One December Friday evening, DLS and I decided we should get ramen. I’d just heard a few people talking about Ramen Misoya on St. Mark’s, so I suggested we head over there.
DLS suggested we start with an appetizer, so we ordered tofu. I don’t think either of us expected it to look like this – a small cup full of very soft tofu, topped with a jelly of sorts and shreds of bonito. The tofu itself was light and sweet, but the shreds of bonito mixed with the jelly to create a sort of chewy mass that DLS really didn’t like. I just didn’t like the overall texture of slimy jelly on top of soft tofu, though I appreciated the umami from the bonito shreds… just a dish that neither of us appreciated.
DLS went wit the char shu ramen, which looked really good. He seemed to enjoy the char shu a lot, though I declined trying a bite.
I chose the regular ramen, to see what was up. While the noodles were springy and perfectly fine, I found the broth to be a little too creamy for my liking. It is the same problem I had at Totto Ramen – very thick mouth-feel to the broth, which can be good but isn’t always my preference for ramen. Unfortunately, since the noodles here were just perfectly fine but not super great, and the broth just wasn’t to my liking, I’ll have to keep searching for my new favorite ramen place (as my favorite actually seems to have disappeared, sigh).
Yvo says: Overall, the ramen was sufficiently tasty, but I found no reason to rank this above any other ramen place. If I wanted ramen and was nearby, I might wander in if there was no line (we lucked into a table immediately, but shortly after, a line began forming), but I won’t go out of my way to eat here. It was satisfactory… that’s all.
middle of the road
hungry says
Setagaya closed?!
Feisty Foodie says
The original one is no longer called Setagaya (on 11th and 1st, I think it was). There may still be a few Setagayas around the city (the offshoots/branches they opened later) but the focus in their menus has never been the shio broth, which is my favorite.
kim says
There’s a shio version at Misoya, no?
I read that the broth could be oversalted. Did you find that problem? I think Minca is still the best around those blocks. No frills, just good ol’ ramen.
Feisty Foodie says
If there was, I’d have ordered it.
I like salt, so it didn’t taste too salty to me… but maybe it would have to other people. The salt level didn’t stand out to me.
T.C. says
The char siu looks good.
Is it a chicken broth? If so, probably pass for me.
Pork, pork, pork! 😛
Feisty Foodie says
No, it’s a miso broth, thus the name. Hahaha 🙂
T.C. says
I am a bad Asian. Miso-base is fine.