Shin Sen Gumi – Customize Your Ramen

After a weekend of gluttony, we decided to “cleanse” ourselves with a warm bowl of ramen at Shin Sen Gumi. What’s unique about this restaurant is you can choose the level of richness/oiliness you want for your broth, the firmness of your noodles, and the array of toppings for your ramen.

The tonkotsu (pork bone) broth was great. I ordered the ‘light oil’ version, but the broth still maintained a rich (albeit lighter), almost creamy pork flavor. The slices of cha-su Berkshire pork were tender, and I loved the crunchy, sweet bamboo and the bite from the pickled ginger…a wonderful medley of flavors and textures. My only gripe about the ramen was the noodles. The restaurant serves Hakata-style ramen, which I’ve had before in Tokyo so I knew to expect thinner noodles. But what bothered me was these noodles tasted more like starchy rice noodles than denser flour noodles. Even the ‘medium’ consistency noodles were too soft, so I’d recommend getting ‘hard’ noodles.

Chicken rice balls came with my meal since I ordered one of the lunch combos. It was really unappetizing – bland and mushy with dry chicken chunks. Instead of using sticky rice, they used regular rice and made it soggy so the rice ball would stick together. Not good.
To sum it up, the ramen was delicious, but make sure you order the ‘hard’ noodles. And stay away from the chicken rice balls!

BITE METER: Shin Sen Gumi – 3.7 bites (out of 5)