Toukei — Restaurant in Houston

This is a nice restaurant! I got the spicy black Ramen. It looks really nice. The only stand out is that the pork is the best quality pork I’ve had for ramen in Houston, hands down. Soft, thick, and melts in your mouth 😂

The broth flavor is basically salty, not overly salty. Nothing complex. The fact that they don’t marinate the pork in the sweet soy sauce give the ramen the same flavor profile throughout, and I do not like that at all.

I don’t really have a noodle-to-broth preference, but there was more noodles than there was broth if that matters to anyone.

The egg was an extra $1.50, and it was a whole egg. It was marinated and it helped the broth not be so monotone. The corn was $1.50 extra and I hoped that it was going to be sweetcorn to cut the salty flavor, however it was just the tasteless corn and it was also overcooked. I like my corn to have a little crunch to it and not be mush. Very small dollop of spicy chili bomb. The plus side is that the ramen is not tasteless.

Can’t stress this enough, I wish they would switch over to sweet marinated flavors for the pork, bamboo shoots, and corn so that the broth wouldn’t be so monotone. Not necessarily make the broth sweet, but the add ins. I give the ramen about an 6.4 out of 10. Unfortunately, it suffers the same issues as Jinya, where it’s really mid, and they upcharge for everything.

The ambience is wonderful, this is a great place to go with a friend. This wasn’t my first time here. I’ve been there before and I had some kind of fruity drink from the bar. I don’t remember what it was, but it was really good. It was a really skinny glass but I think it was purple and very unique.

Apologies for the low quality photo....

Ordered the shisamo, “mountain man” sake, and truffle shoyu. The fish was excellent, very well balanced and delicate and was further enhanced with the lemon and dipping sauce (mayo based) provided. The sake was great as well but I can’t compare it to much since im not too much of a sake drinker. Onto the ramen. It was easily the best ramen I’ve had. Everything was executed very well. The chashu was perfectly cooked, tinder, very flavorful, and had a bit thicker cut than other chashu I’ve had. The noodles themselves had a very nice bite to them and in my opinion, were perfectly done. The broth was sublime. Very subtle flavors all coming in together to form a delightful brother packed with umami. The only disappointment was the tamago which I found to be a bit less marinated than I wanted but was also perfectly cooked.

UPDATE:

I don't know of they changed ownership or vendors but the food quality is much lower than the last time I visited. This WAS the closest ramen I've had in the states in terms of quality compared to Japan but now it tastes like it came from an instant noodle pack. Noodle quality is terrible, broth tasted extremely diluted, egg was not marinated, chashu has no flavor and has a...

Ate here with my mom, aunt, uncle, nephew, and cousin. We walked in at 7:15 on a Friday evening and we were promptly seated. The food was great and service was great, or so we thought. We also ordered an entree to go for my brother in law. By the time we finished and received the check, I paid quickly because there were several guests at the bar and host stand waiting to be seated. I should have reviewed the check more closely but I provided a credit card and quickly signed the receipt without looking at it so the restaurant could quickly turn the table. I included just under 25% tip. Hours later at home I reviewed the receipt and I noticed that 18% was already included and no one from the restaurant ever mentioned that either on the phone when I called to inquire about a reservation, in person when we were seated, or when the check / credit card slip were brought to me. This was my second trip to Toukei and I was excited to introduce the restaurant to my family. Ultimately I’m responsible for over tipping but as someone that worked many years as a waiter in casual fine dining restaurants, I’m extremely disappointed that the automatic gratuity wasn’t pointed out when the check...