Spoony Bard

Harry, A chef-instructor at the CIA told me that the 6 month experience will no longer be mandatory. It will simply be "suggested".

To the Ippudo experts out there, does Ippudo serve noodles more raw than bari-kata? The one time I had Ippudo, bari-kata was my preference, but these days I developed a strong liking for konaohtoshi. This one hakata-ramen shop (the proprietor was actually trained by an ippudo shop owner) I frequented while living in Korea refused to go any rawer than bari-kata. Is this a hakata thing or was it just that one ramen shop?

That's a tough call because I think its difficult to compare two different styles of ramen. I think asashikawa-style ramen has more layers of flavor than hakata-style, whereas the hakata-style will have a straight forward pork flavor to it. Plus I really can't be quick to judge since I had Ippudo only once in my life. To give you another prosective, my manager would definately pick Santoka over Ippudo. He thinks that hakata-style ramen smells terrible. In his words, "it smells too porky". My manager believed that the yasahi (kind of like the mirepoix/aromatics when making a French stock), that we used help to not only add flavors, but to mellow out that pork "stench" he always ranted about. But then again, my manager might be slightly biased, since his hometown is Asahikawa and his first job in high school was at the original Santoka.... However, I would most likely prefer ippudo over santoka's miso or shoyu. The shio, I'm not so sure about.

Really?? Where did you hear that? And where are they opening? If so, then yes, 2008 is the year of the tonkotsu ramen!!! S ← I worked at the Jersey Santoka for a couple months and that's what the manager told me. It seems to be in the planning stages right now, but they do seem serious about it since the Santoka bigwigs flew in from Japan pretty often. However, I wouldn't be terribly surprised if there's a long delay similar to Ippudo's.

Oh,there's got to be more! What's the Korean soap opera about the intrigues in the palace kitchen (I really should know this...Jewel In the Palace or something like that)... ← Its called 대장금 Daejanggeum. I have no idea what the english title is though... 식객 (Le Grand Chef) is actually based off a comic series of the same name. If you understand Korean, def. pick it up! Much, much, better and more informative than the movie. My all-time favorite food related soap opera is Shota no sushi!

2008 is going to be a great year for ramen in nyc. Ippudo opening next week, and also..... Santoka is planning on opening a shop in Manhattan by the end of the year.