Okaeri Ramen — Restaurant in Da'an District

Stuck with lunch by myself on a Sunday, I swung by Okaeri (Eat-a-bowl) Ramen shortly after noon. The place was already packed so a waitress took my name and cellphone number, promising to call me once a seat became available. In the meantime, I rambled over to the nearby 全聯福利中心 (iMart) to pick up some groceries.

A seat still hadn't opened up by the time I wandered back, so I waited another ten minutes before the waitress called. Total wait time: 40 - 45 minutes which seems typical for a highly rated ramen joint. Inside was tiny, cramped, and smoky despite the air conditioning. There were three 2 tops and one 4 top in the window alcove along with seating along the counter. My guess is that maximum occupancy would be around 20 diners.

A huge LCD TV claimed one third of the back wall, which was silly since it was so cramped inside that no one could watch it with any comfort, except perhaps the noodle cooks who were too busy to care. Asian rock reverberating off the walls in the compact space, greeted me as I took my stool at the far end of the counter, along with the pervasive odor of frying food. I was pleasantly surprised to espy two high chairs in evidence, and the helpful waitress explained that it was possible to reserve the window alcove table in advance which could better accommodate a family of four. However, were the restaurant full at the time, then reservation holders may still need to wait outside until their table became available.

The overworked waitress presented me with a simple menu: ramen in pork broth, garlic ramen, spicy ramen, soy sauce ramen, and teppanyaki-style fried ramen, last of which I had never before seen in Taipei. I ordered the garlic and she quizzed me as to whether I wished thin or thick noodles, and whether I preferred a thick broth favored by Japanese palates or a thinner "Taiwanese style" broth. Steeling my foreign tastebuds, I opted for the thick broth and the thick noodles.

When my order arrived, I was rather surprised though not displeased, to find cabbage in my bowl, which added a distinctly sweet note to the overall dish. Noodles were about 2.4 mm in width and al dente. The two roast pork slices were very thick, measuring about a half inch each, and were fork tender. They did not, as paper thin slices will do, completely disintegrate into the broth. The broth was also noticeably creamy, as others have noted, though I suspect that was due to a generous addition of tapioca starch. Also, though I had been forewarned, I found the broth neither to be too salty nor garlicky. All in all, a very good bowl of ramen, so much so, that I opted for another helping of noodles, which was complimentary. Additional helpings can be had for an extra NT$30 apiece so long as there is some broth remaining in your bowl.

As I was leaving, shortly after one o'clock, I noticed several empty seats and resolved to come back some other day around the same time to try the fried ramen. I'm not sure if I'd bring my two year-old though, due to the loud rock music and smoky interior. Despite that, Okaeri has climbed it's way onto my top tier of preferred ramen joints in Taipei, as long as I'm...

Okaeriお帰り吃碗拉麵吧⠀ Japanese Ramen Restaurant⠀ ⠀ For those that love thick and heavy flavor ramen - this is definitely highly recommended for you. For me, this is easily one of the top ten ramen that I love. Small and humble restaurant located near to Sun Yat Sen Memorial Hall MRT Station, and nearby to lots of other eateries, this shop serves traditional ramen in very traditional restaurant settings as well. More towards a darker and dimmed lightning inside the shop, and there’s a special spotlight-kinda lighting to every seat, every photo that you take on the ramen (which I would recommend you to focus more on eating, haha) will turn out to be a masterpiece. I definitely love this, and would definitely return to this ramen shop from time to time.⠀ ⠀ Ordered 黑蒜油豚骨拉麵（每日限量）- Black Garlic Oil Tonkatsu Ramen (Limited Daily) with extra 滷前腿叉燒 (Braised Pork Char Siew) - Awesome to the heaven, I really mean it. First off, the broth is extremely thick in flavor - highly recommended for those that love thick flavor broth. The amount of black soy and garlic definitely flowing on your tongue for every sip that you take. Second would be the texture of the ramen - bouncy, hard (to my preference), and thin noodles soaking the broth nicely, and definitely leave you feeling satisfied. The char siew is worth dying for. Thin sliced, with perfect ratio of fats vs lean meat - sprinkled with little fried garlic on top of it, oh man. And surprisingly, it’s not feeling over-cooked or over-grilled, like most of the ramen shop would go for. The soft boiled egg - definitely my kryptonite to see a nice bounce egg, with runny egg yolk. Hands down to one of the most perfectly cooked soft boiled egg. All the above-mentioned stuff, combined within a single bowl of awesomeness.⠀ ⠀ Again, would say that this is highly recommended for those that love thick...

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Situated within a 5-minute walking distance from Zhongxiao Dunhua MRT, Okaeri Ramen came highly recommended by my colleagues who’ve visited them on multiple occasions. Here, you get to customise the thickness and doneness of your noodles, allowing you to create your version of the best ramen⁣ ⁣⁣ 🧄 𝐆𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐜 𝐓𝐨𝐧𝐤𝐨𝐭𝐬𝐮 𝐑𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐧 濃蒜䐁骨拉麵 - NT300⁣ Rich, thick and amazingly umami broth, paired with thin al dente noodles, this was absolutely mind blowing. I believe this has the same broth as the original tonkotsu ramen, with the exception of the ball of raw garlic and sprinkle of fried garlic to give it the rich garlic flavour – satisfying for the garlic girlie in me 😚 ⁣ ⁣ There are also 3 types of char siu in each ramen – streaky, inner muscle (the ones with the charred marks) and smoked plum blossom – all of which were amazing as well. It also came with minced meat, spring onions and onions⁣ ⁣ 🌶️ 𝐒𝐩𝐢𝐜𝐲 𝐓𝐨𝐧𝐤𝐨𝐭𝐬𝐮 𝐑𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐧 辛口豚骨拉麵 - NT300⁣ The chilli paste did change the flavour profile of the broth but it brought about a different kind of dining experienced, though it might have been too spicy for me to finish it all.⁣ ⁣ The toppings were chilli minced meat, spring onions, black fungus, and onions, which were slightly different from the garlic ramen. Overall, still very satisfying...