Sandy J.
Yelp
Located in Park Avenue, this is a Japanese fusion restaurant featuring some unique and delicious eats including lettuce wraps, ramen burger, and some interesting Ramen combinations. The service is good, but the restaurant is a little cramped, but I love the wall murals of Japanese modern yet historical art. The bar looks well stocked.
Appetizers:
Lettuce Wraps; this is a heavier dish than I would have preferred. The chicken inside is oily but delicious; was it the mayo and oil? If you like your savory, sweet, and oily, then this is the dish to get. Thank goodness it is paired w/ that iceburg lettuce to give it a refreshing spin. Otherwise, by itself it would be a little sickly.
Pork Belly Buns: Pork belly is good in marination and texture; I do wish its presentation was a little better; could use a bit more color like greener Cilantro/scallion or something or even bright purple cabbage. Everything looked a little wilted and sad looking on the white bun. Otherwise a safe bet that is solid in taste. The plate choice was too large for 2 buns which made the plate look a little sad and lonely. It was almost as if though I wanted to add some side sauce to make up the emptiness of that dish.
Pork dumplings
Got the steamed variety; also good; I don't recall it being super memorable but it was a safe bet to get.
Ramen: I have to be honest, I don't quite like their ramen. I think their textures, protein choices, and presentation is frankly messy both in palate and in flavor. For example, they really like cabbage here. I mean, if you love cabbage, great, but I remembered thinking to myself each time, gosh, is this a ramen soup or a cabbage soup w/ some noodles? I think their meat choice is also interesting; most ramen come with a2 pork slices which I think is neat and holds together better. Having pellets of chicken/pork was a little disruptive to the chopstick and ramen noodle. It felt messy and I found myself using the spoon to eat toppings and the chopsticks for ramen. The experience was just disjointed. The flavors were not bad, just a little difficult to eat with too much cabbage, strange meat size/choices, and toppings that were a little messy.
Ramen burger; if you've never had one, I recommend ordering one here. It is fun. The ramen was cooked in water/broth first and then slightly fried on the outside to dry out and maintain shape to be a bun. That's right, the ramen is the bun of this burger. The sauce that comes with the fries is key. It is a wasabi tinged sauce that is key to making this burger taste fresh and exciting.