Coconut flavored ramen at Tabata Noodle
The thing about foods like sandwiches, pizzas or noodles is that there's plenty of room for really good versions of it to exist all over New York City. While Totto Ramen and Ippudo seem to have the ramen scene on lockdown, there's no shortage of excellent places to slurp up some noodles. Tabata Noodle is a place to go in Midtown if you want to skip the lines and still have a good bowl.
At Tabata Noodle, they make their broth with mostly chicken bones. I don't know how much chicken bones goes into making the broth, but the flavor is up there with the other popular ramen places. Maybe some would debate about which broth is most chicken-y, but that's just silly. In the experience, I say it's completely impossible to be like, "Ah, Totto Ramen's broth is ## while Tabata is either ##++ or ##--."
The Tabata Ramen features a soybean powder and coconut flavored soup. It comes with chunks of chicken, red onions, cilantro, and like crispy noodle bits. The menu said the chicken was supposed to be spicy but it really wasn't at all. The chicken was the least interesting part of the dish that otherwise wowed. The coconut flavored soup really made a difference. It was rich and cream. Food bloggers out there might even call it sublime. But since I don't talk like that, it's just pretty fucking good, and it's only $9 dollars right now.
Tan Tan Men ($9) features a sesame flavored soup and a bit of spicy ground pork. The sesame taste is as overwhelming as Southern Baptism is in the Mason-Dixie. Depending on how you view it, it's either welcoming and powerful, or too smothering. I found the soup to be very pleasant and delicious. It carries very mild heat that most individuals could enjoy.
The eighth grade version of me was delighted every time someone ordered the Seafood Ramen at Tabata Noodle because they shout out "Sea-men!" with great vigor. You don't have to be immature to be amused at Tabata Noodle though, the food does enough.
Tabata Noodle
540 9th Ave.
New York, NY 10018
212-290-7691
(I invite you to follow me on Twitter so you can get more of my non-sense in another medium.)
I've been going to Tabata ramen for the past month whenever I'm in the neighborhood and think it's very good. You definitely get your money's worth there. Totto ramen is totally overrated. Long waits for disappointingly overpriced small bowls with sparse toppings and sad pork slices.
Dude
October 30, 2011 8:58 am
@Dude,
Agreed, you definitely get your money's worth here. For just $9, you're getting bowls of ramen that's on par with many of the other top ramen places in the city and some of those places charge $15.
Danny
October 31, 2011 1:51 pm
Well, your post intrigued me enough to go try it out. I can't resist coconut anything. I think you nailed it - rich and creamy - really fucking good. I added corn and an egg to it, which only made it better. Noodles got a bit gooey and stuck together though.
Patrick
November 1, 2011 11:29 pm
@Patrick,
corn and egg... I might have to add that next time. I'm still not sure what corn is supposed to be doing in ramen, but egg always helps.
Danny
November 2, 2011 10:00 am