Ramen Ya

JAPAN

Late last year before traveling I stopped once into relative newcomer Ramen Ya on West 4th Street to taste a couple bowls of their namesake dish, especially the house special shio black ($12, below), made dark by a black garlic oil. This is a good version of tonkotsu although not a game changing bowl.

We also tried the shoyu spicy ($13, below) version of the tonkotsu as well and at least I was pleasantly surprised by what the $1 upgrade for spicy did for the broth. Each ramen here can be upgraded in a similar manner.

If you are not a fan of tonkotsu ramen, each flavor can also be substituted with a chicken broth as well. And of course, never disappointing is a nice plate of gyoza (below), here made with slightly thicker skins than usual but nicely fried up and moist.

It is not the easiest thing to do to get a bowl of affordable and good ramen here in the west part of the village, so Ramen Ya has this fact going for it for sure. The space is pretty sparse and not the most comforting, but it does the job acceptably of filling your belly with goodness.

181 West 4th Street

WEST VILLAGE Manhattan

US