ZenPop Japanese Ramen Pack (October 2019) REVIEW

***$3 OFF AND GIVEAWAY***
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For the longest time, I finally get to try another all-ramen box! I am beyond exciting to taste every single one of these cup noodles! Thanks to ZenPop, I actually found two of the favorite cup noodle of all times! Let's start with the review:

ZenPop Japanese Ramen + Sweets Mix Pack (October 2019) REVIEW

***$3 OFF AND GIVEAWAY***
Buy it Enter Giveaway!
Use coupon code: JFOODIE

What I love about ZenPop Japanese Ramen + Sweets Mix Pack is the variety of ramen and snacks I get! There are too many types of snacks and cup noodle out there and sometimes I just don't want to hand-pick them myself. (Physically at a market or online shop) By getting a ZenPop mix pack, I get a cute box sent to my doorstep and it often brings great surprises! 

Soba at Soba Ichi, Oakland (San Francisco Bay Area) USA

Cold Soba (Seiro - Regular Size) with dipping sauce, pickles, and condiments

Soba Ichi is a restaurant specialized in Japanese soba (buckwheat) noodles. Their soba is freshly prepared every day from scratch. They are one of the Bay Area restaurants with Michelin-awarded Bib Gourmand status in the year 2019. Since they are the only soba specialty restaurant in the area, make sure to make a reservation one day in advance! 

ESIAN BOX BY ESIAN MALL | REVIEW

Esian Snack Box by Esian Mall

$5 OFF DISCOUNT 

Esian Box is a snack box by Esian Mall, who is a monthly subscription box service that offers snacks, beauty products, and unique items for gamer, geek, anime, or movie fans. From this box, I got an umbrella with design of Harley Quinn (a fictional character from Batman) on it. Other than Japanese snack, there's also a South Korean instant noodle pack, some Chinese bean curd snacks and seaweed soup. I feel like this snack box is guiding me to try variety of things!

And how do they know if you are getting something you might like? Each snack box is customized based on the type of flavor and snack you prefer, as well as the type of entertainment you enjoy the most: comic, movie, anime, cartoon, Disney, etc...

Shoyu Ramen, Tori Paitan, & Karaage at Touhichi らぁ麺 とうひちKyoto, JAPAN

Shoyu Ramen

Karaage (Fried Chicken)

While browsing Google Map in Kyoto, I found a very high rated ramen shop far away from the city center. Before the shop opened for dinner, a line is already formed at shop front. Everything I ordered here are undoubtedly really good! Plus, I found one of the best karaage I've ever had!

Hakata Ramen at Marufuku Ramen in San Francisco, Northern California

Hakata skinny ramen noodle, a style of ramen originated from the ward of Hakata, Fukuoka Province of Japan

Marufuku Ramen just opened 4 months ago, and it's been pretty popular since its grand opening inside San Francisco Japantown. They specialized in Hakata-style ramen, which is a Tonkotsu (pork bone soup) based ramen. Its noodle is rather skinny and whiter than the typical ramen noodles you see. Overall, this ramen spot is not bad if you want a slight taste of Japanese ramen. I would say they are trying to make it as authentic as they can with the ingredients available in the Bay Area. So if you are a Tonkotsu fan, don't forget to try out Marufuku! (See menu at the bottom of this post)

Shoyu, Shio, and Spicy Ramen at Shiba Ramen, Oakland (Northern California) USA

Clear Dark aka Shoyu Ramen

Shiba Ramen opened their second location in Oakland Downtown. I am so glad they finally can serve their ramen at an actual restaurant now. They still have their original shop inside "Emeryville public market," which is a food court that really limits their potential to serve pipping hot ramen. Anyway, I tried three ramen at the new location: Spicy, Clear (Shio), and Clear Dark (aka Shoyu Ramen). Out of all, I highly recommend Clear Dark, which its soup shows the strongest depth in flavor.

Shoyu Ramen at Japanese Soba Noodles 蔦 Tsuta (the first Michelin starred ramen shop in the world), Tokyo JAPAN

Shoyu Ramen (used 3 kinds of soy sauce!) topped with chashu, menma, egg, scallions, and black truffle oil

Finally, I get to try the first Michelin starred ramen in the world! They used 3 types of soy sauce + black truffle sauce here. And to be honest, it's a bit salty for me. However, overall it's a great bowl with delicious chashu (pork slice), egg, menma (bamboo shoots), house-made ramen noodles, and chicken + seafood soup!

