KOHOKU-KU RAMEN — Restaurant in New York

Solid ramen place that begs returning to for not only their ramen but their large menu of other worthy eats!

KOHOKU-KU RAMEN* bonito fish and chicken broth create a nice clean healthy tasting broth (you def get the bonito fish flavor) for these very well fried craggly and crispy tempura with soft shell crab, enoki mushroom, shrimp tempura. A little soaked with the broth for extra boost of flavor with satisfying craggly crunch for the rest of it that doesn't touch the soup. Soy egg with an evenly runny yolk and a nice pop of marinade flavor. Noodles tender, chewy, al-dente. I can't find something to complain about! PRO TIP: get the spicy sauce on the side because this is HOT. And I love spicy food but the waiter warned us, too, this is NOT your average japanese level of spicy. I wanted to take it home because it was so delicious; we only ended up using a little less than half of the portion of spicy sauce. It adds a great boost of flavor in the broth so I highly recommend using it, still. Just portion it well.

EDAMAME free for checking in. You think oh it's just edamame. It is, but it's very well salted and they did a good job.

CHICKEN DONBURI* Homemade curry! Good consistency; not too runny - good flavor and the rice was nice and clumpy and seasoned with furikake with thick pieces of chicken thigh cuts deep-fried and with a thick crunchy exterior. Fukujinzuke acts a sharp and a solid palate cleanser

HOMEMADE GYOZA** Homemade gyoza tends to be more tender and chewy with the thin skin and sometimes lacks on the crisp aspect but there's more than I was expecting with the crisp texture. The filling is chicken which I don't see often but I really enjoyed it and the garnish was really good for adding texture and freshness with the sauce that includes sesame seeds for lots of flavors. Great job with these.

PANDAN TAIYAKI UM save room for dessert! These are made fresh (you can see there's a taiyaki machine at the front of the restaurant) and it was nice, sweet (not too sweet), warm and crisp and oh so fresh. Ugh. Please get this! If you don't like pandan there's a vanilla flavor too.

Will want to come back...

My friend and I walked into Kohoku-Ku Ramen around 5pm on a Friday. It was pretty empty when we arrived and about 75% full when we left. It is on the smaller side (~8 small parties), so if you want to check it out, try to go on a day when you can get there before a rush. The ambiance is typical of other hole-in-the-wall ramen places with the dim lighting and wooden decor.

If my friend hadn't ordered appetizers, I would have given Kohoku-Ku 5 stars for being the first bowl of ramen I have ever finished in my life. My friend and I both got miso ramen ($18), and my friend got the agedashi tofu ($7) and sea salt edamame ($6) as appetizers. The ramen had chewy noodles, and the miso flavor was delicious. My favorite part of the dish was that there was not too much broth, which may be an unusual preference, but it really worked for me. My only critique of the miso ramen was that the egg didn't have a lot of flavor (though it was cooked well). This became more of an issue when my friend told me to try the edamame, which also lacked flavor. Be warned that the agedashi tofu is extremely hot when it first comes out, so make sure to give it some air if that bothers you. For NYC ramen, pricing is excellent, especially since I finished the whole bowl!

Service was highly attentive, though could come off as a bit pushy. I understand if the restaurant was packed and we were overstaying our welcome, but that was not the case. If either my friend or I paused while eating, the server would ask if we were done. However, I appreciate the attentiveness when it came to water refills and check-backs. Overall, I think some dishes here can be a miss flavor wise, but I will definitely be back for...

Came here for dinner after work with my gf. It's a small ramen shop tucked away in Hell's Kitchen on Ninth Avenue, so it's a bit out of the way, but it's worth coming out to try their signature Kohoku-Ku Ramen. They give you a QR code to scan to view their menu and you order with the staff member. We got the following:

Japanese Sweet Potato Tempura ($8) - essentially purple sweet potato fries that comes with a spicy mayo dipping sauce. It's a good go-to appetizer.

Corn Korokke ($7) - Three crispy deep fried corn croquettes. Also a pretty good appetizer to snack on while you wait for your ramen to show up.

Kohoku-Ku Ramen ($25) - This is the reason why you came here. Who tops their ramen with an entire soft shell crab and shrimp tempura? This place does. Served in a spicy shio flavored chicken and bonito fish broth, the broth itself is pretty decently spicy, hence the three peppers on the menu. The thin noodles is prepared well. Other toppings include enoki mushroom, bok choy, scallion, yuzu, sesame seed, soft boiled egg, and nori. Yeah, this thing is loaded.

If you're not feeling that adventurous, then I'd recommend their Spicy Tonkotsu Ramen ($18). This is not as spicy as the Kohoku-Ku Ramen (one chili pepper), but enough to add some flavor with the rich and creamy bone broth. Toppings include chashu pork, soft boiled egg, bok choy, bamboo shoot, scallion, sesame...