Kinboshi Ramen at Pine St Market

As to be expected of a restaurant in Pine Street Market, this easily makes my top 3 for Japanese Ramen. All of the ingredients are absolutely delicious and the broth is complex but perfectly balanced. A side order of their curry was a welcome and excellent choice that was not only complimentary in flavor but excellent on its own. Everything is made fresh in front of you. The pork slices/chunks are cold so i recommend pushing it down to the bottom of your bowl of ramen so that it warms up.

We keep making the trip here from Hillsboro and have not been disappointed with the ramen yet. My favorite part is ordered an extra full egg because, well they are delicious.. Had the Tonkotsu shoyu red with the extra egg, mushrooms and tofu. Consistently good ramen.

The soup tasted good but the noodles were a little under cooked in my opinion. At $12 per bowl I would go back but not often. Just as a fun meal once and a while. Other than that it was clean and had friendly people working there. If you have time try it out.

Gimme that Marukin!!! I have tried a large amount of ramen in Portland and I’ve found Marukin to not only be the best but the most consistent, even between locations. Every time I visit I make a stop at Marukin for a bow of ramen. The broth is layered and complex, the pork is perfect and the noodles are exactly how they should be. Service is relatively fast. I don’t hand out 5 star reviews often but they definitely deserve it. I highly recommend Marukin about other ramen restaurants. I can’t wait until the next visit!

The chicken shio soup base was not salty but flavorful. The chasiu pork was too lean to eat and just filled in the gap between the teeth. If you expect melt in your mouth pork here you won't find it here. The water they use to boil the noodle is too old. The alkaline in the noodle was overwhelming. When you eat the noodle you can't taste the soup it's trying to carry because of it. The curry rice was not bad. But it's not any Japanese curry I ever had. More Indian curry than Japanese for sure. Was not a bad attempt but poor execution due to sloppy staff in the kitchen brings it down a few knotches. Not bad if you are hungry and nearby by, but not a destination dining for sure.

2/29/2020: Another ramen place checked off my list! This one I really like. I ordered the tonkotsu shoyu ramen, gyoza, and curry rice. Everything was delicious. The broth was very flavorful, full bodied. Buttery not not to heavy. Noodles were cooked perfectly al dente. Adding the mushroom and tofu mix was a great idea.

This place is always a nice treat and is located inside the Pine Street Market! In an upscale food court with plenty of options to choose from, Marukin definitely packs a flavor punch with bold ramen flavors. Plenty to choose from and you simply can't go wrong. The pictures don't even do it justice. The ramen is so tasty and is definitely what the doctor ordered when it is a rainy gray night in Portland (aka every night) There are many options to choose from in the market but this is definitely one of my favs!!

Ordered the spicy vegan ramen bowl with no additions and the pickles along with canned sake (only sake available). Broth was mildly spicy and flavorful but compared to other ramen places, I really didn't like the noodles. Seemed chewy and maybe slightly undercooked. Pickles were good but very mild.. It was our first visit so would probably try again. At the Pine Street Market location you sit anywhere in the market or at the bar seats looking into the cooking area. Sitting at the bar we saw one of the servers picking out a few scallions that obviously weren't supposed to be there, with his bare finger tips. He was a server not a cook so hands had not been washed since touching many other things. Seeing that brought it down a star for this review.