Root, Fabio, and I dropped by Raraya tonight for some noodles. Root and I saw a menu item that we had never seen before – Hiyashi gomadare ramen. The summer heat made something cold sound very attractive, so we both tried it. Volumetrically, it is similar to having the Tsukemen. The goma (sesame seed) sauce is creamy, and slightly sweet. The loosely wrinkled noodles were topped with cooked spinach, corn, char-siu, wakame, three pieces of nori, and half of a seasoned egg. I got it as a rice set, which added a chawan of rice and a plate of kimchi for $2 USD on top of the base $10 USD. The flavor was interesting. The sweetness threw me off a little at first, but I enjoyed it. The value meter needle hangs a little low on this – It was a little light for the money. As a postscript, I ended up having a slight histamine reaction in the bronchial area, usually an indication of the presence of MSG. I hope they’re not starting to cut corners…
Give it a try
Two-and-a-half grinning dining monkeys out of four
The sauce threw me for a loop for a sec, I’m used to the shoyu vinegar type sauce with hiyashi ramen, but this one was pretty good too. This visit I discovered that kimchee and natto on rice is pretty good! Stinky, slimy, stinky, crunchy, spicy, good!
The sounds of abuse in the kitchen was a bit loud, when you arrive near closing I guess that’s to be expected. The dudes who showed up even later than us commented in Japanese if there were carpenters working in the kitchen or something. Made me wonder what the heck they were cleaning, and how.
You and Fabio were sitting on the outside of the booth, so you didn’t have the pleasure of feeling stuff slam into the opposite side of the wall in back of you! It was like UFC cookng in there or something.