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RamenHaus

ramen.haus

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Re: RamenHaus

#61

Post by riffraff »

embedding-shape wrote: post #58
postexitus wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nice Ramen sold at 14 EUR are those prices. In Japan, you can have a nice hinge quality bowl of Ramen for around 7-8 EUR.

Besides fast food, isn't it always like that though? Of course Japanese food is cheaper in Japan, but I bet Spanish food is more expensive there than in Spain? Or Peruvian food being a lot more expensive in Europe compared to in Peru itself, it kind of makes sense.

yes, that is the case.

But I think the point is that paying 7€ makes it a pretty good deal, at 14€ for "a bowl of soup" it becomes a meh experience.

Similarly, as an Italian abroad, I can get a decent pizza margherita in Budapest, but it costs 12 euros and I get upset every time, you shouldn't spend that much for a bit of dough and mozzarella :)

Re: RamenHaus

#62

Post by mplanchard »

bdcravens wrote: post #57

Happy to see they have a selection from the location (Ramen Tatsu-ya, in Austin) that started my love of ramen https://ramen.haus/united-states/austin/tatsu-ya-the-og/

Loved Tatsu-ya when I lived there. If you like Japanese food and you haven’t been yet, you should check out Asahi imports (on Burnet, not too far from Komé, which is also great, although I heard they [Asahi] also have a location in South Austin now). Great fresh onigiri, kara age bento, etc. I used to go like twice a week.

Re: RamenHaus

#63

Post by mc32 »

asyx wrote: post #32
jedschmidt wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

agreed. i think the economics of ramen make less sense outside of japan, where it’s more expensive and turnaround is slower because folks linger longer (often to amortize the cost of waiting to get seated in the first place).

In Düsseldorf that’s not the case. The Japanese restaurant are very distinctly less chill than other restaurants. Like, where you’d usually spend 3 hours in a normal restaurant, it is kinda expected that you eat and leave a Ramen shop within an hour.

Isn’t ramen in Japan fast-food? Of the people who dine-in, few people would stay at a McDonalds an hour to “dine”. It’s go in order, eat and get out.

And, like burgers you do have high end joints too.

Also, like burgers ramen isn’t considered “healthy” food. High sodium, high fat, and somewhat low in nutrients. It’s basically fast-food.

Re: RamenHaus

#64

Post by mplanchard »

Cider9986 wrote: post #45

New York City has great Ramen options. I find yelp rating a lot more indicative of the food quality than Google ratings. Something that has seriously increased my trust in Yelp: There's this one restaurant that has always been my favorite within 100s of miles and recently I noticed they had a top 100 in the USA poster for their cuisine on the outside from Yelp. It doesn't mention what rank specifically, just top 100.…

Google seems inflated: I feel like the meaningful range is between 4.5 and 5 stars, so 4.5 stars is just okay, and as you get closer to 5 stars it’s more likely to be actually good. Yelp does not feel as inflated to me.

Agree that NYC has great ramen. One of my favorites (in LES) was in fact in TFA.

Re: RamenHaus

#65

Post by asyx »

mc32 wrote: post #63
asyx wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In Düsseldorf that’s not the case. The Japanese restaurant are very distinctly less chill than other restaurants. Like, where you’d usually spend 3 hours in a normal restaurant, it is kinda expected that you eat and leave a Ramen shop within an hour.

Isn’t ramen in Japan fast-food? Of the people who dine-in, few people would stay at a McDonalds an hour to “dine”. It’s go in order, eat and get out. And, like burgers you do have high end joints too. Also, like burgers ramen isn’t considered “healthy” food. High sodium, high fat, and somewhat low in nutrients. It’s basically fast-food.

I don’t think an hour at McDonald’s is that crazy either though.

