USA Sep 2011 – Day 3

Today was another hectic food extravaganza starting with 2 ramen meals at 2 different restaurants just to compare the taste and atmosphere.

Both popular restaurants and both located down near the lower east side which happens to be where my second food tour covers.

Ippudo is an extremely busy establishment with a bar designed with glass table tops and ramen/noodles placed beneath the glass. The queue snakes from inside the restaurant and pours out on to the street. Never have I seen a such a long queue for ramen.

I went inside and put my name on the list for a table for 1. Within 5 minutes I scored a seat at the bench where the chefs cook in front of you. Ippudo is authentic, it really felt like I was back in Japan. When a customer walks in all the japanese waitresses and chef scream out ‘welcome’. Both the chefs and waitresses communicate really well together and bring food to the customers in a matter of minutes.

I ordered the ramen house special with no sides as I knew another meal a few blocks away was waiting for me. The ramen broth was light and delicious. The ramen itself was soft and the pork almost broke into bits when you poke at them with your chopsticks. A perfect meal for lunch in a nice surrounding and highly recommended!

I walked a few blocks down only to backtrack the other way. I’d gone in the opposite direction to that of Momofuku. The decor and atmosphere wasn’t the same as Ippudo, it was much more modern and had a decadent feel to it. Again I was seated in front of the chefs which was great as I could see what they were doing and what they were cooking.

From the menu I ordered the shrimp bun and also the ramen house special. The shrimp bun was delicious and I felt that the ramen here was richer and had a slightly bitter taste to it. I didn’t manage to eat all of this ramen.

With a full stomach I proceeded to my food tour of the lower east side. I had to ask the guide if we were having full meals or just sample size portions. Thankfully my stomach was happy to know that it was the latter.

First we had some kinish (potato), then some postrami from the famous katz deli, followed by a slice of pizza at johns pizza, then some sweets at candy store, then some dumplings from this hole in the wall eatery, then some pickled cucumber and condiments from the pickle brothers and finally some tasty donuts from this bakery. Good god that is a lot of food, especially with dinner around the corner.

After the food tour I wanted to go across Brooklyn bridge and then walk around and walk back to burn off some food. What I thought was the Brooklyn bridge turned out to be another bridge so I wandered around the area anyway to see if there was anything interesting to see. Nothing much really.

I met my mate downtown at a restaurant called Blue Smoke. It was like a jazz pub/restaurant which was recommended by my mate’s landlord and also my client here in London. They apparently are famous for their tasty ribs. We didn’t have a booking so had to patiently wait for an hour drinking beer before we got a table. It was worth the wait as the ribs were probably the best I’ve ever eaten.

smiles