Tabata

"There isn’t much we love more than a warm bowl of ramen. We all know the East Village is where it’s at, but Midtown has slowly become another part of town where us noodle junkies can get a proper fix. There’s Totto on the west side, Hide-Chan to the East and Crave Fishbar, while not a traditional ramen house, serving up an incredible bowl of handmade noodles with chili glazed hake. Plus, Ippudo is coming in the not so distant future. Thankfully, us Midtown lunchers are no longer stuck with average bowls from Sapporo and Menchanko-Tei to quench that craving. Tabata is another option to get on the Midtown ramen radar, especially if you either work in Times Square or commute to Jersey via Port Authority every day (sorry about that). It’s nothing fancy, a small ramen house that sits on the corner of a bus exhaust pipe and hell. 40th and 9th is a block you should never actually be walking on unless of course you’re headed directly to Tabata. It's nothing fancy, just a straight up soup shop without any bells and whistles. They clearly spent no extra money to spruce the place up, however, they did splurge on some sweet cartoon caricature shirts. We kind of wanted to buy one. While the restaurants we mentioned above are head and shoulders above Tabata, this is still very solid soup. They’re known for their signature Tabata Ramen, a coconut flavored noodle soup. They also do a mean spicy sesame flavored Tan Tan Men soup. We have a feeling we’ll be hitting this hard all winter. Food Rundown Gyoza Standard seared pork dumplings, they come out piping hot and are all kinds of juicy. We enjoyed. Agedashi Tofu Deep fried tofu sitting in a really tasty dashi sauce. Easily the best appetizer we tried and one of their signature dishes. Order it. Spicy Chicken Wings There are photo ads for specials taped all over the walls which had us doing a lot of last minute pointing and ordering. Who can resist an order of spicy fried chicken wings for $6? Not us. We were a bit bummed out by the wings though. They were actually too meaty, a bit slimy and didn’t have enough sauce on them. Tabata Ramen This is their signature ramen. It’s a coconut flavored soup made with soybean powder, cilantro, raw red onions, and chicken. Definitely worth trying once, but we’re not sure we’d order it the next time we go. Sutamina Ramen This spicy miso and soy sauce based bowl is one we'd order again. Pork, leeks, scallions, garlic paste, egg. Again, extra noodles are necessary. There’s a lot of broth and the noodles are relatively thin and not overly filling." - Andrew Steinthal

"Tabata has been around for a few years, and there isn’t anything fancy about it. It’s just one room with a handful of tables, a bar, and some pictures of their food on the wall (which is something more restaurants should do). What sets this place apart is the fact that the owner is Burmese, and their signature ramen comes with coconut milk and red onions. It’s worth trying at least once, although we actually like the spicy miso-soy version best. Get the deep fried tofu to start as well, and keep this place in mind for any weeknights when you need a bowl of soup before heading home." - bryan kim