Restaurant Review: ICHIRAN

Probably the best ramen experience you could find in New York City

Last week we had the opportunity to try out the famous ICHIRAN ramen in their Brooklyn location.  When you walk into ICHIRAN, you will notice how the restaurant has created an ambiance that resembles a traditional Japanese ramen shop.  Each guest has their individual stall with dividers which can be taken down if you are dining with more than one person.  Each guest fills out their menu which will detail how you want the ramen prepared.  Because ICHIRAN is known for their delicious Tonkotsu ramen, we decided to opt for that to experience all the lusciousness that goes in to that ramen.  For those that aren’t too familiar with ramen, ICHIRAN does a fantastic job of providing a set of recommendations on how you could order your ramen for the perfect balance of flavors and spices.  Once you select your ramen preferences, there is a little button on each stall that you can press which will notify the chef on the other side of the stall that you are ready to order.  And because timing is one of the key components to a great tonkotsu experience, the chefs at ICHIRAN are amazing at having a quick turnaround with delivering your food.

When we got our order, we first noticed the cute bowl that the ramen is served in.  When we opened the lid of the bowl, a warm, fragrant aroma is released that is to die for.  The tonkotsu brother itself is creamy and milky with a layer of richness and bursts of umami with each spoonful.  We opted to try out the recommendations ICHIRAN had for their tonkotsu ramen and we were not disappointed.  There was a beautiful layer of spice and heat from the hiden no tare sauce that marries perfectly with the savoriness of the broth and vegetables.  The noodles also provide a good amount of starch that counteracts the spice as well.  The noodles are also something to make note of.  They were long, tender, and perfect for absorbing the flavor from the broth.  And these noodles, once all the flavor is packed in, were the perfect noodles for slurping.  The addition of sliced pork (chashu) gives an extra layer of savory notes and helps break up each bite so you’re not just getting a spoonful of broth paired with the noodles.  And if you are someone who tends to finish the serving of noodles before finishing the broth, ICHIRAN offers their Kae-Dama or noodle refill where they will serve you the noodles of your choice so you can add it into your ramen so you can keep enjoying your meal.  We can say that a single bowl of ramen from ICHIRAN left us feeling full and satisfied.

And for those that have a bit of a sweet tooth, ICHIRAN also has a signature dessert.  The Matcha Pudding is perfect for the matcha lovers out there.  This dessert comes in a beautiful onyx black bowl and a small spoon making for a very cute and aesthetically pleasing presentation.  The pudding is one that has a few layers underneath so it’s very important that you dig your spoon to the bottom to get all those layers.  The dessert itself was actually semi sweet and had a nice contrast between the sweet custard portion of the dish and the slight bitterness from the matcha and all while being fairly light too.  These layers of flavor make for the perfect end to this meal.

ICHIRAN has a number of locations in New York so no matter where you live, there is probably an ICHIRAN near you for you to try out.  We can attest that ICHIRAN is one of the best ramen restaurants in the city and is a must have.  ICHIRAN also has two other NYC locations in Midtown (132 W 31st St., New York, NY 10001) and Times Square (152 W 49th St, New York, NY 10019) which you can also check out as well.