Ramen Jun

It was freezing that first night in Frankfurt and I was looking for dinner. I thought that a having something hot would be a good choice. I have been having German food for the past few days and while I don’t dislike it, I think it was time for me to try something I was craving for – ramen! I realized that it is very difficult to find very good ramen in Europe. I am not sure why it is so difficult to replicate the taste since what I have tried in Europe is something very different from what I grown to like in Asia. Now that I am in an international city in Frankfurt, I was hoping to be able finally get my proper ramen fix.

It seems that there is a ramen shop near where I was staying in Frankfurt. It was a short subway ride away and I decided to make a go for it. I braved the freezing temperatures to get there and hopefully I would get a really nice one. The reviews seem to say it is good but I would need to try it out for myself. I got my usual tonkotsu ramen which is basically pork broth ramen with sides of chicken karaage. The bowl came out quickly enough and what greeted me was a rather sad looking bowl of soup with noodles. There was none of the usual Japanese flair that you would see in other ramen shops. It was almost like they just threw in the ingredients together and called it ramen. There were also some ingredients inside which I have never seen in a bowl of ramen before.

What about the taste? The broth was rather bland and still nothing like what I have had before. For me, a proper tonkotsu broth would be the almost creamy type and full of flavor. This has nothing of the sort. The noodles were okay. The slices of chashu were rather generous though, but it can’t compensate for the lackluster broth that should be the star of the dish. At least it was hot. The restaurant was quite busy and I was seated at the bar but I didn’t mind that. The staff was nice and cheery but ultimately I paid for the ramen. The chicken karaage was good though. Having said that, I think I can make that myself. I left disappointed and thinking that maybe it is hopeless to find proper tonkotsu ramen in Europe. To think that this was Frankfurt which is a financial center of Europe. I would have thought they would have better ones here. Maybe their sushi is good here.

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