in mind: this place is cash only. if you forget, just leave your ID or credit card with the lady at the counter. just diamond head of ramen nakamura is either an american savings or bank of hawaii atm.

                              pics taken w/my iphone.

                              hakata ramen.


                              spicy ramen.


                              yay, kamaaina discount plus frequent diner card!
                              Last edited by cynsaligia; September 16, 2009, 12:03 PM.
                              superbia (pride), avaritia (greed), luxuria (lust), invidia (envy), gula (gluttony), ira (wrath) & acedia (sloth)--the seven deadly sins.

                              "when you wake up in the morning, tell yourself: the people i deal with today will be meddling, ungrateful, arrogant, dishonest, jealous, and surly..."--meditations, marcus aurelius (make sure you read the rest of the passage, ya lazy wankers!)

                              nothing humiliates like the truth.--me, in conversation w/mixedplatebroker re 3rd party, 2009-11-11, 1213

                              Comment


                              • #75
                                Re: Best Ramen on Oahu

                                Originally posted by cynsaligia View Post

                                the really great thing about ramen nakamura is they offer a kamaaina discount. if you're a hawaii resident, the first time you go, when you order, show your id. this will get you a 15% discount and automatic membership in their frequent diner card. they'll give you a card that they stamp every time you come (make sure you give the card when you order) and after you've spent $50, you get a free ramen combo. in fact, you'll see in the third pic that our tab (not incl tip) should have been $18.80 for two bowls of ramen plus a side order of gyoza, but we actually paid $7.48. how's that??!! superior ramen house quality & taste for nearly the grocery price of sun noodle.

                                one thing to keep in mind: this place is cash only. if you forget, just leave your ID or credit card with the lady at the counter. just diamond head of ramen nakamura is either an american savings or bank of hawaii atm.

                                pics taken w/my iphone.

                                hakata ramen.


                                spicy ramen.


                                yay, kamaaina discount plus frequent diner card!
                                Looks like someone didn't know how to use a cash register. So did you tip on the $7.48 or what should have been the higher amount?
                                Life is what you make of it...so please read the instructions carefully.

                                Comment

                                Working...
                                X