Return of Menchanko Tei 01-12-2010

Location: 43 W. 55th St.
Time: 12pm
People: JR and myself

Feelings: Nothing is better than a hot bowl of ramen on a cold winter day. JR and I met up for lunch to slurp some soothing veggie ramen ($9) at Menchanko. There are three ramen shops near my work: Sapporo, Menkui Tei, and Menchanko. Out of three, my favorite is by far Menchanko, for their hearty flavor and fresh ingredients. Their ramen is not overloaded with sodium and comes with much more vegetables. It is $2-$3 more expensive than the other two, but it is worth it.

It is also interesting that their veggie ramen comes with actual miso soup broth, not miso based broth. When I see people asking for soba/udon with miso soup broth at delis (FYI, people do not do that in Japan if that matters.), it makes me want to gag, but it actually goes quite well with ramen noodles. Since ramen noodles tend to be more greasy and egg-y, perhaps light miso broth flavor is a better partnership.

It also comes with mochi and hakusai, which makes the dish to taste similar to Zoni. They should really call this dish Zoni Ramen. Zoni is associated with the Japanese New Year, so I felt like I was celebrating the New Year with JR.