Inggo Noms...

Ippudo is my favorite ramen place. While I admit that some places have better tasting broth or better toppings, the noodles in Ippudo are by far my favorite. Adding that I don’t really prefer the richer broth of other ramen places and much prefer the balanced flavor of their white bowl, this cements this ramen joint’s first place in me and my Betrothed’s top list (although my Betrothed prefers their red bowl). I was pleasantly surprised to learn that there was an Ippudo in Megabangna. Since I’ve been walking around the mall for a while, the feast from Kub Kao Kub Pla had already digested and there was now space in my stomach. I decided to see if this place is similar despite crossing seas.

About a month-and-a-half ago, my Betrothed and I had an early dinner at Ohayo Ramen Bar. While ramen is not exactly a rarity in Maginhawa, this newly-opened place did receive some pretty good reviews from initial reviewers. Being ramen lovers, my Betrothed and I set our expectations quite high.

Beloved and I stayed at Makati a week ago because of some work-related Christmas celebrations. Since it’s a rare occasion that we’re staying in Makati, we decided to eat at Mendokoro Ramenba. This Metro-famous ramen place is often talked about with its long queues in its somewhat not-as-accessible location in Salcedo Village, Makati. There’s also the couple of scandals the venue is involved in related to celebrity patrons.

My first meal with Beloved the day after I returned from the Netherlands was in Ippudo Eastwood Branch. The primary reason we went here was because they were having a limited promotion where they served the original recipe from 33 years ago. Knowing how consistent Ippudo is through the years no matter the branch or country, we were quite excited to try it out.

This is a part of my Sendai, Japan trip. If you want to have an overview of my entire Japan “Food Odyssey”, I suggest you start with my 7-Eleven review and follow the different links from there.

Our same party that went to Namaskar had dinner at T’s TanTan the following night. From its name, I guessed that this place serves tantanmen, or somewhat thicker, spicier, and more noodle-focused ramen dish that Beloved always get when it’s available in Ippudo or other ramen/noodle places. To not ruin the “catch” on this place (but perhaps you can guess if you’ve been paying attention) read on.

This is a part of my Sendai, Japan trip. If you want to have an overview of my entire Japan “Food Odyssey”, I suggest you start with my 7-Eleven review and follow the different links from there.

As I mentioned in my precursor tale, I made it one of my personal missions to try out Ippudo in Japan, mostly to compare it to what we have locally. I also wanted to try out Ichiran ramen, but sadly, there wasn’t any in Sendai as far as my research went.

Beloved and I had a late lunch at Kureji. This ramen-specializing place is one of the only few opened stores in relatively new Vertis North. Outside, there’s a television that plays their menu items. What grabbed my attention was the fact that the ramen is served boiling, or, in their terms, sizzling. Yes—apparently, they specialize in sizzling ramen. I guess that’s why they called it kureji, which essentially means “crazy” as spelled in katakana. It might also mean “courage”, which sounds similar, and, in retrospect, it really is couragous to try serving something like sizzling ramen.

After going to Tsuta with Beloved and Const, we went to Wrong Ramen since we were obviously unfulfilled on both stomach fullness and savory ramen cravings. We chose to go here because, like Tsuta, this place was unique in that there’s no other branches in the Metro. Also, the last place just made us want real ramen, and we hoped this place would fulfill that need.

Beloved and I, together with Const, ate at Tsuta yesterday. This famous Michelin-Starred soba place recently opened its doors at Taguig’s Bonifacio High Street. We watched BuzzFeed’s Worth It feature this place in Japan as their mid-range option for their Ramen special a few weeks back and the experience they had seemed divine. That, along with the fact that it’s original branch was granted one Michelin Star, gave us pretty high expectations of this place.

Another ramen place? Sure, why not. Beloved and I had dinner a couple of times at Hokkaido Ramen Santouka at Trinoma. This relatively new ramen place opened its doors at Trinoma’s fourth floor alfresco area, replacing our old tambayan Timezone Arena. Good old days.