I am always fan of going to a nice restaurant to celebrate my birthday, and this year, I wanted no different, so I decided we should try to get a table at the elusive Noodle in a Haystack. (Who wouldn’t with that name?) It’s pretty much anything anyone is talking about right now, and it’s a multi-course tasting menu that includes Ramen, so it definitely had me intrigued as generally these menus follow a specific journey, and this journey uses ramen. It’s unusual so why wouldn’t I want to try? The bookings definitely are difficult to get as they open up one evening during the previous month, and they get snapped up pretty quickly. Thankfully, my partner is persistent, and managed to snag a reservation for two at the twelve-seat restaurant for their Extended Sake Pairing.
They open the door promptly at six pm, and shockingly, all the seats were filled up in five minutes, as people are notoriously late for things like this. But we all sat around the kitchen and waited for our first bite which turned out to be a financier with smoked cream and caviar. It was definitely a mouth pleaser and it made us very excited for the courses to come. And we were presented with many. One of the best was the tuna tartare served in a rice cracker for texture. There was also some small Japanese squid I had never had before, and I loved it, but my partner wasn’t sure all the flavors went together. The Chawanmushi was nice, but it definitely didn’t wow me as much as I wanted considering the homemade XO sauce and uni on top.
There was a wagyu beef katsu sandwich, and while most places make the sandwich by breading and frying the beef, they decided to switch it up by frying the bread and serving the beef at a perfect temperature. I think it was a creative (and tasty) way to switch it up, but this is definitely a good place to point out that while the chefs make amazing food, they aren’t professionally trained, so the portion sizes are very erratic as my hunk of beef was about two-thirds the size of my partners. Luckily there is a lot of food, but it is still noticeable, especially when seen side-by-side. (I took a photo of his as it the size to make it look way better).
Before the ramen arrives, they provide some amazing house-made pickled vegetables to cleanse the palate, and then we were served one of the best bowls of ramen I’ve eaten. I haven’t had much Shio Ramen with a clear broth, but this was spectacular. The broth was light and flavorful, the chicken was cooked well, and the noodles were fantastic. They also served it with something like a sambal, and they suggest you mix it in after eating your bowl of noodles for awhile, and it basically created a second ramen dish then and there. I definitely ate the whole thing! I also want to point out I make ramen at home on a fairly regular basis, and everything about this bowl far surpassed what I can do in the kitchen. The egg they did was one of the best!
Finally we had desserts, and they definitely brought the wow factor for these as well. The first was a yuzu shaved ice over sweet tofu and golden kiwi jam, and the flavors worked so well together. Not only was it cold and refreshing, but had a nice, light citrus flavor to really get the saliva flowing. Finally there was a coffee Basque cheesecake that was rich and heavenly. We also had some amazing sake that paired with all the dishes, and they really worked hard on finding interesting and unusual sakes that I had not experienced before. There was also some excellent, yet laid back, service throughout the entire meal.
I really enjoyed my experience at Noodle in a Haystack, and if you want to try one of the best bowls of ramen in San Francisco, I think you should definitely give it a try. For me, the rest of the food was a bit too hit or miss for me to want to put the effort into trying to book again and come back. However, the service is great as the number of seats are small, so there is plenty of time to ask questions and talk with the chefs about something you might be curious about. It’s just with the abundance of fine dining in the city, I think Noodle in a Haystack currently lacks that refinement that professional chefs know how to bring, but it is still a great experience overall.
Score: 4/5
Recommendation: Given the sake was unique, I’d say to do the tasting with the pairing, but if you like more noodles, the regular menu has two noodle dishes.
Noodle in a Haystack
4601 Geary Blvd
San Francisco, CA 94118
