There were lots of pictures of wagyu on their page that I linked.
I have not been there and have not even seen a menu.
I was poking fun because they are trying to build a business on $35 bowls of ramen, eh, erm, I mean soba.
Hi @aaqjr,
It was not on the menu when we went. Their most expensive Ramen was a Lamb Chop Ramen (uhâŠ) at $35 (+ tax & tip), same portion of noodles and soup, but with a Lamb Chop on top.
What time did you go yesterday?
I actually went yesterday around 1:30pm and had complete opposite experience. While completely horrible QPR at about $30 a bowl with tip, my buddy and I really enjoyed our bowls.
We got the shio and the shoyu. Our bowls also had wontons as well (it looks like you got just the meat).
The broth reminded me of Tsuta in Tokyo, definitely with some truffle type oils and butter.
The buildout is quite beautiful as well.
I donât see myself coming back anytime soon due to the QPR, but if the bowls were less than $20âŠI would definitely go quite often.
Iâm not a ramen expert, but I eat it at least once a weekâŠand have travelled to Osaka/Tokyo just to eat ramenâŠitâs my favorite food. My bowls definitely were not disgusting like @Chowseeker1999. I quite liked it, the price is just crazy.
Hi @skramzlife,
We went earlier in the day. Weâve also eaten our fair share of Ramen in Japan and stateside, and it was downright awful. Both bowls. Thanks.
And for sanityâs sake, we left and went over to Iki Ramen for a bang x bang right afterwards. It wasnât even close: So much better at Iki Ramen.
iâm guessing this is where i will fall, i am curious but the price will keep me out until i hear more. I know I have a different tolerance for salt than @Chowseeker1999 but damn thatâs expensive iki is def next on my list for ramen
Iki is next level
Wow! That batter looks so thick and dense.
Aged noodle?
the # of days it takes them to get the shipment
So market it as fermented shrimp paste! Oh, scratch that, the housewives of Beverly Hills would never go thenâŠ
Iâm baffled by all of this @Chowseeker1999. I never ate there but I thought people liked Tatsu in WLA in the beginning. I donât understand how a restaurant can go upscale, charge a lot more money then serve worse ramen than the fast-casual. Thatâs odd. And why change the name if youâre selling the same food? Oh and what is with the wonton without wrappers? Am I missing something?
P.S. I hear yaâ @skramzlife. Iâm always on the lookout for ramen with good chicken broth and the one at Tatsu on Melrose is pretty good. I like that the free-range chicken is sliced thin like pork chashu. But the broth is almost too rich and of course the damn salt issue. Have I mentioned how happy I am to now have Iki Ramen in the âhood?
They would never go east of Robertson.
If it were grounded up and made into $35 BĂșn máșŻm, they better be using wild kurumaebi for dat chit.
Curiosity got the best of me, and I made my way to Kazan. They are situated next to Matsuhisa in a brick red building. I was there for lunch, and the place was empty except for a family in the corner.
They have their own branded chopsticks, and in the second pic you can see the noodle making area. All presumably to show why youâre spending $20-$30 on a bowl of ramen (not justifying, just documenting).
I ordered the straight shio ramen with chashu and wonton for $27
The good
The ramenâŠerm soba noodles had a nice toothsome texture, the wontons were decently made with a slippery skin (I actually got wrappers on mine, unlike @Chowseeker1999 ), and the chashu was fine. It is made in a Chinese style - I could taste some sweetness to it. The red stuff is yuzu kosho - the first time Iâve encountered this in red.
The ugly
The broth was a wall of truffle oil and salt. I made it to about half a bowl and tapped out. Itâs a good thing that my wife wasnât with me - she is sensitive to oversalting - she would have taken one spoonful and pronounced the bowl inedible. Also, as you take more bites, the truffle oil infuses the noodles, whereas the salt just stays with the broth, so you get this double whammy where you bite into a mouthful of over-truffle(oil)ed noodles, and then you wash it off with a mouthful of warm ocean water. I generally think truffle oil is overused, but I think it can be tastefully done (see: Iki) but this was way,way more overdone. This might literally (and I donât use that word as often as the Kardashians do) be the saltiest broth I have had in recent memory. Given how salty and and oiled it is, I canât help but think itâs not lack of skill (I mean, I donât know how to make ramen broth, but I donât think I would overseason it this much on my first try), but an âartisticâ decision. Itâs like theyâre trying to Robert Parkerize the ramen soup so that you feel that youâre getting âmoreâ for your money.
Iâm reluctant to completely trash a place because itâs someoneâs effort and livelihood, but they really need to recalibrate the flavors at this place, because I think the ramen broth is inedible right now.
I also did a bang bang and went to Iki Ramen afterward. The sense of salinity lingered in my mouth the entire drive to K Town, so I didnât even need soy sauce to eat my Hand roll. I chomped on some mazemen, slurped some nice Iki style chicken broth, and then all was right with the world.
P.S. the below three items cost me $2 more pre-tip than the above bowl of ramen.
Yuck, yuck, yuck. A heavy hand w/ that wouldâve been enough to turn me off, even w/o the over-salting issue.
Thanks for your writeup. Many of us seem to have morbid fascination with trying this place. But hey, if it drives up business for Iki Ramen, then that is some sort of redemption, I supposeâŠ
Ahahahahah. Truffle oil is to ramen as Mega Purple is to wine?
Two things:
The shio soup noodles look like a darker golden yellow version of Ippudoâs Hakata style tonkotsu hosomen (thin noodles) cooked to firmest texture. Would it be wrong to ask if the noodles can be purchased uncooked to go, and take it to Iki Ramen to jazz it up (aka ânoodle corkageâ).
Been a long time since Iâve seen red yuzu kosho, although there is a remotely similar profile and color red Japanese chili paste thatâs even stronger called kanzuri (red chilies, yuzu rind, rice koi (malted rice), and salt). Might work better on fatty grilled beef tongue (I did have it as a condiment for otsumami at a high end sushi restaurant in Tokyo), but letâs not give them further ideas⊠Now Iâm curious if they used kanzuri instead of red yuzu kosho.
Speaking of truffle oil, I recently treated someone to dinner at Chi Spacca and suggested we ordered truffled scrambled eggs. She explained that she was one of those âweirdâ people who didnât like truffles. I dug deeper and it turned out that she had never actually eaten truffles, only truffle oil, which she said gave her a headache. We ordered the scrambled eggs. All was fine. Truffle oil is disgusting - itâs just a chemical that mimics truffles.
iirc, iki uses sun ramen