I finally made it to the new ramen joint in Wallingford, Ramen Man (1616 N 45th St). I pronounce it delicious.
It’s a small and simple shop with just four tables up front (and a few more tucked in back), but the food exceeds the digs. The menu is simple: they do ramen, but certainly not the freeze-dried noodle kind you may remember from college. It’s a rich bowl of hearty, creamy goodness. It was so creamy, in fact, that I assumed there was coconut milk or similar in there, but was re-assured it was just chicken broth. The meat (chicken and pork), while not hugely flavorful by itself, was tender and melty. And broth and noodles were stupefyingly good.
I admittedly don’t know much about ramen, so I’m going to crib a review that Frankie left in the comments section of a previous Wallyhood article:
The broth is based on a famous Kumamoto restaurant recipe, famous in part because it eschews the normal Kyushu Tonkotsu broth in favor of a very rich chicken bone and marrow stock. It’s creamy, silky in texture and very, very rich.
Noodles are traditional thin Kyushu style, supplied by a famous LA place that creates noodles for a few Japanese places in SoCal. Perfectly cooked with just enough bite.
There is beer, Sapporo in cans to be specific, and maybe teething troubles, but it wasn’t served with a glass, which was suboptimal.
Couple of sides, including rice and (not today) Kimchi. Free unlimited hard boiled eggs with a bowl for peeling (but no soft boiled Ajitsuki Tamago, which is a shame) for eating on their own, cool Hand Luke style, or better yet, put the cold, peeled egg right in your broth and eat it a few seconds after it’s immersed. Which is a Tokyo tradition.
I sucked the whole thing down quick, and left very satisfied and only $12 poorer.
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I greatly look forward to eating at Ramen Man in the bear future. They seem to have picked up a loyal following in short order!
I am oddly concerned at the Wally-hood review which whines that the fact that their beer wasn’t served in a glass was “sub-optimal”? Please… get your shoes dirty Dorothy, it’s the real world.
I look forward to my meal at Ramen Man… with my beer in a bottle, as it should be.
Good beer tastes better poured out of the bottle into a glass. That’s my opinion, I’m not sure it’s relevant to all beers or specifically Sapporo, but it’s useful information that is not out of place in a review. I agree that your concern is odd.
I’m a big fan of walking to eat in the ‘hood and of soup/noodles, so Ramen Man really catches my attention. However there’s no website or menu online — that I can find anyway. So, does anyone know if they have vegan dishes for my favorite dining companion and, for me, completely, totally chicken-less options? (I’ve been ill more than a few times because servers or friends don’t understand no chicken means none — not even broth.) Yes, I could walk up there to look at a menu, but I want to know now! 😉
The beer was in a CAN kids. Relax. If it was a bottle I wouldn’t even have mentioned it. But I win, because they added glasses a fair while ago.
Also: Luna, I saw at least two veggie broth orders and I won’t swear to it but I believe they have a veggie broth.
Anything gluten free?
No, I don’t think so. It’s ramen, which is pretty much wheat.
I just thought they might have GF option. No menu to look at online.
Ramen made from buckwheat is g-f since ramen is not wheat but a rhubarb cousin (who knew). . . paired with a tamari-infused broth makes for a g-f delight. (I think most buckwheat ramen has a small percentage of wheatwheat but I imagine that could be tweaked). Happy slurping.
typo:
buckwheat is not wheat but a rhubarb cousin . . .
Labels on buckwheat soba noodles commonly list wheat before buckwheat. The one brand I know that lists buckwheat first is good but a little mushy, and I think all-buckwheat would be a hard sell. That’s soba; ramen I don’t know, but my guess is even more so. Phò (rice noodles) would be a better bet for gluten freedom.