ramen noodles as a meal

do you enjoy eating ramen noodles?

i think part of me romanticizes ramen noodles
because of their association with anime and japan.
ichiraku ramen from Naruto just made it look so delicious.

kyuramen x tbaar wall art. shot with fuji x-t50.

usually ramen stores will have different soup bases,
and you make your choice from there with toppings.

the soup bases are typically shio, shoyu, tonkotsu, and miso.
shio is salt, shoyu is soy sauce, tonkotsu is pork bones, and miso is soybean paste.
if you’re after saltiness, shio is for you. shoyu will give you something more sweet.
tonkotsu is rich and hearty. and miso is lighter, but still packs a strong flavor.

my favorite flavor is usually tonkotsu, with black garlic if available.
also can’t go wrong with adding mentaiko furikake,
a dry seasoning of spices, ground seaweed, and sesame seeds.

i rate ramen places based on the quality of their broth,
the distribution of quantity of ingredients,
and the thickness of the meat offered (usually chashu pork slices).

kyuramen has an okay slice of chashu,
but their broth is definitely something i’d recommend
if you’d like ramen in Chicago.

when i was still in university, a piece of advice my dad gave me
was to have spicy cup noodles on rainy days when i didn’t feel like going out.
to this day, i try to have ramen under those circumstances.

something about warm soup on a cold, rainy day…
nothing beats that.

thank you for reading today’s post.
ramen isn’t for everyone, though. rice dishes are good too.