65 4th Avenue
New York, NY 10003
(212) 388-0088
On the same day that we had lunch at
Momofuku Noodle Bar, we had dinner at Ippudo. I figured the ramen from both places would still be fresh on our minds so we could do a little comparison!
My aunt and uncle were telling me that they've eaten there before. Not their cup of tea because it is an izakaya, so they thought it was too noisy and dark (hence our terrible photos). Hehehe,
grown ups!
We tried to go early to avoid the long line ups, luckily it was only a five minute wait as they were still settling customers in.
They have seating right by the kitchen and communal tables all around the restaurant. There are booths for larger parties as well.
It really is a ramen bar! Some of the booth tables had this feature too.
So let's start comparing! We ordered their Hirata Pork Buns, described as steamed buns filled with pork, served with Ippudo original spicy buns sauce. It turns out, we couldn't compare the flavours since they were completely different. This was saucier and was accompanied with lettuce instead of hoisin, scallion, and cucumber. The Ippudo sauce was good, but the tenderness of the pork wasn't close to Momofuku Noodle Bar.
From their specials, we tried the Ika & Shishit Isobe-age. This was fried squid and Japanese peppers coated with a nori tempura batter. There was dipping sauce, a wedge of lemon, and green tea salt to complete the taste.
I didn't try the peppers for fear that it would be too spicy, but I did enjoy the squid. A Japanese twist to calamari!
This was my ramen, the Shiromaru Hakata Classic. The original "Tonkotsu" noodle soup topped with pork loin chashu, kikurage, menma, memma, red pickled ginger, sesame, and scallions. When served, we are told to mix everything right away.
I didn't add any extra toppings, but you can here for an extra fee. Boiled egg, poached egg, leaf mustard, bamboo shoots, braised pork belly, pork, or Ippudo's original spicy paste are all additions.
My ramen was tasty and I prefer the noodles here. Momofuku's is a bit firmer - Howard prefers it because it's chewier - but I like Ippudo's softly cooked noodles.
Howard tried the Karaka Miso Ramen. A soybean paste and pork noodle soup with Ippudo's special blend of hot spices, topped with pork chashu, cabbage, kaiware radish, menma, fresh grated ginger, and scallions. That ball sitting onto of the meat in the photo? Grated ginger. It made the dish spicy and tasty.
Howard's verdict? He liked the soup and ingredients from Ippudo, but preferred the noodles from Momofuku.
I was a little apprehensive about ordering dessert since we were going to visit Lady M Confections the next day. But, in the odd case we didn't make it there, we ordered the Mille Crepe Cake.
Delicious and we loved the texture! This has moved up to Howard's favourite cake. Now... I must try to make one at home!
