where jess ate

Who would’ve thought that a “Jewish Kid from Long Island” would open a successful ramen shop in Tokyo? New York got a taste of this last year when Ivan Ramen Slurp Shop opened in Gotham West Market. Soon after, a full-service Ivan Ramen opened on Clinton Street earlier this year.

Ivan Ramen (@ivanramen) is brought to us by Ivan Orkin who moved to Tokyo to teach cooking classes after graduating from the Culinary Institute of America (CIA). In 2007, he opened the first Ivan Ramen in Tokyo to much success which prompted the opening of a second in 2010.

The food here is far from traditional. Menu items include dishes such as Tofu Coney Island with miso mushroom chill and yellow mustard, Silken Tofu Caesar Salad and Lancaster Okonomiyaki with a scrapple waffle and maple kewpie, to name a few.

As far as drinks go, they offer sake, wine, beer and a number of cocktails. We skipped the alcoholic drinks (as we were following our dinner with a trip to Death & Co and PDT) and went with a Yuzu Lemonade and Ivan Palmer. 

We started out with the Roast Pork Musubi – salted plum wasabi, roast tomato, toasted nori ($6). One order comes with two bites of rice topped with fall-apart tender pork and tomato. Wrap up the the toasted nori and pop it into your mouth in one bite. It was a great way to start off the meal – a  nice combination of sweet and savoury!

Another appetizer we shared was the Pickled Daikon – shaved daikon, dried shrimp + scallop chilli oil ($7). It was a fantastic combination! The refreshing strands of daikon paired perfectly with the spicy XO sauce. This dish was quite necessary since our other dishes were quite heavy.

Being a big fan of monkfish liver, I had to order the Ankimo Dirty Rice – monkfish liver, lemon, scallion ($14). This creole-style fried rice was packed full of liver flavour which I really enjoyed (so, stay away if you’re not a fan of liver). The dish was seasoned wonderfully and don’t forget to squeeze a bit of the lemon wedge onto the rice – it makes a difference! It turned out to be my favourite dish of the evening.

You can’t come to Ivan Ramen without trying one of their ramen dishes (they currently offer seven on their menu). We decided to go with the Triple Pork Triple Garlic Mazemen – tonkotsu broth, pork chasu, whole wheat noodles ($15). Triple garlic and triple pork? How could we say no! With any of the ramen bowls, you have the option of getting it “Fully Loaded” with egg, pork chase and roast tomato for an extra $5. We just went for the basic.

The mazemen style of ramen contains much less broth than traditional bowls of ramen. The noodles and toppings sat in a little mound which was slightly immersed in a small pool of tonkotsu broth. Make sure you give it a good mix before digging in so you get all the flavour combinations in each bite. The noodles had a great chew to it and while the rich broth was a touch on the salty side, it was quite tasty.

Overall, we had a great meal at Ivan Ramen. It was a nice change from the usual ramen joints we often frequent. It’s definitely worth a visit and the NY Times, Thrillist, Gothamist and Eater think so too as they named Ivan Ramen as one of NYC’s best new restaurants of 2014.

At a glance:

• The original Ivan Ramen first opened in Tokyo in 2007 by Ivan Orkin
• Late 2013, opened Ivan Ramen Slurp Shop in Gotham West Market
• This 50-seat NYC flagship shop opened on Clinton St in early 2014
• Open everyday for lunch (12-3:30) and dinner (5:30 to midnight); No reservations
• Non-traditional bites, cold/hot dishes and ramen
• Really tasty dishes; favourites included the Anikimo dirty rice and pickled daikon

Ratings (out of 5):

• Food: 4 stars
• Service: 3 stars
• Atmosphere: 3 stars