Hajimaru Ramen — Restaurant in Philadelphia

Short Version: The broth lacked flavor, the corn tasted canned, and it could have been spicier (for me). That said the pork was cooked PERFECTLY, mushrooms tasted nice and the whole egg was great and brought much needed flavor. Interior design and staff were excellent!

Long Version: This is probably as authentic as you are going to get in Fishtown when it comes to ramen but make no mistake this place isn't trying to be traditional. The interior is modern with a rustic flare and the staff is excellent! I truly felt like they enjoyed being there and I hope this friendly attitude is maintained indefinitely. I really enjoyed the music playing BTW.

Now down to business. The karaage chicken was excellent and I really liked how instead of being given a lemon it was integrated into the sauce. I personally felt the chicken wasn't too dry nor bland. All around I really enjoyed it. The ramen however was okay. I had their signature ramen and overall I wasn't impressed. Now I eat a lot of ramen in the winter, like A LOT. I seriously can't get enough when I'm cold. I felt like the broth could have had more flavor and while I personally prefer mine a bit spicier I think the spice is at a good place for the average ramen goer. The mushrooms were great and I really enjoyed the whole egg. The pork was cooked PERFECTLY, I can't stress that enough. This is ultimately what saved the ramen. I really can't tell you how many times I've had dried out pork. My only complaint on the pork would have been to dial down the cloves, you really taste it on the outside of the pork which bothered my GF. While she was right that it was a bit much I really enjoyed the tenderness of it and ate all her pork. I am more of a stickler for how something is cooked versus over seasoning so I wasn't wasting it. I was really expecting more flavor from the broth and to say this is the best ramen in the city simply isn't true. Is it the best in Fishtown? I'll let you...

WOULD RECOMMEND

Stumbled upon this place on my way to get ice cream in Fishtown and thought I'd give this place a try. The restaurant is quite small with two large party tables and two counter tables. The menu is not too big and has all you ever need in a ramen shop, some appetizers, some rice bowls, and of course, the classic ramen and speciality ramen bowls. Price was standard of ramen in Philly ($10-$15). You can add additional toppings to ramen and adjust spice level. I was pleasantly surprised at how good the ramen noodles were and the noodles were different depending on dish. My Hajimaru Signature came was thin ramen noodles with the perfect al dente texture. The shoyu ramen came with a thicker noodle. Overall soup was decent, could be richer. Chashu was very flavorful, salty, and lean, if only it had a bit more fat.

Hajimaru Signature ramen - their speciality ramen with all the toppings you could ask for in a ramen in a spicy tonkotsu broth. This broth wasn't as good as the shoyu broth. I asked for less spicy and it wasn't bad at all. Love love their noodles, has a very nice chew to it.

Shoyu ramen - thicker noodles than hajimaru ramen. This broth has a stronger tonkotsu taste and was better than Hajimaru one in my opinion.

VERDICT I wouldn't mind...

Nice little ramen shop. Interestingly I was thinking of getting sushi, searched on Google and this place popped up. No sushi to be found on the menu when I arrived though.

Arrived on a quiet Sunday night, and ordered the signature Ramen, the chashu Don, and chicken karrage.

The chicken karrage was fresh and delicious, but it was $10 so I certainly wonder if it was worth the price.

The ramen, as warned by some other reviewers, was quite bland, despite having two chilli peppers on the menu, it was not spicy at all, though I’m not complaining about that given my low spice tolerance. The broth was simply lacking in depth and I had to add salt to enhance it, though it ended up being too salty afterwards. It also doesn’t help that I had Ichiran in Manhattan the day before so it was clearly a deviation in quality. Though Ichiran was double the price of this.

The pork and eggs in the ramen were wonderful however, tender, sweet, and full of flavor. This applies for the chashu don as well, because of the tenderness and flavor of the meat, it is top notch and I certainly would return/order again for the don but...