JAPAN 🇯🇵
The transition from East 49th Street to post-war 1950's or 60's Japan is almost done seamlessly, if only it wasn't for the random tourist couples that keep walking in, attracted by this ramen shop's good internet reviews and economical pricing. The bare bones interior may not seem like much, but that is the point. It is there to facilitate the needs of hungry customers, and get people drunk at night with an array of sake cups.
Around since the second half of 2014, this tiny ramen bar specializes in kakuni ramen. Kakuni uses a tonkotsu, or pork bone, base for the soup with special square slices of thick pork belly that give it the name. You can get this in three versions, all color coded. The white is the standard soup base, while black uses ma-yu garlic oil, and red ($12, below) delivers a small heat bump.
All three versions use thin al dente noodles and start off with a high garlic quotient.
If you prefer your noodles thicker and wavy, opt for the tan tan ramen ($12, below), which has about the same level of low spice and is served with ground pork. The base of this soup is a spicy miso chicken broth. This bowl is full of flavor and is a rival of some of the more famous tan tan bowls around town, especially at this price point.
Since this visit was during lunch, we did not partake in round after round of sake, but during these hours you can add their nice gyoza (below) to your ramen bowl for only $3. These are cooked very well, with super thin skin that is all pan-fried together.
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