Ramen Misoya - Chicago Suburbs

[basquecook]

So who the hell knew? I had to come all the way across the country to discover a Ramen place that has a location in New York City. 

I briefly noticed a few of their locations on the wall.. New York City, Bangkok, Montreal, Sao Paulo, Taiwan and now..... Niles IL? 

I didn't really study the menu. There are few different types of Ramen, a few different styles.. My waitress said, this one is the most popular, I noticed a photo, it looked great, I ordered it and asked for a shot of spice.. you can see that tablespoon of red paste on my photo.

The Ramen Broth has a strong sweet miso taste.. It was almost over powering but, I dug it.. You can tell that the broth is made from a stock and not a powder. But, really, it was extremely salty and miso-y. I like extreme flavors.. There was also three large in diameter but thin pieces of pork belly that was rolled, sliced and grilled.. Had a porky taste.. I in fact, didn't even finish all the pork belly. The actually Ramen was ok.. I have had better and been to places that seem to highlight the noodle more.. Here I believe the broth is the real focus. My one complaint, the green tea sucks here.. It's almost like made from some sort of Matcha powdery mix. WTF? You are a Japanese restaurant, green tea, it's like a thing in Japan, no? Don't people drink Green Tea in Japan? Like Genmaicha, Bancha, Sencha, you know not this garbage Konacha powder shit.. i understand you don't have to give it away for free but, you should have an option for someone who wants to drink a nice glass of tea and is willing to pay for it. 

So there is a location near St Marks in Manhattan.. Though I would eat at the Manhattan location, I live in Brooklyn and there are several places i have to pass, that I like better. But, if i was in the area I could see looking forward to that strong Miso Taste

[Naftal]

Hello- Konacha is indeed a very low- quality tea see:

 

 

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Konacha   But, it is very different from Matcha ( which is of a much higher quality) see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matcha   

[basquecook]

Are you saying, there is no low quality matcha tea? 

[Naftal]

I have never seen a low quality matcha or heard of one. The Matcha site above says "Matcha is a fine-ground, powdered, high quality green tea and not the same as koncha". Everything I have ever heard supports this statement. If you can quote a legitimate source that contradicts this, please tell me and I will change my view.

 

 

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matcha

[Naftal]

After more reading I would say that there are various grades of match (some probably better than others) but IMHO all  matcha , as a rule, is much better than koncha. Koncha always begins with a lower quality leaf . Matcha. can be made with low-quality leaves, or processed poorly. Either of these would lower the quality of the matcha. Thank you for stimulating me to do more research, it was a humbling experience

 

 

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matcha

Edited September 27, 2014 by Naftal (log)