CloverSlurps: Ippudo Westside in NYC

Lady M Mille Feuille Crepe with pastry cream filling, house cranberry cream

Karaka-men “The original “Tonkotsu”(pork) broth with an added kick; thin noodles with Ippudo’s special blend of hot spices, topped with pork chashu, cabbage, sesame kikurage mushrooms, scallions, and fragrant garlic oil.”

Akamaru Modern “A more bold translation of the original pork broth; thin noodles topped with Ippudo’s secret “Umami Dama” miso paste, pork chashu, cabbage, sesame kikurage mushrooms, scallions, and fragrant garlic oil.”

Pork Hirata Buns

Ippudo Nigori “Cloudy, rich and creamy. From California.”

It was a weekday night and there was still a 40-60 min for two at Ippudo Westside. This didn’t bother us too much, as Ippudo has a great texting system where they text you when a table is getting ready for you. I loved the setup of a U-shaped communal table with wait staff going in and out. There were also a bunch of other fellow photographers, which is always nice. We started off with sake – Fred got the Ippudo nigori, described as cloudy, rich, and creamy – this was mild and delicious. I tried the Nanbu Bijin “Southern Beauty” that was a little too strong for me, with an aroma similar to baiju. The restaurant rings with Japanese phrases, from “irrashaimase” (welcome) to “arigatou gozaimasu”. For the ramen itself, I went with the most popular dish, the Akamaru Modern. The broth was delicious and flavorful, and the noodles were fanatstic as well. You can even ask for an extra serving of noodles by saying “kae-dama, please” but we were much too full to do this. The only thing is that we both asked for a boiled egg in our dishes but didn’t end up with any. We ended our meal with some fantastic Lady M mille feuille crepes, this was so good that we tried to go to the Lady M bakery for more but didn’t get a chance to make it up there. Overall, a great experience, the two of us spent $70. Check them out on Yelp or at their website!