Re: RamenHaus

#66

Post by sgerenser »

linguae wrote: post #55
brailsafe wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think this is unique to Ramen at all. Burgers should not cost $20-30 for some limp smooshed beef, a burrito should also not be $15-20, and tacos should sure as hell not be $3-5 per tiny taco. It's all bullshit; none of that food is worth that money. But... I suspect it costs that much because people pay that much, and because the cost of every other aspect of service puts pressure on the restaurants to try to…

I don’t know where you live, but in the Bay Area prices have exploded since COVID. I remember a decade ago when it was still possible to get a super burrito for under $10; in fact, the price was $7.75 for a carne asada super burrito at El Farolito in San Francisco. A burger was under $10, a deli sandwich was about $8-9, and tacos were around $1.50 at Taco Bell and no more than $3 at a proper taqueria. The prices were…

The Big Mac thing is kinda sad, just a few years ago I used to tell people who complained about the increasing cost of fast food “You just gotta use the App!” Which was true, with the McD’s app, a Big Mac might be something like $3 or maybe buy-one-get-one in the app, but $6 in store. But it seems like those days are over, the fast food places realized they were losing too much margin as more and more people started using their apps. Oh well, better to cut way back on fast food consumption anyway.

Re: RamenHaus

#67

Post by dzhiurgis »

_0ffh wrote: post #38
i_love_cooking wrote: post #19

I have never yet been to Japan, but whenever I visit a big city, I try a ramen shop. To be honest, so far it has been a let down. IDK, I guess maybe I'm expecting too much from a bowl of soup, with noodles and condiments. As a form factor, it's genius. But for the price that it is usually sold at in western cities, it really doesn't make a whole lot of sense. I feel like it has been a bit too overhyped for what it is…

I've been to Japan - the first cheap buy-and-nuke-at-home ramen from the konbini around the corner I ate there completely blew me away (†)! It was decisively better than what I would realistically expect to get in a restaurant in the west. I don't know how they do it, but I learned never to underestimate the Japanese people’s dedication to their craft. (†) For the curious, it was chāshū ramen. Edit: To avoid confusio…

That impressed me too, but I brush it off to hunger and other biases.

> chāshū ramen.

Chashu is just name for pork theh put in soup. Main charecterization is type of broth - tonkotsu is the hardest to pull off as it requires 8 hours of boiling bones (but I’ve seen ready made broth to buy so I suspect most shops use that). Miso one is pretty trivial to make at home. I guess not many know this but one type of tare (condiment you put in ramen) is literally charred garlic (30 minutes in oil or so, then blend it). Once you learn this you’ll always spot it (typically in tonkotsu).

As for western shops I agree they are mostly meh, some very much so. Even decent ones you are more of a buying Japanese ramen experience than the food itself lol (I succumb to it myself).

Re: RamenHaus

#68

Post by folkrav »

brailsafe wrote: post #21
i_love_cooking wrote: post #19

I have never yet been to Japan, but whenever I visit a big city, I try a ramen shop. To be honest, so far it has been a let down. IDK, I guess maybe I'm expecting too much from a bowl of soup, with noodles and condiments. As a form factor, it's genius. But for the price that it is usually sold at in western cities, it really doesn't make a whole lot of sense. I feel like it has been a bit too overhyped for what it is…

I don't think this is unique to Ramen at all. Burgers should not cost $20-30 for some limp smooshed beef, a burrito should also not be $15-20, and tacos should sure as hell not be $3-5 per tiny taco. It's all bullshit; none of that food is worth that money. But... I suspect it costs that much because people pay that much, and because the cost of every other aspect of service puts pressure on the restaurants to try to…

Last I checked, restaurants actually do run on razor thin margins. A fraction of the costs is food - IIRC on average about a third. Most of it is rent (typically very high in places where you’d have foot traffic) and labor (pretty labor intensive sector for a given output).

Re: RamenHaus

#69

Post by yonaguska »

makeitdouble wrote: post #40
i_love_cooking wrote: post #19

I have never yet been to Japan, but whenever I visit a big city, I try a ramen shop. To be honest, so far it has been a let down. IDK, I guess maybe I'm expecting too much from a bowl of soup, with noodles and condiments. As a form factor, it's genius. But for the price that it is usually sold at in western cities, it really doesn't make a whole lot of sense. I feel like it has been a bit too overhyped for what it is…

For most foreign dishes you can't just compare the total price to local food. I'm saying that having ordered pizza in Japan, and an actually good one with Buffala for instance will be twice to three times the price you'd pay in Italy. Ramen chains managed by Japanese people are decently good when I tried them in France (Ippudo for instance), it's not that far from what's served in Japan. It costs 1.5x to 2x more, and…

I've been able get better or equivalent results than most non-japanese ramen places near me by starting with miso paste and fresh noodles from the local h-mart, without the massive amount of work that typically goes into ramen.
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