Weekend Food Choices week 106: Ramen Recruits

With all the ramen stores opening shop, this blog has certainly begun to look like a ramen review central. But where do you take friends who have heard endless raves from us about good broth but still have a relatively clean slate when it comes to ramen tasting?

Start with the basics, that’s what i say!

I watched Hanamaruken’s founder talk about his ramen and i knew this might well be a good bowl of broth

and just in time for SVD, a friend who has been raring to get into Manila’s food craze, waitig for her introduction to ramen, and for OD-B a new ramen recruit, who has been looking for a good broth shop in QC after i took her to my previous #1.

We got to Hanamaruken early, i being the most excited among the group, it seemed

I was happy because this gave us the chance to appreciate the ambiance of the ramen shop and learn more about the new kid on the block

Hanamaruken Philippines is the first branch outside of Japan. Arakawa San, its founder, comes from a family that owned a piggery but he decided he wanted to do something different…

Pot Belly Ramen (P380)

A tonkotsu and shoyu broth with a generous portion of Hanamaruken’s roasted pork belly

looking into the big bowl, you could see a top thin layer of goodness from the hours of preparing the delicious broth. Hubby thought it was delicious because it was basic, and basic is always essential to all things good.

…and i haven’t even started on the melt in your mouth pieces of good pork! Can you imagine pork being as silky as foie gras…

According to our server, the pork is imported from Japan and cooked for almost 24 hours locally.

This is Hubby’s #1, the closest bowl to “manong’s” ramen in Fujimino.

Signature Happiness Ramen (P480)

This had the same delicious broth and a huge melt in your mouth piece of pork

…and just when you thought you could do no more to make a big basic bowl of ramen better, try the ultra soft slow cooked pork rib

this was my bowl of choice for the day!

So my new ramen recruits slurped, oohhed and ahhhed

When asked what SVD thought about the bowl of noodle broth, she replied “ayos!”

…i guess she was at a loss for words

Hanamaruken
2nd Level
Trinoma