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Renowned Tokyo ramen shop Mensho Ramen opening first US shop in SF this weekend Feb 6
- Thread starter XiaNaphryz
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Tokyo station, Akihabara, Shibuya, Shinjuku, Harajuku
Yea I'm aware of amount of options there are just based on ramandb. Just want to hear some local favorites and maybe the best time to hit the shop.
BeardyChan
Member
I waited hours yesterday and it was well worth the waiting time. I got to meet Shino and his apprentice, who were very grateful of the turnout. You can just see how much it meant to them both. The journey of this location has taxed them a great deal financially from the sounds. I wish them the best going forward and I definitely plan to come back.
The menu was not a full menu, but rather a smaller selection of the complete menu. Apps are first up on the agenda then in march they will be adding hopefully 3 more flavors of ramen.
I had the Tori Paitan Chashu, which looked and smelled so great I didn't even get a shot of it before eating some.
This was legit. The broth was amazing and had a lot of character to it without being salty or overly fishy. The Chashu was amazingly moist and well marinated and paired very well with the chicken bone based Tori Paitan. All in all for how much ($18) it was I was extremely satisfied.
I also tried the Suntory Premium Malts and thought that it was a great light pilsner. It went well with the rich dish.
I'm gonna have to go back and experience the Vegetarian option as it looked really good as well.
The menu was not a full menu, but rather a smaller selection of the complete menu. Apps are first up on the agenda then in march they will be adding hopefully 3 more flavors of ramen.
I had the Tori Paitan Chashu, which looked and smelled so great I didn't even get a shot of it before eating some.
This was legit. The broth was amazing and had a lot of character to it without being salty or overly fishy. The Chashu was amazingly moist and well marinated and paired very well with the chicken bone based Tori Paitan. All in all for how much ($18) it was I was extremely satisfied.
I also tried the Suntory Premium Malts and thought that it was a great light pilsner. It went well with the rich dish.
I'm gonna have to go back and experience the Vegetarian option as it looked really good as well.
wanderingprostheyltite
Member
Damn I'm jelly, I bet there are some decent ramen joints in Seattle area but not sure where to look.
18$ for just ramen?!
BeardyChan
Member
Be warned your idea won't work. They are not open on mondays, nor do they have lunch hours. Yesterday they opened at 6pm, but they are supposed to open for dinner at 5pm.
I'm gonna go back on tuesday night so if you wanna check it out look for me in line. Yeah it was that good.
BeardyChan
Member
Yeah, but this isn't your quick fast food style ramen. Also this is SF we're talking about here, nothing is cheap here.
Here is their menu:
MarzipaNMOS
Member
idk, $18 is pretty steep even for sf food. can any bay area ramen aficianado gaffers comment on how this stacks up to the usual stuff like orenchi? from the OP I kind of just wanna wait until they get handmade noodles and their whole setup ready instead of going now with a limited menu
This looks so good.
Glad I live in LA then
Even a decent ramen bowl with chashu will cost you at least 12$ in LA
PartlyCloudlike
Member
Why not? People spend that much for shitty fajita plates or lemon pepper chicken breasts from Applebees or Chilis, and its not even good. I bet a whole lot more attention and skill went into making the ramen noodles and broth. Plus it tastes better. Asian food should be more expensive.
I waited hours yesterday and it was well worth the waiting time. I got to meet Shino and his apprentice, who were very grateful of the turnout. You can just see how much it meant to them both. The journey of this location has taxed them a great deal financially from the sounds. I wish them the best going forward and I definitely plan to come back.
The menu was not a full menu, but rather a smaller selection of the complete menu. Apps are first up on the agenda then in march they will be adding hopefully 3 more flavors of ramen.
I had the Tori Paitan Chashu, which looked and smelled so great I didn't even get a shot of it before eating some.
This was legit. The broth was amazing and had a lot of character to it without being salty or overly fishy. The Chashu was amazingly moist and well marinated and paired very well with the chicken bone based Tori Paitan. All in all for how much ($18) it was I was extremely satisfied.
I also tried the Suntory Premium Malts and thought that it was a great light pilsner. It went well with the rich dish.
I'm gonna have to go back and experience the Vegetarian option as it looked really good as well.
Suntory Premium Malts is my favorite cheap Japanese domestic. It's really good considering its status as coming from one of the biggest major breweries.
I'm glad the ramen was good.
The most i remember paying recently is something like 15$ at Tsujita. I think Santouka, Yamadaya, Shin sen are all around the $10 mark.
