Once a simple street food, ramen has become a gourmet phenomenon around the world. Kyuramen, one of the largest ramen chains in America, is known for its meticulously crafted ramen dishes, developed by ramen experts. It focuses on introducing Japan’s three major styles of ramen: South Japan’s Kyushu Shio Style, Central Japan’s Tokyo Shouyu Style, and the Hokkaido Miso Style.
Kyuramen offers a wide variety of appetizers. This includes okonomiyaki, a savory Japanese pancake made with flour, eggs, and shredded cabbage and topped with okonomiyaki sauce, mayonnaise, bonito flakes, and dried green seaweed; and Takoyaki, a popular Japanese street food consisting of bite-sized balls with octopus, tempura scraps, and green onions, and served with bonito flakes, dried green seaweed, mayonnaise, and teriyaki sauce. The warm, comforting taste of Kyuramen’s appetizers certainly prepares my palate for the main course: the ramen.
Kyuramen serves a diverse range of ramen dishes. Their signature YinYang ramen is served with chashu pork, shrimp tempura, scallop, baby corn, a half-marinated egg, narutomaki, bamboo shoots, and a pork broth for a price of $19.99. The pork broth is half Tokyo Shouyu Tonkatsu style and half Hokkaido Miso style. For a vegetarian option, they offer the Vegetable Miso ramen, embodying the Hokkaido Miso style, which is served with tomato, fried tofu, straw mushrooms, broccoli, corn, wakame seaweed, and a vegetable broth. The ramen noodles have a distinctive chewy and slightly elastic texture, while the broth was the star of the show. It boasted a deep, creamy, umami-rich flavor that filled my stomach with warmth.
“The YinYang ramen was half spicy and half regular, but the spicy was a little too oily for my taste. I will say that the presentation was really nice! It was definitely a decent-tasting ramen, but for the price, I just expected something a little more,” said sophomore Tiffany Hou.
If ramen isn’t your cup of tea, there are also rice and burger options. There’s the classic Omurice, a popular dish composed of a thin yet fluffy omelette served on top of chicken fried rice. The omelette is carefully sliced to encase the fried rice in a bed of creamy and custardy eggs. They also serve the Soft Shell Crab Rice Burger, which comes with soft shell crab, cucumbers, and crispy rice in place of a traditional burger bun. It definitely brings an interesting texture to the dish.
Of course, to satisfy all the sweet-tooths, Kyuramen has a selection of desserts, such as the Japanese Cherry Blossom Jelly and Matcha Tiramisu. The Matcha Tiramisu was the perfect dessert that cleansed my palate of savoriness. The mascarpone cream was soft and creamy, and the matcha powder on top had a fresh and slightly bitter taste with notes of sweetness.
“I really, really enjoyed the Matcha Tiramisu. I thought the texture was really light and fluffy, and I think it’s a great dessert item that everyone should try at least once!” said Hou.
Aside from the variety of foods Kyuramen offers, Kyuramen has an interior of staggered honeycomb table arrangements, where diners are tucked into hexagonal alcoves. The unique inside of Kyuramen, creates a cozy and Instagram-worthy dining space. Don’t be surprised if you see people taking photos of the honeycomb section while you eat!
