Hide Chan Ramen 09-07-2010

Location: 248 E. 52nd St.
Time: 7:30pm
People: 15 Ramen and Friends: MerryL, Sekita, MGru, ALev, MLev & Friend, Anna & Friend, JBH, BLee, JT, Rich, JLam from MeSoHungry, RB and myself

Feelings: After taking maternity leave from Ramen and Friends events, we are back in business to celebrate the 2 year birthday of Ramen and Friends. What would be the better way to celebrate than hitting a new ramen joint, Hide Chan Ramen in Midtown? This former Yakitori Torys location reopened as a Hakata style ramen shop. Hakata ramen usually consists of milky and fatty pork bone (tonkotsu) broth with non-curly noodles, and Hide Chan does just that.

It was 15 of us, and it was apparent that they were not used to serving big groups. I understand that ramen is not proper dinner party food, but most of us thought the service was terrible. "I felt both rushed and abandoned," JT adequately said. Many of us received wrong dishes, and somehow an unclaimed bowl of Spicy Miso Ramen kept making an appearance at everyone's table.

The broth of the Spicy Miso Ramen ($10.50) was rich and spicy, and Sekita and Merry L's Grilled Pork Toro Ramen ($12, marinated cheek meat with brown sugar and soy sauce) was tasty and generous in portion. However, they both thought it was a bit bland, and Sekita preferred Ippudo. MGru felt the broth was too salty and saw huge visible fat globules in the bowl.

My Hiyashi Tsuke Men ($9.50, cold noodle with cold soba broth) was light and perfect for the summer night, and the noodles had quite a chewy al dente texture. Perhaps it was a good idea to order Tsuke Men since many of us were saying how salty the broth was.

When you are at this ramen joint, you must order Mega Ton ($15, with extra noodle, extra thick char siu, vegetables) for the sake of experiencing perhaps the largest ramen in the city. The photo above does not do the justice of how large this dish really is. RB and JLam each tried conquering this monumental ramen, but it was just too big for one person. How romantic would it be for a couple to share Mega Ton and have a Lady and the Tramp moment? It would be the perfect budget friendly Valentine's Day meal.

Aside from JBH's chicken wing ($4.50) which was on the smaller side, the portions and prices here are quite generous. We all seemed to prefer Ippudo, and I prefer Totto Ramen for the Midtown ramen of choice, but Hide Chan Ramen is a welcoming addition to Midtown East.