Japanese Soul food at Ippudo- East Village (New York City, USA)

Confession: I am obsessed with all things Japanese. But mostly with Japanese food, especially ramen. Nothing makes me happier than a warm bowl of creamy soup and hand-made noodles. Ippudo being on my list was one of the first places I have visited since my temporary move to the City. On the first night, I was unsuccessful (the wait was 2 hours long). The second time the wait was 1.5 hours long. The third time, I tried to catch them off guard by showing up in the middle of the afternoon. The wait was 15 minutes.

To celebrate the short wait and finally reaching our destination we ordered the Kaori Mikan Sake: a mandarin orange flavored Sake. It was delicious but I do prefer traditional Sake over this flavored one. 

We started with an order of pork and chicken buns. One of our friends does not eat pork which led to a dilemma: most items on the menu are pork based and so her options were limited to the vegetarian ramen and some appetizers. 

Both buns were perfect (and better than other more hyped buns in the area). The bread fluffy and fresh and the ingredients full of flavor. 

Our ramen came out shortly after: one vegetarian, one Akamaru modern (for me) and one Shiromaru Chasu (See menu).

The Akamaru Modern came in a tonkatsu broth with Ippudo's special sauce, miso paste, garlic oil, chashu, half boiled egg and spring onions. 

I really enjoyed the broth and the additional flavors added at Ippudo. I like to add pretty much everything to my bowl as you can see below. 

The noodles varied for each ramen dish and we all agreed that they were very good.

For dessert we had the green tea creme brulee topped with green tea ice cream. I love creme brulee especially cracking the hard sugary top. But I have to say this one was not my favorite. I prefer the original flavored creme brulee but I did appreciate the creativity that went into this dessert. 

Overall, I really enjoyed the ramen and will go back while in New York but I find that I am truly spoiled by all the good and cheap ramen restaurants in Vancouver (apparently some of their ingredients are brought over from Vancouver).