Hokkaido Ramen Natsuboshi / 北海道ラーメン夏星 — Restaurant in Honolulu

After passing by this ramen shop for years, I finally gave it a try. I'm not a big fan of traditional ramen, but they had a new special that caught my eye. It's not that I don't like ramen, but there are so many ramen joints around who all claim to have something unique. They all seem the same to me and if I'm going to go for something soupy, I want more than some noodles and a few slices of meat. That's just me, so please don't take this as a negative on this cute place with some pretty good food.

What caught my eye, was a cold mulberry leaf noodle ramen. Sounded healthy, which I'm always up for trying to be. The presentation was beautiful and elegant. I loved how the needles were carefully plated with the meat perfectly placed on top. The traditional toppings of thinly sliced cucumber, shredded red ginger and egg were placed in a separate dish to allow you to dress the noodles yourself as you please. It was not what I was expecting from this place and was pleasantly surprised. Of course it tasted great as well.

The place is clean and fresh with lots of bright lighting. It is small and cozy, but you don't feel cramped at all. It's actually a very nice place considering all the dinginess from outside in the location, but lots of...

Open air food court. I went early and it was not noisy yet. Ordered the the Special Miso Ramen. Wow. What got me was the amount of Charsiu included. Had 6 good size pieces, soft and tasted great. Was not chewy at but all. Miso broth was a little thin, but when I mixed in the butter wow the broth came alive and thickened up to my liking . Nice picrc of Bamboo Shoots and not the thin slices you get elsewhere. Corn, geen onions and bean sprouts piled in rounded out everything. I enjoyed the bowl of Ramen immensely also because I'm a big fan of Charsiu which made they had more then many other Ramen shops I've been to. I'm...

Great quality, but a little pricey beyond the basic options. The large spicy miso plus butter was an excellent choice. For Hawaii, I give this a firm 5/5. If this were Japan, I would give it a 4/5 due to the weird assortment of undercooked vegetables and price. The soup was exceptional, especially with butter. The spiciness was not overbearing and the miso was well balanced. The chashu had excellent flavor and above average texture, but lacked severely in amount. Noodles were good, with no complaints to be had with texture or...