Yuzu (Japanese Citrus) Ramen at Afuri, Harajuku Tokyo JAPAN

Yuzu Ramen

Yuzu is a type of citrus in East Asia. It might seems strange to add this flavor into ramen, but it is actually tooooo delicious to forget. Not only it has a subtle sweetness, it makes this chicken-based ramen more appetizing and refreshing!

Shio, Organic (Shoyu), Tori Paitan, & Vegan Tantanmen at Mensho Tokyo, San Francisco USA

Shio Ramen - Clear chicken and pork soup, Shio dare, pork chashu, kale, menma, fried garlic, chives, nori

Vegan Tantanmen - Vegetable soup with kombu and mushroom, premium Japanese soy milk, seven types of nuts, sesame, cilantro, chili oil, green onions, menma, kale sprouts

Tori Paitan - Rich, creamy chicken soup, pork chashu, duck chashu, menma, kale, burdock root, katsubushi sauce

Organic Ramen (Shoyu) - Clear organic chicken and pork soup, shoyu dare, pork chashu, duck chashu, kale, kale sprout, menma chives, menma, nori

There were 4 ramens on the menu tonight, and since I have 2 more people with me, we ordered all 4 to try out all of them at once. Personally, I fell in love with their Shio ramen. The tasty umami from the Rausu kelp and Hongare Katsuobushi Dashi broth really perfected it. Let me tell you more about Mensho Tokyo and their delicious ramen!

Tori Paitan Ramen at Ramen Shop, Oakland USA

Tori Paitan Ramen $17
manila clams, pork chashu, shoyu-marinated egg, maitake mushrooms, sweet onions, and mizuna

I just came back from Japan, and the first ramen I have when coming back is Ramen Shop. To me, Tori Paitan (Chicken white broth) always feel "nutritious" when compressing all the chicken bone, meat, essences into one bowl of creamy tori paitan. However it doesn't seem that way anymore when trying the Paitan tonight at Ramen Shop.

Shio, Shoyu Ramen, and Tsukemen at ロックンビリーS1 (Rock'n & Billy Super 1), Hyogo JAPAN

Shio Ramen - Hinai chicken broth, chicken breast, menma, onion, scallions, yuzu zest

Shoyu Ramen - Hinai chicken broth, chicken breast, menma, onion, scallions

This is definitely one of the best ramen shop I've been so far! Recommended by many other foodies and ramen experts, 嶋崎 順一 Junichi Shimazaki's ramen has been ranked as one of the best ramen in Tokyo or as one of the "Tokyo Ramen Gods".

Made purely by one of the best species of chicken in Japan, (Akita's Hinai chicken) the chicken broth is clear and very delicious!! On top of that, chicken fat to make this bowl of ramen more addicting. The chicken breast pieces have great texture and tender. The bamboo shoot is actually crunchy (the veggie type of crunchy/crispy) and well prepared without any unwanted odor or taste. The ramen itself is thin and bouncy. It matches with the clear chicken broth perfectly.

I highly recommend all three ramen: shio, shoyu, and tsukemen. (They are all ranked #1 in 2012-2013 Ramen Reward in Japan) Of course, if you want me to really pick one, Shio ramen is the one that you can truly taste the pure Hinai chicken's flavor without any other add-on flavors. It's actually my favorite out of the three.

Spicy Miso Ramen at 鬼金棒 カラシビ 味噌らー麺 Kikanbo Spicy Ramen, Chiyoda, Tokyo JAPAN

Spicy Miso Ramen Special (Medium Spicy)

The ramen here has really strong sesame aroma. The miso broth has moderate amount of pork fat. Small pieces of ginger can be found, and makes the savory broth really tasty! The chashu meat is extremely soft that melt in your mouth. The spiciness of the ramen came from the spicy oil and sanshou mix. It is the savory type, not that kind you get in American food. (sour type spiciness)

Miso ramen (Non-spicy)

If you have a cat tongue 猫舌 (sensitive tongue on hot or spicy food), you can order a non-spicy ramen too, which the quality doesn't drop at all. 

Photo by 全国ラーメン食べ歩き情報

The Japanese name of the store is called "鬼金棒 カラシビ 味噌らー麺," translates to "Demon Kanabo Kara Shibi Miso Ramen." Kanabo is the spiky truncheon that demons are holding at all the time. And then what's Kara and Shibi? It is what this ramen shop is special for, their level of spiciness. The spiciness of the ramen is actually based on two things: your level of Kara (the regular hot) and your level of Shibi (the shop's special Sanshou mix - Sanshou 山椒 is a Japanese spice that is very similar to Sichuan Pepper, and is often used on charbroiled unagi)

Great noodle for slurping and tsukemen!

