After flying around and getting the bird’s eye view of NY, we headed off to Ippudo to have ramen. I had the best bowl of ramen I’ve ever tasted in my life. It was awesome. Not to mention the pork belly buns. Those were even more awesome. I think they’re awesome enough to convert any vegetarian into eating meat again.
I dragged around my camera and looked like an effing tourist. I even made Sam stand outside of Ippudo so I could document this amazing event in my foodie life.
At close to 3PM there was still a 20 minute wait. 20!!! Seriously! Who eats at 3!?
We hung around the bar area while we waited for our table. They had all sorts of nifty things… the bar counters were clear and displayed dried ramen underneath and they had tons of ramen bowls up on the walls.
I finally won the table lottery and we were walked to our seats… at a long communal table with comfy chairs.
Ahh… I was finally sitting in Ippudo…Looking at their menus… and drooling!
We cracked open the menus and noticed that the prices were indeed on the high side. My first impression of NY was that the food costs were higher than what I was expecting… $15 for a bowl compared to $8-10 back home in the SF area.
I chose the Tori Ramen since it was something different and didn’t seem like I’d be able to get it back home. Sam ordered the Akamaru Modern. We also ordered a side of the pork buns to try since every other table had them!
While we waited for the food, I wandered off to the kitchen area to watch the chefs work.
EEEE!!! lots of noodles!!! 😀
I wandered back in time for the pork buns to show up.
OMG.
They were super simple; slightly sweet buns a la peking duck style filled with a slab of simmered pork belly, with a small piece of plain iceberg lettuce and a dab of kewpie mayo.
OMG. DROOL. They were SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO good!!!!!
Complete with my bite marks. Currently I’m calculating how long it would take for me to fly out there, to go there for a pork bun and fly back…
After we downed the buns, our ramen arrived.
My ramen:
Ramen verdict: the akamaru one was delicious, the broth was flavorful but it wasn’t anything to write home about. It was a solid delicious bowl of ramen that didn’t knock my socks off. The tori one was amazing. It had clear broth but tasted super rich in flavor and was filled with umami. OMG. SOOO good! We ordered another side of noodles to add into the soup.
Tori>Akamaru. Hands down.
We waddled out of Ippudo 50 dollars poorer but our tummies were super happy.
Thankfully, the Astor Place subway station was super close and it dropped us off right at our hotel. Thank you NY Subway that smells!
We wandered through the street fair was was being hosted on Lexington Avenue and turned back into our rooms for Nap #2.
Around 9PM, we wandered back out to take the subway down to Chelsea to check out the Upright Citizen’s Brigade Theatre. The show was definitely entertaining and at 10 buckaroos a person, it was one of the cheaper things we did in NY.
The show finished around midnight and we wandered up 7th Avenue and walked through Times Square and the Rockefeller Center back to our hotel. I needed to try the various hot dog vendors on the street. The Taiwanese in me definitely <3’s street food!
We made it to Times Square! After walking like 25 blocks…
The place was super bustling even at 1:30!
We walked back to the hotel and stopped by the halal chicken truck. It. Was. Awesome.
The strange white sauce was DEFINITELY addicting.
For $6 dollars a bowl/$3 per person since we split, it was the cheapest meal we had here.
Not bad… I think our stomachs and our bodies were definitely still on West Coast time since we fell into bed around 3AM.