Tonkotsu Heaven @ Ippudo in New York

Ippudo was definitely one of the highlights of our weeklong stay in New York last March, yes it’s taken me a long while to finally come to this point.

More Ramen this time at Shoryu Ramen

Like everyone else in London, I’m enjoying the latest trend of Ramen noodle soup and even more with all the new ramen shops opening up left right and centre now.

Ramen Time @ Bone Daddies

You got to admit it’s a pretty bloody silly name for a ramen bar, as when I mentioned this to a friend they thought I was going to a gig.

Ramen-ya @ Tonkotsu

Our second meal at Tonkotsu could not have been more different than the first that we had during its soft opening week. I think the less said about that first trip the better.

Ittenbari Ramen Noodles Shop

I think we can all say that Tonkotsu’s opening week was not the best and the least said about it the better. But the day after I was still hankering for some good ramen, as I wanted to have that good ramen feeling again, so after some searching I came across Ittenbari, the reviews I read were all positive and well it couldn’t be any worse than what I had eaten the night before.

Noodle Heaven & Taxi Rides

Any restaurant named after an Elvis Costello album has to be eaten at to be believed. Momofuku is a cool noodle bar situated in the East Village. Its interior reminds me a lot of Wagamama. Long wooden benches, lots of hussle and bussle. Cool place.

We were going to come here one night to eat, bit I’m glad we didn’t, as to me it’s more of a lunchtime place than a night time place. But each to his own as they say.

I can’t actually remember what else was on the menu, as it was noodles we wanted and noodles we had.

Just before we arrived we walked past a (refuse to name) fast food joint, with a taxi outside with a sign on top saying “Be Stupid”. Excellent. I’m hoping someone paid that driver to sit outside and warn people not to eat in there. Let’s hope so.

As I said I cannot remember what else was on the menu as we were only interested in the noodles. I had the pork belly and shoulder with a poached egg ramen noodles. I got into egg and ramen soups in Japan. The runny yolk works so well with noodles. That yellow heaven mingling with those noodles. Delish. The pork belly was sweet and tender. Loved it.

Lina has the chilled spicy noodles with some nice spiced sausage and cashew nuts for a bit of texture. The chilli was mild but gave my lips a nice tingly feeling. Missed that. Been a while since we’d had cold noodles. Thankyou Nigella for introducing me to them.

The highlite was the Lagunitas IPA beer. Go there, buy the beer, read the label and you’ll know what I mean. Excellent. You only get that with small time producers. Oh, the beer was really good also.

As this was our last meal in New York and had half an hour or so to get back to the hotel for our shuttle back to Newark. So we decided to take a cab back. Unfortunately we never had a short fat bald guy, ahh 70’s heaven TV. But we did have a tele in the back.

Now I have a personal hate of taxi drivers the world over. I’m sure they all get taught how to rip their passengers off and piss them off. Whatever, from Cairo to Medellin to Hong Kong to Bangkok to Mexico City to Jo’Burg. I hate them all.

Thankfully this guy did his job ok. Got us from A to B and not via E in one piece. He didn’t try and over charge us. Maybe a newie. But I don’t understand this practice of tipping cab drivers. They don’t do anything. You pay for the ride, so why the tip?

Answers please. I’d love to know.