In the last press dinner I attended at Oficina Latina (check my review of Oficina Latina), we discussed about the ramen phenomena. One of the attendees of Japanese origin mentioned this place called Hide-Chan Ramen in Midtown East. We went on a cold Saturday thinking that it would be the perfect dish to warm up our bodies. We showed up a little before they opened, at 12pm, and surprisingly, there was no line of people waiting for the restaurant to open. In fact, 15 minutes later, the restaurant was packed, with mainly Asian customers, that is always a good sign!
Similar to any ramen places, you can sit at a table or at the counter, facing the kitchen. We sat at a table in front of a wall decorated with masks from either Disney characters, manga or super heroes.
On the table, they had several kinds of seasoning, such as sesame seeds or red ginger that you can put in your dish:
It took a bit of time for the buns to come, but I guess it might be because the kitchen just opened. These buns were good, but the pork was almost dry and there was not that much on it. I definitely prefer the ones I ate at Rai Rai Ken or Momofuku Noodle Bar.
Then came our ramen. Jodi ordered the vegetarian one.
The colors were fantastic and vivid. Jodi ordered a poached egg that they brought on the side with some seaweed.
And they also brought some avocado separately, that was much appreciated compared to the disgusting avocado in the soup we got at Totto Ramen.
The broth was light and tasty and they served a lot of noodles in that bowl!!! The noodles had a firm consistency: in fact, you decide how you would like them (very firm, firm, medium that is al dente or soft).
On my side, I ordered the Deluxe Ramen.
The bowl looked beautiful and the smell was amazing! The ramen was made of various veggies like corn, bamboo shoot, pork (lots of it), a boiled egg, seaweed and of course noodles (firm). I started off by tasting the broth: it was spectacular! A bit salty, it was flavorful and the pork fat was no stranger to it (you can ask for Hakata meaning lots of pork fat contents in the broth)!!! Then, the pork was delightfully tasty and tender. I was definitely trying to make each spoon different: sometimes with pork & broth, sometimes with pork & egg & broth, etc...
I have to say that I really enjoyed the ramen at Hide-Chan Ramen and it is in the top for me with Ippudo and Momofuku Noodle Bar.
Enjoy (I did)!
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