Raraya

Discovered by Scat, just newly opened at 1145 South King Street, a new ramen-ya, Raraya. located next to The Bike Shop and across the street from Precision Radio, near the intersection of S. King and Piikoi. The sign notes that it is iekei ramen, which some quick Net searching indicates it’s a style of ramen from the Yokohama area and seems to have originally been a chain of ramen shops. It features a broader flat noodle, slices of cha siu, spinach, sheets of nori and the options of specifing oilyness, saltyness, and firmness.

The ramen and cha siu bowl combo I ordered was true to this description. I did not specify any preferences, so I assume it was done medium. Quite a nice bowl of ramen, the fatter noodles are a departure from what you see in most other ramen places around, gives it some nice body. Tasty broth that I found seemed actually lighter than many others. The flavor seemed to be balanced a little more toward the chicken rather than pork. The cha siu looks to be made from a pretty lean and firm cut of pork. Perhaps this is the style, but it didn’t fill me with the joy of  fatty melt in mouth cha siu like at Yotteko-ya. The ramen is rounded off simply with spinach and sheets of nori.

My combo came with cha siu bowl and side of kim chee. The bowl is quite a looker. Rice topped with the cha siu with a sauce, spinach, soft boiled egg half, and a net of mayo. The cha siu is the same as in the ramen but with a sauce that is dangerously close to a western BBQ sauce. It’s okay, but again doesn’t fill me with joy. The egg is a perfectly soft boiled doneness which does make me happy. Honestly, next time I’ll pass on the cha siu bowl.

The kim chee is good, although I think the kim chee found at others is better.

On the table you’ll find the usual condiments, and then the goma mill. I remember having one of these at home years ago, and it’s a great addition to top your ramen off with.

On a second visit, I had the tsukemen and got a side of egg. Tsukemen is a style where the noodles are served seperately and you have a side bowl of dipping broth. Since intended for dipping, the broth is oilyier and saltier. I quite enjoyed this. And the eggs again made me happy.

They have the right idea, the menu is small. Focus on what is important, the ramen, and that is what you should come here for. It’s a pretty small space, about a half dozen tables, but considering how new it is, there seems to be a constant flow of customers. Not packed, but there always was someone in there. I’m not sure how the word is getting out, but the big majority of customers seemed to be Japanese nationals. Our first time there we were handed Japanese menus. The entire staff (of three as far as I could see) also seem to be native Japanese. The BG music on our second visit was J-Pop, with a lot of old school H-Project stuff. Didn’t really bother me, Fabio would feel right at home. Beats self promoting TV shows. Service is good. You do get the feeling sometimes that they’re feeling a little harried, and the girls often don’t remember which person ordered what, but I can’t really fault them seeing that this is a small casual dining shop. The A/C needs some work though, it was getting a bit stuffy in there.

There’s limited parking in the rear and side of the building, otherwise street parking on King is usually not too hard to find depending on time of day. The place is so new that the website link above will only get you a title page, but they got their one thing right, the ramen is good. Definitely worth checking out. 3 out of 4 noodley monkeys.