Going a while back (sorry, this is out of order), after a great poker night, I was still ravenous somehow… and Dessert Zombie always encourages me to eat! so we went to Ramen Setagaya around the corner. Ramen Setagaya’s original location was my favorite ramen place, but then they started expanding… and expanded so fast that they closed the original! to my sadness. The lovely thing about the original was that their focus was shio (salt-based) broth… my favorite. The expansions had larger menus with other types of broth as well, but the original only had shio.
All this to say that since they closed the original, I haven’t visited any of the expansions… until that night, when we walked by the St. Mark’s location and wandered in. There was no wait, so we sat down next to a typical NYU pair of friends, having an in depth discussion of how to handle the one girl’s BF’s addiction to (I didn’t catch his drug of choice).
I stuck to my regular order of shio ramen. When it came, I was disappointed to note that the egg was fully cooked, with an almost completely hard yolk… sadface. The ramen itself was fine, sufficient, but not the intensely complex broth to which I was accustomed from Ramen Setagaya of old. It was… good. As good as I remember at the original location? No, but I think I’ve given up on finding that again.
I don’t know that I’ll go out of my way to visit Ramen Setagaya – if I’m in the mood for ramen, it suffices. I have other places I like more that I might visit first, but I know now for sure that I won’t have my favorite bowl again any time soon…
middle of the road
Dessert Zombie says
I been back another time since that visit. It is aight for a quick ramen fix. Average option when in the area and in need of ramen without further wandering. I wish they gave you free green tea though. 1.50 a cup I believe.
Feisty Foodie says
That’s right, I was a little annoyed to find they charged us for green tea. Kind of weird.
hungry says
Where is your favorite ramen place now?
Feisty Foodie says
I don’t have one, sadly.
Will Glennon says
I so love people who are really dedicated to good food. When I was a very small boy I was diligently working my way through my very favorite ever Christmas present the Betty Crocker Baking Kit!
Dina says
i know what you mean, how a place changes and isn’t as good as it used to be.
Feisty Foodie says
I hate when that happens. However, in this instance, they opened new locations and the new locations are not the same as the original. Unfortunate.
Sergey Kalitenko says
This is a place I was first introduced to Ramen!
em says
http://www.yelp.com/biz/hinomaru-astoria
There is this place Hinomaru in Astoria…have you been? I would love to read about your experience before I make the trip there =)
Feisty Foodie says
I have not – but if I go, you’ll be the first to know 🙂