DaiFuku Ramen — Restaurant in Chicago

THIS REVIEW IS OF THE SOFT OPENING!

Daifuku Ramen is a new restaurant located in New Chinatown next to Saint's Alp, and Chi Cafe. If you're going to this place, expect only appetizers and ramen during this soft opening.

THE ENVIRONMENT: There's plenty of tables with parties up to 4, but the tables ARE moveable and can be pushed together if need be. If you're a party of 1, expect to take a full table for yourself at this time, there's no counter seats that can be seen. The interior is spacious and adorns wood just about everywhere. The table is at a good level to eat on, don't have to lean over too much and it's not too high to feel like a kid in a chair. The table has a small, rotating Jimmeal sauce holder with Salt, Soy Sauce, Chili Pepper, Sesame, and Sesame Oil to use on your dishes. The moveable chairs are squared off and are great in comfortability, makes a great arm rest if no one is sitting next to you. The music selection was essentially "Lo-Fi Hip Hop and Chill Beats to Study to" if I could put it in the most specific and simple way possible.

THE SERVICE: Service is pretty okay. Just as expected, not above or beyond however. They do explain the food as it's described on the menu. It's just nothing extraordinary.

THE FOOD: The menu selection is as seen in the photos, one card - front and back. If you're going during the soft opening, 30% of the items aren't available such as any of the rice bowls or the "Volcano Salmon Ball" that you might be interested in. The prices are fair for the selection and the portions match the prices. However, I would definitely knock the price a dollar down to compete with prices such as Strings, Shinya Ramen House, and Furious Spoon.

In the pictures are: Parmesan Truffle Fries (Appetizer), Daifuku Spicy Garlic (Level 1 Spicy, Ramen Entree), and Kakodate Shio (Ramen Entree).

Parmesan Truffle Fries (Appetizer) The dish features your typical crispy french fries with shredded parmesan garnished on top with a side sauce of black truffle mayo to dip in. The fries were freshly fried and hot to the tongue touch. The parmesan and green zest on top gave an aromatic cheesiness with each bite and paired with the side sauce was delectable. My only gripe was needing more sauce.

Daifuku Spicy Garlic (Level 1 Spicy, Ramen Entree) The most you need to know of this dish is SPICY and GARLIC. No joke, Level 1 Spicy is a tad higher than Flamin' Hot Cheetos which masks the flavor of the Tonkotsu broth a little bit too much, but that's what your searching for, Spiciness. There's the garlic also, quite literally a lob of garlic put into the dish, you'll see it when you order. If you're not a huge fan of garlic in the first place, go next. The chashu pork was nice and tender and the bamboo shoots had a great flavor.

Kakodate Shio (Ramen Entree) This was the one I ate the most of and finished. The dish itself I expected to arrive really hot, but it arrive at a temperature you could begin to eat at, it wasn't scalding hot, but it was definitely a few steps above lukewarm. The Shio broth was extremely creamy, both in appearance and in taste - however - didn't really hit the rich taste I was really looking forward to from the appearance. Once again the chashu pork was tender and the bamboo shoots with a fine taste. I didn't receive a naruto fish cake in my dish, however. I would have loved to eat this dish with medium thick noodles, but those noodles are locked away behind other dishes.

OVERALL If you're looking for a party of one quick ramen meal, there's different places for you. However, if you're in the Chinatown area and definitely craving some ramen, try it out. There are definitely different strokes for different folks in the ramen world. This one doesn't do it for me objectively. The prices are just a tad high and the lack of customization at a first glance...

Best New Ramen Shop!

I was able to visit this restaurant during the soft opening and I was absolutely impressed with the quality and authenticity of the ramen.

Daifuku Ramen is a relatively cozy restaurant mostly intended for dining parties of 2-4. There are no counters for solo ramen enthusiasts so I am not sure what their protocol for seating are. At the moment, every party gets their own table.

I got to the restaurant at 4:00pm on a Sunday and just barely beat the evening rush. Even during its soft opening, Daifuku Ramen has a line of future customers waiting on the outside.

Daifuku Spicy Garlic Ramen: This is a solid 9/10 ramen for me. The noodles, broth, and chashu were all excellent in quality. This ramen is spicy and has garlic. If you are sensitive to garlic and spicy or other strong flavors, I recommend that you try a lighter ramen.

The Daifuku Spicy features curly ramen that are have a medium thickness (2-3mm) and soak up the amazing broth very easily. I would only ask that the ramen be cooked slightly less so that the noodles can be even more springy and "qq" in texture. Perhaps they can ask customers for their preferred ramen firmness.

The broth of the Daifuku Spicy is a medium-light broth. I really appreciate their conservative approach to the thickness and strength of the broth. This bowl of ramen featured broth with the consistency between milk and eggnog. It is thick enough to cling to the ramen and your taste palette but still watery enough so that the flavors did not oppressively cling to my mouth like raw honey or butter. I was able to enjoy the full flavors of the bone broth without being overwhelmed. The soup features raw minced garlic, which adds a spicy thrill to the smoothness of the bone broth. I had a level 2 spiciness broth and it was very tasteful for me. However, spice perception is subjective so I recommend that you try at your own risk.

Like the broth and the noodles, the chashu was also very well prepared. The pork belly disintegrated the instant I placed it in my mouth and I was exposed to a very well balanced flavors of soy sauce, garlic, and more. The chashu was not too salty that it overwhelmed the soup and was not too bland that I would need to eat it with the soup. The meat was torched before served so it had an extra hint of smokiness and caramelization.

Overall, I was very surprised that this shop managed to put together a bowl of ramen with no apparent weaknesses. Often times restaurants get one aspect of ramen well but fail on other aspects. This is a great bowl of ramen and I can happily say that Santouka finally has a rival in the category of affordable, traditional-ish,...

I've been coming here since their soft opening and the food is always great. Love the miso ramen, the karaage chicken is an all time favorite, the veggie ramen, and the shoyo. The edamame is a great appetizer and also goes well with most of the ramen. The coconut shrimp is not very spicy as said on the menu but is very similar to honey walnut shrimp, again though, all time fav on the app menu. The takoyaki is good if you're craving something a little sweet with a savory balance, the balls and nice and soft but I'm not the biggest fan of octopus in general so for the fans, I'll leave it up to you. If you come here you need to have the truffle fries, thats thr one menu item I will never debate over getting. Their warm crispy fries paired with their ranch dipping is absolutely perfect. I always get the fries and still have room to absolutely devour my ramen after and ill end up leaving with some more fries to go if I can. The atmosphere is warm, but over time the staff has gotten a lot more distant but then again I don't blame them as the restaurant is always packed and busy now. It's not a very suitable place for just single diners, but it is also not the best place for big groups as there are Maybe only a few 4 people tables available. Best when your party is between 2-4 people. Sometimes there is a wait but it's normally not longer...