It’s no exaggeration to say I’m a huge fan of Japanese Ramen soup, so much that I’ve been considering writing an entire post on it. But this time I’ve decided to write a review of a ramen shop I went to recently in Hollywood, Florida, that was quite delicious.
The store is called ‘GoBistro’, and to be honest I can’t stand this name. Not only does it not sound Japanese in the slightest bit, but I don’t understand what sort of feeling it is supposed to invoke, other than ‘bistro’ meaning ‘a small restaurant’. But when a Japanese friend recommend this place to us, we couldn’t help but try it out.
The atmosphere of the place is true to it’s name – it’s quite small and strongly reminds me of similar places I’ve dined in New York on occasion. They did an excellent job with the interior design, with a mix of pictures than invoke Japan and modern, stylish elements. Take a look at their website which has a pretty good representative picture.
But I’m getting a bit off topic – regardless of how oshare (=stylish) the place is, the quality of the food and the price are much more important. Though they have a pretty large sushi menu, we focused on two different types of Ramen, shouyu (soy sauce) and tonkotsu (pork bone), and also got a small order of negimaki (broiled strips of beef marinated in teriyaki sauce, rolled with scallions).
The negimaki was quite good, with just the amount of sweetness and saltiness, but I only had a small bite since I was saving my appetite for the ramen.
The shouyu ramen, which I ordered for myself, turned out to be quite excellent, with thick, flavorful broth and fresh noodles. The toppings included traditional nori seaweed, half of a boiled egg, and menma (fermented bamboo shoots which are very chewy). Above all, the chashuu (barbecued pork) was to die for – with just the amount of fat that melts in your mouth. One minor complaint is that even though tasted good, there was way too much broth in the bowl (nearly overflowing), and not quite enough noodles for a noodle lover like me. But at only $11 this ramen was completely worth it. I’ve tried several places in Florida for ramen and this was the best tasting, hands down, though to be fair it can’t complete with Ippudo in NY. The shouyu ramen wasn’t bad, though the broth tasted a little funny, or shall I say different, to me.
The restaurant is located on a lively strip in Hollywood, across from twin Karate and Aikido dojos, the latter looking particularly beautiful with a ring of “zen garden”-style rocks around the central tatami mats. If lived closer to Hollywood I’d consider trying out this dojo someday.
All things considered – this place is a must-visit for any lover or Japanese ramen!
References
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negimaki