After announcing my search for delicious ramen in Tokyo, I received a text from my dear friend Karen, whose son, Peter (who has a fabulous blog of his own, here) (seriously pete how did you score that web address I want to buy it from you and my name isn’t even Pete) is in culinary school. Like, real culinary school. I shudder to think of how scared I’d be in that…
Karen sent me a link to Ivan Ramen. A NY-born chef named Ivan Orkin who opened up a little (apparently awesome) ramen place of his own in Tokyo. Holy shit. That’s like selling ice to an Eskimo that really fucking knows its ice and you come from a background that wouldn’t necessarily know anything at all about ice but somehow you do and somehow you sold that ice to that Eskimo and that Eskimo was happy as shit. Except this ice salesman does have an excellent culinary background in ice ah I no longer know what I’m talking about let’s go on…
Welp. That’s Ivan Ramen. And as you can see, there’s no line out the door because this bitch. is. closed.
45 minutes it took to get there! What a bummer. At least we went prepared — laptop with Family Guy for the car ride. Yeah. Should have called.
So. We asked the driver to take us to another spot. And I think….I *think*….he took our American asses to some sort of…”ramen lite”. I compared it to eating Pho on La Cienega and eating Pho on Western in Los Angeles. It’s good pho, sure. But it’s missing that gritty, home cooked, B-grade-in-the-window awesomeness that only Western / downtown LA has to offer.
Meh. Day 2 was average. But at the end of the day, you’re still in Tokyo. And you’re still eating ramen.
Let’s do this…
TGI Ramen’s.
I dunno. I still dunno.
I ordered the pork ramen (I think) and I must say, the broth was outstanding. I definitely felt the porky love in the broth. It was almost like sucking on the marrow of a pig. Just milky, fatty goodness. Added a seasoned egg and extra scallions because scallions are the shit.
Once again, John wins with the ordering. He always gets the “everything” and it’s always awesome. I don’t like my noods to be overpowered by frills but I think that needs to change.
You know what? The more I think about it, the more I feel badly for calling this TGI Ramen’s. It wasn’t bad at all. It just…had no character. It was flat. It was delicious, it smelled awesome, it tasted good, but nothing amazing slapped me in the face. Megan Fox ramen. Magen.
But I’d still drink Megan Fox’s broth again.
Off to Harajuku today — going to try and find our favorite spot from a couple years ago. Aaaah. I’ll let you know!
xx
Thanks to you I am on my own search for decent Ramen in Miami… HELPPP.
I never realized there was more to Ramen than those square packages of noodles and the packet of seasoning that comes with it. Thanks for the introduction…have fun in Tokyo!
You are truly hilarious and I am so super happy every time you blog! I hope you continue updating us on your ramen adventures
ps I know you mentioned a loooooong while ago one of your dogs ate your camera, what kind do you get to replace it? (excuse me for being creepy and a little nosy!)
blog. more.
You should head over to Hong Kong while you’re over in Japan – lots of yum-o food here (I can be your tour guide!).
I’m glad you’re back to blogging!
Hey Chrissy, I did some research for you…there’s a Japanese Yelp-like site and I looked up the best ramen place in Tokyo, apparently this place called Ittou (this guy wrote about it in his blog: http://ramenmansf.blogspot.com/2012/11/menya-ittou-shin-koiwa-tokyo-japan.html) is really good, you should check it out and let us know how it is.
But to be honest almost any ramen place you walk into in Japan is awesome!!
Sorry, double post. But I saw your tweet about kobe steak…Apparently Kawamura has the best steak in Tokyo (according to this Yelp site.)
Thank you for your help!! You are awesome. Thank you thank you.
No problem! Let me know if I can help with anything else.
Happy eating!! Food in Japan is so amazing!
Yay!! So happy that you’re blogging again. And loove your 6 Days of Ramen. Have you tried Korean Ramen as I know they’re big on Ramen too? Would love to know which is better.. Enjoy your vacay!!
I loooveee Japanese ramen too! Omg, it’s like my life and I can’t go a week without eating a huge bowl.
How much do they cost?
If you ever come back to dc, try Toki Underground
its my favorite! And it has a similar tokyo vibe.. for a Taiwanese place…also if you need a push Neil Patrick Harris has been there. The wait is always ridiculous but I’m sure if you guys call ahead and tell them you’re with John Legend, it should be fine ;P
Hello Chrissy!
Both you and JL will be bathing in green juice after all this pork ramen
Happy Birthday John and to you both a wonderful New Year!!!
you need to watch David Chang’s show Mind of a Chef! A couple of episodes he focuses on Tokyo and highlights a bunch of awesome looking ramen spots. I think it’s episode 1 and 6.
God, I love your posts. I live in India and because of these posts– I’ve made a reservation at Masaharu Morimoto’s restaurant in Delhi in hopes of finding delicious ramen. There probably won’t be any and I’ll probably cry. But at least they’ll be salty complimenting whatever delicious sushi I’ll be stuffing my face with as means of consolation. Looking forward to the rest of your Tokyo posts. Can’t wait to visit that city, love it for it giveth me sashimi xo
Looks delish! I am obsessed with PHO. I could probably eat it every.day.
Hope you and John had a fabulous holiday!
You are the best for the simple fact that you called it “noods”… that and you’d “drink Megan Fox’s broth again”. *applause*
I order food-not just ramen-unadorned as you do and have always dated guys that order shit w/ the works. Keep letting John order that stuff and nibble it off his plate. If it’s good, you’ll know to order it next time. If it’s terrible, you’ve still got your own deliciousness in front of you
I love when you compare food to Megan Fox – everything and disappointing all at once.
You might have already heard but Ivan is opening a spot in NYC, on Clinton St.
http://ny.eater.com/tags/ivan-ramen