Kiwami Ramen
After reading Reid’s review of Kiwami Ramen he had my curiosity piqued. Recently I was in Waikiki with some friends to pick up a gift and I suggested to them that we try Kiwami Ramen.In Reid’s review, it was the ‘medium charsu rice’ that got my attention. Two slices of chashu, a mound of cubed chashu and to top it off a ajitsuke tamago. So the first thing I ordered was the small chashu rice.
I was a bit disappointed with this dish. The main thing about this dish that disappointed me wasn’t the size of the portion, but the cubes of chashu. They were cold and thus the fat on it was also. Cold fat is never good. I don’t know if they serve it like this for a reason, but it didn’t enhance this dish in anyway that I could think of. Another thing to consider is the price. The small is $2.00 and it is fairly small in portion. The medium is $4.00, but it comes with the sliced chashu and the ajistuke tamago (which is $1.50 on the side alone) in addition to what I would assume is an increase in the size of the portion. On a positive note, the rice was hot so it helped warm up the cold cubes of chashu, which when heated, tasted pretty good and also the hot rice was tasty also.
My friend and I ordered the Goma Miso Tsukemen (胡麻みそつけ麺; Sesame seed and soy bean paste broth with noodles).
Our other friend ordered the Tororo Tsukemen (とろろつけ麺; Grated mountain yam with noodles).
The Goma Miso broth was very tasty. The noodles were pretty good and having them tsukemen style helped a lot with keeping the noodles firm until I finished them all. I still hold Taishoken’s noodles as my gold standard. I tried the Tororo broth and that was tasty also.
If you are ever in the area (Waikiki Shopping Plaza) check this place out. While not quite as good as Taishoken it is pretty good.
posted by jupiter @ 3:02 PM
3 Comments:
Hi Jupiter - I've never heard of "Tororo" the broth looks very rich. Other than the nagaimo/yamaimo, what other flavorings are there? I've had Tsukemen style ramen once in LA, but don't know of anyplace in San Diego that serves Tsukemen ramen.
Kirk,
That was the first time I seen Tororo (that is what you call Yamaimo when it is grated) ramen/tsukemen. I have seen Tororo used in soba though, but not in Hawaii. The broth is a shoyu based broth, but other than that I don't know what else was in it.
Gooo Tsukemen!
Hi Jup,
Funny thing you should mention that. I've been to Kiwami Ramen quite a number of times with mixed results. The first time, the cubed chashu was warm, the second time they were cold. But both times, the chashu I got was quite lean and tender. The third time I was there, the chashu was served just as you described and it was quite fatty as well.
Maybe I'll ask next time to see why it's always different.
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