A lot of my friends in London were obsessed with Ramen. Personally, I didn’t get it. I tried it a couple of times, and it seemed like an expensive bowl of noodle soup that was a bit bland, boring and fatty. I really wasn’t impressed. So when the last blog I worked on decided to find the best Ramen in London (the first Ramen Wars), I wasn’t too sure. What was the point? However, that sense of fomo really started coming on, so I quickly ran out to a few of the less known places. I began to see what they were talking about. I also began to realize that yes, the ones I tried at the beginning were pretty bland and boring. Most places did seem to make a thick, fatty, uninteresting soup and throw some overcooked pork and basic noodles in a bowl and that was that. I guess I found out that your standard Tonkotsu Ramen just wasn’t for me. After moving, I decided I needed to find the best Ramen in San Francisco for myself. So begins Ramen Wars: San Francisco. The winner of the first round will move to the next round to compete against three more Ramen joints. Who will the winner be? Only time (and a lot of bowls of Ramen) will tell.
1. Kirimachi Ramen
Kirimachi Ramen was the first place I went to in San Francisco. I didn’t choose it for any reason except it was fairly close to home. Honestly though, it was a fairly disappointing bowl of soup. The noodles were fine, but the soup itself was that bland, boring soup that I have grown to hate. I even had some extra black garlic, but it really didn’t do much to it. It also had fairly standard toppings. The best part of the entire bowl was definitely the egg. Needless to say, it gave me a feeling that I could definitely find someplace better once I started looking a bit harder! The prices run between $11-15 (including the egg) so it’s fairly standard as Ramen prices go these days.
Noodles: ★★★☆☆
Soup: ★★☆☆☆
Toppings: ★★★☆☆
Egg: ★★★★☆
Price: ★★★☆☆
2. R&B Cafe
R&B Cafe (which I can only assume stands for Ramen and Burger) is also fairly close to home, so it quickly became my second stop in San Francisco. It’s definitely a unique Ramen bar as they custom make your Ramen for you. You get to choose your noodle, soup, one meat topping and up to three additional non-meat toppings for the bargain price of $8.75 a bowl! As prices go, it’s quite a good deal. It’s not your luxury Ramen, but that’s not always necessary. However, they do completely hard boil the egg, and that is a huge disappointment for me. However, with the price and the ability to customize it as you like, it’s definitely one that could stay on the list for a cheap, filling meal. (They also do a Ramen burger I think I may have to go back and try…)
Noodles: ★★★☆☆
Soup: ★★★★☆
Toppings: ★★★★☆
Egg: ★☆☆☆☆
Price: ★★★★★
3. Ramen Underground
Finally, I hit up Ramen Underground because I had heard a lot about this place from people and online. It has a huge cult following as it is one of the first places to bring Ramen to San Francisco. I was eager to try it, mostly because I had heard great things about the Habenero Miso Ramen (and Miso Ramen is one of my favorite styles). The pricing here is around $11-14 per bowl (but the egg is additional at $1.50). Sadly, the Ramen itself was a huge disappointment. Yes it was hot, but that was about all it had going for it. The egg tasted okay, but it wasn’t sliced in half to look pretty, it was just chucked whole in the bowl, and I hate when they do that. It makes the egg very difficult to eat. In fact, everything just kind of looked like it was thrown in the bowl with minimal effort by the chefs. Maybe my expectations are a bit higher, but if I’m going to be spending that much on a bowl of what is ultimately noodle soup, they could at least attempt to make it look a bit nicer. I just don’t understand why this place ranks so highly, I definitely wasn’t impressed.
Noodles: ★★★★☆
Soup: ★★☆☆☆
Toppings: ★★★★☆
Egg: ★★☆☆☆
Price: ★★★☆☆
Winner: R&B Cafe
It kind of pains me to say it, but R&B definitely wins this round of Ramen Wars. While the egg was severely disappointing, the soup was the clear winner and, for the price, it’s the one of these three that I would be returning to. So R&B moves on to compete against the three more San Francisco Ramen joints in the next installment of Ramen Wars.
Ranking:
1. R&B Cafe
2. Ramen Underground
3. Kiramachi Ramen