I do wonder why ramen is so expensive in the US. In Japan, where restaurants err on the pricier side and meat in particular is expensive, a GOOD bowl of ramen costs 650 yen (about $5 USD at current exchange). What ingredients could they possibly be using that causes it to cost so much? Soy sauce, ginger, garlic, pork bones, egg and flour for noodles, seaweed, spinach, these are all ingredients that are readily available in the US.
Yeah I think most of the ramen I had in Tokyo was around the 700-800 yen mark. And it was all damn good
I mean I have no qualm paying good money for high quality food and there's no doubt the ramen served at this establishment is better than random item X from the Applebee's menu but "Asian food should be more expensive" as a default attitude is a weird ethnocentric/nationlist attitude. As if the cuisine of Asia (I'm assuming you mean East Asia ala China/Japan/Korea and not India/The Philippines/Russia/etc.) is automatically better or harder to prepare than that of other disciplines. Maybe you mis-worded your post?
High rents + "oh its exotic" + some ingredients may need to be imported probably means they need too/can get away with charging more
It's not like theyre making a batch of broth from scratch every time someone orders... Apparently Mensho isnt even making their own noodles right now..?
Ramen in Japan certainly isn't fast food. It can be quick because like any other noodle soup dish, the soup base and most ingredients are pre-prepared or dried to begin with, but it's not a processed food product so I hesitate to call it fast food. Not to mention that nothing about how it's served in Japan is different from how you'd serve it in the states, except I guess eating at a counter vs eating a table.
And yeah, Pizza Hut isn't fast food, no. It's a "diner" type place and the quality of food is noticeably better than American PH.
And yeah, Pizza Hut isn't fast food, no. It's a "diner" type place and the quality of food is noticeably better than American PH.
Funny enough, my wife was born, raised, and spent 95% of her life in Tokyo and had never heard of Mensho when I brought it up to her.
We're both still going to try it out. Was going to try it out opening night, but they were closed at midnight so I missed it.
We're both still going to try it out. Was going to try it out opening night, but they were closed at midnight so I missed it.
By fast food I mean "ubiquitous cheap eats", like pizza is for the northeast or tacos around the southern border, and not McDonalds/BK/KFC frozen and reheated stuff.
I don't know how accurate this is but I understand pizza is not easy to get in Japan, nor is it cheap (price vs portion) like it is in the states. I think it's the same in reverse, for ramen. Plus, yeah, the exoticism commands a higher price.
PartlyCloudlike
Member
I didn't misword it at all. Rather, I think a lot of restaurants that prepare asian food, for lack of a better term, priced their food lower to entice customers into eating food that was considered exotic at the time. And its set them at a disadvantage when they try to raise their prices because customers have become accustomed to paying $3 for banh mi, or $7 for a plate of pad see ew, or $10 for a bowl of ramen. And when they see the prices increase, they complain, assuming that this food *should* be cheap. While a shitty bowl of pasta at Macaroni Grill could cost $12, but that price is considered fair because they assume it takes a lot more work to make a gloopy cream sauce and plop some dry chicken breast onto pasta than it is to make Chicken Adobo for example. Although that may not be the best example because people are paying for that ambience, but you probably understand my general complaint. I just think Asian food and Mexican food should be more expensive in general to bring them to parity with other cuisines (e.g. Italian). I'm not at all saying that they're better than other cuisines.
P.S. Why wouldn't I include India and the Philippines?
Edit: I included Mexican food in my example while knowing its not asian food
But its a cuisine that I think should be more expensive too.I agree with the general sentiment that, outside of Japanese cuisine, it's difficult for Asian cuisines to shirk the label of "cheap eats". That is, there's some intangible prejudice that prevents these culinary traditions from entering fine dining at the same level of respectability and commerce as French, Italian and, of course Japanese.
In the case of Chinese cuisine in the US, I know why this is. It's because Chinese food pigeonholed itself as "takeout" during its spread throughout America, so now it's an uphill battle getting Americans to pay normal restaurant prices for Chinese food, and for the various regional traditions to be recognized as distinct entities rather than just being lumped under the umbrella of "Chinese food".
South/Central American cuisines face the same challenges.
In the case of Chinese cuisine in the US, I know why this is. It's because Chinese food pigeonholed itself as "takeout" during its spread throughout America, so now it's an uphill battle getting Americans to pay normal restaurant prices for Chinese food, and for the various regional traditions to be recognized as distinct entities rather than just being lumped under the umbrella of "Chinese food".
South/Central American cuisines face the same challenges.
Shame that about Chinese. Good Chinese food is some of the absolute best I've ever had. I put it on equal footing with Mexican and French, and I think they're all three better than Japanese food.
