ramen whaaa?

Ramen is one of those foods that I am never really picky about. Good broth+ good noodles= good ramen no? Clearly, I am no ramen connoisseur. While San Francisco has some of the best ethnic foods in the bay area, San Mateo has some of the best japanese restaurants I have ever had in my life. Ramen is no exception. Although i left New York before the ramen craze exploded on the east coast, I have tried the likes of Daikokuya, a ramen paradise people swear by in the Los Angeles region, and Katana-Ya, the SF hidden jewel of Union Square. Both of which were tasty but not worth the ridiculously long wait.

Some of my bay area friends seem to be more in tune with the qualities that make a good bowl of ramen- the consistency and flavour of the broth to the texture of the noodles. My ramen palette was expanded when I tried Ramen Dojo. This small 10 table restaurant is often sold out of its famous broths only a few hours after opening, weekday and weekends alike.

On this particular wednesday night, I ordered the Spicy Garlic Pork Flavor broth with extra corn. The extra corn is a habit that i had acquired in Hong Kong with their famous Butter Corn Ramen, which like its title describes, absolutely delicious.

After a short 10 minute wait and good conversation, our bowls of ramen arrived. Each bowl was adorned with beautiful colors, steaming and ready to eat! The original fixings come with a quail egg, kikuage mushrooms( similar to the crunchy consistency and texture of the black fungus that chinese people commonly use), beautiful green chives, roasted garlic cloves, and 2 pieces of fatty pork.

With my first bite of the noodles, they proved to hold a chewy and almost springy texture that many ramen places fail to achieve properly. I personally love noodles that have a chew , or some bite while others prefer softer alternatives. +1 on the noodles!

With most broth soups, even pho, I generally have a hard time finishing the broth. I rather feel full from the full consumption of the carbs then feeling full from liquid. Just a matter of preference though! The broth was rich and flavorful, mostly from the fatty pork. A good broth, but a bit on the heavy side for me. All in all- a delightful meal and the noodles are everything to write home about!

SF..a food mecca of sorts

To my dear readers, I am sorry for the long hiatus of sorts; of blogging, of trying new restaurants among other things. I had a recent epiphany while commuting on the bum-infested public transit system we in the bay call BART. I missed writing. I read often on my ipad, like most commuters do, and suddenly felt my vocabulary, and proper syntactical usage slowly slip into oblivion. Let's backtrack. Almost 16 months ago today, in an attempt to transform my life, moved back from the far east food epicenter of the world, Hong Kong to another food mecca of sorts; San Francisco. Lucky for me, both cities prove to be filled with foodies who enjoy both the delicate/explosive, cheap and expensive tastes that both cities have to offer.

Don't get me wrong, I miss all that Hong Kong has to offer, food wise and all the lovely international friends i have made, but that is it. The comfort and familiarity of the US customs and immigration desk, stepping off the plane onto US territory felt as comforting as a Westin Heavenly bed.

Like Hong Kong, San Francisco's food scene is heavily segmented into many different categories. There are the hole in the wall authentic ethnic food places commonly found in the neighborhoods of that particular ethnicity, the cute one-off restaurants nestled between coffee shops and boutiques, and the high-end WOM restaurants that hold reservations as long as Santa's Naughty/Nice list.

As a foodie, I love all of the above but my favorite places have to be the hole in the wall places. The exciting thrill of finding something "new" that has not received a million hits on yelp seems slightly more satisfying. But, most of all I love these places because they are cheap and fulfilling , a win win of sorts. No frufru tablecloths, and ambient music, just nitty gritty grungy good food.

Although my food adventures in SF do not come close to the level of glamour that I experienced in HK, I hope to equally provide entertainment, and/or instill the hidden foodie in you to try something new around you! With that , I give you my first post!