Momo, Naruto, Ippudo

Review of Three Ramen Restaurants in New York City

by Thelonious Frumkin


My love for food started at a young age. My love for ramen soon followed. It all started on some occasion when I was about 7 or 8. I was at a plywood covered noddle bar called Momofuku. Someone ordered the ramen. I tasted it and fell in love. The broth was so rich and meaty, the egg was perfectly runny. I then went to Momo almost every other weekend. I loved ramen.

The Momofuku ramen has four main parts: the noodles, the broth, the meat, and the toppings. The meat is my favorite. The ramen has two cuts of pork belly: one is fatty; one is a little more lean. They are both delicious. The noodles are thicker than norman ramen which I like. The broth is so rich. I like it better than classic broth. The toppings are bamboo, scallions, and a slow-poached egg. I loved this ramen for years.

Naruto is a more classic place. The broth is lighter, the noodles thinner and the meat crappier. But Naruto has one thing Momo did not: variety. Naruto has about four different ramens. They had spicy, they had miso, they had classic and curry. Plus Naruto had weird appetizers like ball pancake with octopus. Naruto was similar to Momo in decor except Momo had six cooks. Nartuo was about 7 feet wide. It was packed into this space wtih two cooks nad about a dozen seats and relatively good dishes.

The final restaurant is Ippudo. This place is crazy. It was a two hour wait for two. There was a watithing room/bar with red lights and bowls on the wall. Ippudo was very popular. After standing for two hours, we sat down. They had some fake fire in front of us. They had a bamboo tree thing in the center of the restaurant and people screaming Japanese. It was a breathing, loud, wild factory. All the chefs wore plastic gloves. I went to use the bathroom. It was downstairs. There was a window into the prep kitchen where I saw a pot big enough to hold me and my brother. Next to that there was some weird noodle-making robot. I walked upstairs. I ordered samurai ribs. Later, a tiny bone with about a pound of meat on it landed on our table. The smell was intoxicating. I ate three samurai rib. Then came the ramen. It wasn’t brown. It was like Naruto except the meat was worse. The broth was quite watery.

Overall, out of all of the ramens, my favorite is the Momofuku ramen. The meaty thick broth and the extra thick noodles are very hard to beat. Runner up is Naruto: good broth, thin noodles, and a lot of variety. And last was Ippudo. The decor was terrific, but the ramen did not cut the mustard. All in all, I think ramen is a terrific dish and it is one of my favorite foods.