It’s been awhile since I’ve explored some of the ramen joints in San Francisco, but with the drop in temperature, it seemed like an ideal time to give some more a try. This week, I’m going to see if Ajisen Ramen, the newly opened Ippudo or Coco’s Ramen can beat out the winner of Part 3: Iza Ramen.
1. Ajisen Ramen
I usually avoid eating in malls. But I made the exception to give Ajisen Ramen a try, as it’s located in the Westfield Center. I was in the area running errands, so I stopped in and checked out the overwhelming menu. There is quite a lot, but as I like spice, I had to go with the spicy pork ramen. I wasn’t really expecting that much, but it ended up being a really flavorful bowl of soup. There was a great amount of spice, and the
chashu pork was cooked better than I expected, and there was a fairly decent egg with it. It was far from perfect, but for a quick bite at a decent price point, it’s a good choice for ramen in San Francisco.
2. Ippudo
Ippudo just opened its doors in San Francisco proper, so I headed over one lunch to give it a try. It was soon after opening, so there was already a pretty decent queue at 11:00 when they opened. Luckily, I did manage to get it, but the place was pretty much packed by 11:30. I went for the Karaka Tamago (which is the spicy ramen with an egg added in). Now, I had eaten at Ippudo in London, and I just remember that I was underimpressed by the noodles and the broth, but London also has some amazing ramen joins, and Kanada-Ya is basically across the street from Ippudo, so I just never imagined I’d be back in one. Sadly, I have yet to find something similar in San Francisco, so I thought I’d give it another try. The ramen is either better than London or I’m just suffering from Bone Daddies and Kanada-Ya withdrawl, because I really enjoyed it! It didn’t have many veggies on top thought, and the pork was slightly chewy. The broth was moreish, but it definitely wasn’t the best I’ve ever eaten. There was good kick to the spice level. Annoyingly, the egg is put in the bowl whole, so it’s a pain to eat. (Seriously, it takes half a minute to cut it in half?) Ippudo is definitely a top choice (so far) for ramen in San Francisco, and I could see myself coming back here if someone I knew wants to give it a try.
3. Coco’s Ramen
Finally, I headed a bit south of the Mission to give Coco’s Ramen a try. They had an interesting sounding curry ramen on the menu, and I was hoping it was going to be similar to one of my favorite ones I had in London. Sadly, the broth wasn’t really as good as that one, but it had a decent amount of curry flavor. I also went for spicy, and it definitely had a kick to it! I can’t imagine what “extra spicy” would be like (although the server was really pushing hard for people to order it). I wasn’t a huge fan of the noodles as they were quite chewy, or the chashu pork because it was really tough. There were some root vegetables floating around though (a bit like a Japanese curry would have), so that was a nice addition. The price point is pretty good too as it was only around $13 (including half an egg which was cooked well and had a good amount of flavor). So it was definitely a mixed bowl of ramen for me. It’s unlikely I’ll come back, but it definitely wasn’t as bad as some of the others I’ve had around the city.
Winner: Iza Ramen.
While Ippudo definitely was a strong entry in this installment, the price point was quite high, putting it in at fourth place in the ranking. Iza Ramen is still my number one choice for flavor and price, but perhaps I’ll find something better. Any suggestions? Please let me know in the comments!
Ranking:
1. Iza Ramen
2. Kan Ramen
3. Slurp Ramen
4. Ippudo
5. The Ramen Bar
6. Ajisen Ramen
7. Coco’s Ramen
8. Katana-Ya Ramen
9. R&B Cafe
10. Ramen Underground
11. Kiramachi Ramen
12. Orenchi Beyond
