Ramen: the rex tremendae of noodle soups. One of life’s greatest comfort meals. To the chagrin of many, this Japanese export is relatively scarce in Shanghai. Most of the good ramen shops tend to be clustered in the Japanese-centric communities way out in Hongqiao. There are also soulless ramen chains, such as Ippudo (decent), and Ajisen (diabolical).
Thus, Ramen Shop on Shaanxi Nan Lu is a welcome addition, and already seems to be a hit with trendy young locals. Despite its English-only name, a Japanese ramen chef (who, if you sit by the bar, prepares the steaming bowls before your eyes) provides Ramen Shop with some much-needed authenticity.
Menus in English (on a board) will go some length to explaining the contents of Ramen Shop’s four main offerings: ‘black’ (RMB50), ‘white’ (RMB55), ‘yellow’ (RMB60) and ‘only vegetable’ (RMB45).
‘White’ ramen consisted of a classic tonkotsu (pork bone) broth, medium noodles, a thick and pleasingly fatty slice of chashu braised pork, a square of dried kombu seaweed, pickled red ginger, chopped spring onions, halved soft-boiled eggand the bizarre addition of yellow and green courgettes.
Courgettes aside, this was a fairly classic ramen offering; although, to our taste, the tonkotsu could have been bolder and thicker. Personally, we didn’t care for the courgettes, but creating ramen is a personal endeavor and we’re not ones to rag on the house style.
‘Black’ ramen (a soy sauce-based shoyu broth) was lucky enough to escape the courgettes, but was seasoned with too much pepper for our liking.
Similarly peppery, and perhaps too oily was the ‘yellow’ curry-flavored base, which had more of a Singaporean laksa vibe to it than anything else. Still, we couldn’t fault the thick and tasty noodles in this one.
We can’t say we were overly enamored with Ramen Shop, but it can still be worth a visit. More than anything else, this place underlines that ramen is a highly personal dish, and part of the joy is finding a shop that makes one exactly suited to your preferences (not always possible with the limited selection in Shanghai).
If you like your ramen either light of broth, with tender noodles, peppery or topped with courgettes, then you might just be in luck with Ramen Shop. Similarly, an English-speaking waitress was serving on our visit, so alterations such as ‘less pepper’ or ‘no courgettes’ may well be feasible.
Price: RMB45-100 per person
Who’s going: Young locals and expats
Good for: Casual dining
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