Madison Restaurant Review: Hong Kong Station

I will admit I was first interested in Hong Kong Station's unique noodle ordering system. You are given a pen and a sheet where you can choose from 8 different types of noodles, 3 different broths and more then a dozen mix ins and toppings. It's like the Coldstone of Noodles.

On my first outing to Hong Kong Station I shared a nice meal with this cutie.

She was (un?)fortunately more interested in the magna-doodle then the food, though she seemed love the broken flakes of eggroll wrapper.

I tried the beef broth with Ramen noodles, beef tenderloin, and beef meatballs. The ramen noodles were good but nothing to blog about.  The beef broth was fairly flat. There are a few condiments on the table which make it better. Personally I think what this broth really needs is a deeper roast on the bones before they make the stock and another 4-6 hours of simmering. It is a beautifully clear broth, which means it hasn't come to a full boil, which causes a stock to become very cloudy.

Beef Broth with Ramen noodles beef balls and tenderloin.

I also tried the spicy broth with Chinese egg noodles shrimpballs and shrimp dumplings. The Chinese egg noodles are nearly identical to Wah-Kee's noodles, maybe their source? The Spicy broth had a tiny bit of a kick, but more importantly Szechuan peppercorns floating on top. I told Pete chew on one of those and he spent the rest of the meal asking me "Why would you do that to me?" The analgesic effect slowly wore off as my amusement faded. Chewing on these fills your mouth with a unique flavor and numbs your mouth completely.

Guest Post: Ramen

Today we have a guest post from Tess over at Adventuretess! She lives in Toronto and has a passion for food and traveling. From her travel guide blog, it appears that she does more then just eat when she travels... I didn't even know that was an option.

Without further ado here is her post on Ramen:

I love ramen. Like, really really love it. Growing up, I'd eat instant noodles almost daily (And I’m not dead yet! Amazing!). Of course, not all ramens are created equal. If all you've ever had is instant noodles, you haven't even scratched the surface.

Before delving into the intricacies of ramen, we first need to define ramen.

“Um that's noodles and soup right?” you might be saying right now. Baseline, yes but THERE’S SO MUCH MORE! OK, Japanese ramen is the benchmark. To keep things simple, let’s say a creamy, porky tonkotsu broth with al dente noodles and melt-in-your-mouth chashu (slices of pork) is our baseline ramen benchmark. BUT there's actually numerous different styles of ramen just within Japan. Hell, we've also got Korean ramen which is a totally different thing than Japanese ramen. This is actually part of the problem with ramen - it means a lot of things and each person’s idea of it can be quite different.

Restaurant Review: Umami Ramen & Dumpling Bar

Let me give you a little background. I have been to Umami twice one year apart for a yearly large group.

I want so very much to like this place. I used to live in Japantown in San Francisco where there are amazing ramen joints cheek by jowl. I have high requirements for my ramen.

The first time I went, one year ago, when I sat down the table was quite sticky. Like, this hasn't been wiped down in a few days sticky. In a place where long noodles are slurped, and everything comes with a dipping sauce, good deep cleaning with a towel is required between every patron. This should really be done at every restaurant everywhere. I will admit, some of the stickiness could be due to the incredibly thick lacquer on the table reacting to hot dishes being placed on it. If that is the case you definitely shouldn't have those tables in a restaurant without tablecloths.

One year later I was hoping to give them a second chance.