Haly you're mostly right about pizza, but it's not entirely accurate. I can get a fresh medium-sized pizza for about 400 yen ($3.25-ish) from the grocery store here in the bakery section, but generally speaking it's not thought of as a "cheap eat" as you say. Pizza Hut is really expensive. Like $20 for a pizza. What I'm mostly saying though is that a $20 pizza here is much better than a $10 pizza there, yet the reverse isn't true of ramen in my experience.
Haly you're mostly right about pizza, but it's not entirely accurate. I can get a fresh medium-sized pizza for about 400 yen ($3.25-ish) from the grocery store here in the bakery section, but generally speaking it's not thought of as a "cheap eat" as you say. Pizza Hut is really expensive. Like $20 for a pizza. What I'm mostly saying though is that a $20 pizza here is much better than a $10 pizza there, yet the reverse isn't true of ramen in my experience.
ah damn. Alright I'll give it shot on another day.
But is it better than Dojo Ramen in San Mateo? Cause so far, that's the best ramen I've had in the bay area. I've eaten way too many crappy bowls in SF. Dojo Ramen is amazinggggg
FlexMentallo
Member
I think this has been done before, but here's my Seattle ramen recs...
Eastside
- Santouka : Their Shoyu Tonkotsu is my favorite Seattle ramen. It's a heavy broth. Order the egg even though it's pricey!
- Jinya : Tokyo Yatai is my favorite, best light Ramen broth in town IMO. The Black is also solid.
- Kukai : the Tonkotsu is decent, not a fan of the lighter Yuzu one. I prefer heavy, thick Ramen broth, though. I think they just changed name as well, think it still starts with a K.
Westside
- Aloha : I think they are still open, they always had an awesome Tonkotsu with huge, melty chunks of pork. Longest waits to get served.
- Ramen Man : Spicy Tori Paitan is solid, my favorite spicy ramen in Seattle
- Yoroshiku : they do an OK tonkotsu ramen, but its not their specialty.
- Samurai : is meh - especially the U-district one which veers towards crap...I had to stop trolling myself with their Tampopo ramen hoping it would get beyond passable to good.
- westside Kukai - is really inconsistent, usually in how they cook the meat. At best is equivalent to eastside Kukai.
There's a bunch of solid non-Ramen Japanese places around Seattle, PM if you want some recs.
Anyways, to not fully derail, looking forward to trying Mensho at GDC this year!
But is it better than Dojo Ramen in San Mateo? Cause so far, that's the best ramen I've had in the bay area. I've eaten way too many crappy bowls in SF. Dojo Ramen is amazinggggg
man you can tell from the noodles in this pic that this ramen is scrub tier
Mission style burritos are super American though. They don't really exist in Mexico. I'm not a China expert but I think the same is true of ramen.
Noodles? Those eggs have zero run.
Was gonna say, were the eggs boiled overnight?
Bboy AJ
My dog was murdered by a 3.5mm audio port and I will not rest until the standard is dead
LOLBut is it better than Dojo Ramen in San Mateo? Cause so far, that's the best ramen I've had in the bay area. I've eaten way too many crappy bowls in SF. Dojo Ramen is amazinggggg
Have you ever eaten a proper bowl in Japan? Good ramen looks nothing like that. Ignorance is bliss, I suppose.
Really? I think that looks delicious, and I have ramen usually twice a week in Japan!
Here are some examples of embellished types, not so dissimilar to what he posted: BTW that first one is Ippudo, and it's like 1/3 the American price! The second one is TORAHAMA.
it may look delicious, but is it really Ramen? it's more like soup in a bowl with the same stuff that would go in true nippon Ramen. that's what counts
being legit tho IMO that bowl looks meh, and if you guys are paying like $14 - $18 for that then I got a nice italian meal that I wanna sell you for $30.
being legit tho IMO that bowl looks meh, and if you guys are paying like $14 - $18 for that then I got a nice italian meal that I wanna sell you for $30.
ph1l0z0ph3r
Member
A lot of good looking ramen. Shame theres no good places to try some of it out by me in Mass.
This is what I had during my most recent visit to Japan. I was told it was a "Jiro" style ramen that is similar to what Tsujita Annex in LA serves. They actually had two larger size options but I couldn't even finish the smallest one.
Yep that is def Jiro style
Angry Grimace
Two cannibals are eating a clown. One turns to the other and says "does something taste funny to you?"
There's a ramen owned place here in San Diego called Underbelly - everyone on staff was a typical beer geek white guy with beard/tattoos/thick plastic glasses, but they're apparently hardcore weeaboos because they fucking refuse to give you a spoon under any circumstances. I've never even heard of that being a thing.
wtf. almost all the ramen places i've been to in japan either have spoons on/near the bar or they put them in your bowl prior to service.
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