samurai noodle: armored platings

by rameniac | 14 Aug 2008

Samurai Noodle is a ramen shop on the cusp of the American tonkotsu boom. There, I said it, but no, I’m just kidding. I’m sure the fine folks behind the establishment would like to think of it as such, but in reality, the Seattle International District’s newest and hippest ramen joint merely exemplifies a valiant effort that, like the U.S. women’s gymnastics team at the Beijing Olympics, falls far short of the gold medal ramen prize.

But first, a bit of perspective. It should by now be common knowledge (yeah, right!) that pork bone ramen is Japan’s greatest export since sushi and fuel-efficient cars. The boom started in the early nineties, when tonkotsu mania spread from Kyushu across the rest of that country and then trickled Stateside in the form of ramen shops like Hakata Shin-Sen-Gumi and Los Angeles’s ever-popular Daikokuya.

Samurai Noodle is a few years late to the game, but the simple fact that a Kyushu-style ramen specialist can even exist in an American city not named Los Angeles or New York is hard proof that the popularity of the pork bone is here to say. And like its namesake, like a ronin during the Tokugawa, this ramen definitely has a lot of fight. The aptly-named “samurai armor combo” has got all the right moves; it’s a toppings-on-the-side extravaganza not unlike Santouka’s tokusen toroniku ramen, and likewise an artery-clogging delight. There’s extra slabs of extra fatty chashu, kikurage wood-ear mushroom, and juicy, sweet bamboo shoots. And you can even opt for Hakata-style accoutrements like spicy mentaiko cod roe, which make anything better, trust me.

Additionally, you can request three levels of kotteri oil to add for extra richness. Of course, I had to go for the extreme setting, whereupon the soup came trapped under a sheen of lard nearly a centimeter thick that coagulated into a filmy matte halfway through my dinner. I dared drink but a fraction of it.

Unfortunately, I didn’t have to resist much, for although the “samurai armor” tonkotsu ramen looked great on paper, when it came to flavor, the soup was about as effective as a wooden practice sword. Although it practically oozed the funk of pork, it didn’t quite have enough of that saturated, slightly sweet umami punch ramen this considered really ought to deliver.  And as at Daikokuya, the noodles are all wrong, a thin but excessively curly, risen yellow strand better suited to a bowl of assari shoyu in the Tokyo tradition. The same fate befalls many a bowl of tonkotsu ramen served here in the States, so at least the samurai is not alone.

Samurai Noodle opened not long ago, in a space that’s a mere hovel. The ramen is popular and already a second location is in the works. And yet I can’t help but wonder what would happen if the owners set their priorities in order and took another year or two to get the soup right before expanding. For although it’s a great thing that specialist tonkotsu ramen can now be had in Seattle, this is one swordsman that could use a few more practice swings.