The ramen noodles they use are thicker and I realized it's so easy to slurp, which makes it great for tsukemen noodle. (Their tsukemen shop is around the corner)

Black Sesame Oil & Red Spicy Tantanmen at JTAN, Tokyo JAPAN

Red Spicy Tantanmen  900 yen

Black Sesame Oil Tantanmen 850 yen

Although the chashu (roasted pork slices) are tough, both black & red tantanmens were good overall. They are still better than most ramen I've had in the States, but not better than Oakland's Ramen Shop's Spicy Tantanmen. 

Soy Milk Ramen & Spicy Ramen at Shiba Ramen, Public Market Emeryville, Northern California USA

Soy Milk Ramen, menma, bean sprout, egg, squash $9.5

Spicy Ramen, menma, bok choy, egg, spicy stir fried pork, bean sprout $11

Soy milk ramen feels very light, almost feels like there's no taste. But when I think back, what does it taste like when drinking soy milk? It feels light but almost no taste too. I guess it fits with what soy milk supposed to be without too much artificial flavor.

Spicy Ramen tastes a lot more flavorful right after I had the soy milk ramen. The ground meat is tasty and the broth is not spicy at all. If I can eat this, I am sure all other non-spicy eater can enjoy this "spicy" ramen too.

Clear Ramen & Miso Ramen at Shiba Ramen (Soft Opening), Public Market Emeryville, Northern California USA

Shiba Ramen with Clear Broth, menma, egg, chashu $9

Shiba Ramen with Miso Broth, corn, ground pork, egg, menma, bean sprout $10

Tonight is a soft-opening for Shiba Ramen! Here's all the ramen on their menu: Clear or Miso. Clear is actually very flavorful. The only down-side is that the bowl of ramen is overall warm, not hot. It will be GREAT if they can make a delicious hot bowl of ramen for this type of cold weather! 

Miso ramen is heavier than I thought, but is it still good. (especially for people who love heavier broth type) Along with menma (bamboo shoots) corn, and bean sprouts, the miso ramen is well balanced countering the heavy miso broth. 

Seafood Udon and Nigiri at Kamado Sushi, Berkeley USA

Seafood Udon: clam, mussel, scallop, fish, shrimp

Hamachi (yellowtail), sake (salmon), hon maguro (tuna)

Kamado Sushi is a causal Japanese restaurant located at Northern Berkeley area. I came here towards the end of lunch time, and there was no waiting line. I ordered a seafood udon as well as 5 sets of nigiri: Hamachi (yellowtail), sake (salmon), hon maguro (tuna), hotate (Hokkaido scallop), and tamago. (egg cake)

Tonkotsu Black Garlic Oil Ramen at Kaze, Berkeley USA

Kaze Black Garlic Oil Ramen
Pork Chashu, egg, black mushroom, bean sprout, scallions, dried seaweed

Kaze is a ramen restaurant located on Shattuck, Berkeley. I ordered their special "Kaze Black Garlic Oil Ramen." Broth base is a Tonkotsu creamy broth, ramen noodles are instant noodle. Chashu is good in texture but lacking flavor.

Meyer Lemon Ramen & Hokkaido Spicy Butter Corn Miso Ramen at Ramen Shop, Oakland USA

Meyer Lemon (Front) $16.5 and Hokkaido Spicy Butter Corn Miso (Back) $17.5

Meyer Lemon Ramen is a yuzu-inspired recipe for Northern Californians. Just by the name of the ramen, you already know the broth will be acidic rather than salty. The ramen has salt-cured egg and plenty of vegetables: maitake and king oyster mushrooms, tomato confit, broccolini, eggplants, and mizuna. (water greens)

Hokkaido Squash Blossom Butter Corn Miso Ramen & Porcini Shoyu Ramen at Ramen Shop, Oakland USA

Hokkaido Squash Blossom Butter Corn Miso Ramen $17.5

Porcini (an Italian mushroom) Shoyu Ramen $17.5

I feel extremely happy with the Hokkaido Squash Blossom Butter Corn Miso Ramen. The creamy broth really fits well with the soft squash in general. Along with butter, corn, and miso, the ramen includes ground pork belly, shoyu-marinated egg, padron pepper, broccoli, and shungiku green.

At the same time, Porcini shoyu ramen is another new ramen invention that my friend (who usually prefers lighter-tasting food) really loves. As the name suggests, this ramen recipe uses Porcini, an Italian mushroom that is very meaty and rich. The shoyu broth is not too salty and its flavor is very satisfying with good quality Japanese soy sauce. The bowl of ramen also has pork chashu slices, shoyu-marinated eff, spring garlic, scallions, bok choy, and mizuna.