Time for ramen! That is what Jodi and I thought when planning a day to the city and we decided to go to Ippudo West Side for lunch. Early enough to get a seat before it started to get packed.
As we were showed our seats at the counter, the hostess shouted in Japanese something like “there are two guests sitting at the counter”, followed by a “welcome” from the staff.

The menu there is great, offering vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishes all mouth watering. We immediately saw the Ippudo buns where you could pick various fillings: chicken, pork, shrimp or vegetarian. We went for the latter so Jodi could share with me. It was made of eggplant and eringi mushroom with spicy sauce, mayo and lettuce. And there was lots of sauce so I was glad they gave us a wet towel...The first bite was succulent: the buns were soft and fluffy and the filling delightfully crunchy and hearty, with a slight kick that was compensated by the mayo. I was pleased to see a vegetarian version of the buns on the menu that well executed as usually, they are proposed with pork belly and rarely with veggies.

For her main dish, Jodi the Nirvana Akamaru ramen, made with a silky nirvana broth (no relation to a famous band and no, I have no idea what it was made with besides vegetables), braised tofu, sesame kikurage mushrooms, scallion, cabbage, garlic oil, tamago (egg, ordered as an addition) and their secret “umami dama“ paste.

On my side, I got a special ramen: the Miso Akamaru ramen, made with tonkotsu pork broth mixed with three kinds of miso, pork shashu (braised pork) and ground pork, scallion, shiraganegi (sliced leeks), akamiso paste and garlic oil.

Both ramen were delicious. The one Jodi had had thin noodles while mine had thick noodles. The veggie ramen was quite good and tasty, not boring at all, with lots of flavors. But I admit that mine was even better: rich and comforting, it was packed in flavors. For sure, when it comes to ramen, Ippudo is a reference: I highly recommend it!

Enjoy (I did)!

If you like this post, the photos or the blog, please feel free to share it or post a comment. Merci!

Ippudo West Side - 321 West 51st Street, New York, NY 10019

Ramen at Ippudo

Jean-Philippe Gerbi