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Spotlight: Scott Joseph Reviews The Ramen

The Ramen ramen. Photo courtesy of Orlando Restaurant Guide
The Ramen ramen. Photo courtesy of Orlando Restaurant Guide

This review is abridged for broadcast. Find the full version of the review at Scott Joseph’s Orlando Restaurant Guide on this page.

There’s a new ramen restaurant in downtown Orlando. Not just a ramen, The Ramen. Why do I think of Edgar Allen Poe every time I hear that name?

Quoth The Ramen “Never pho.”

It wasn’t quite a midnight dreary that I walked downtown blocks so dreary.

As we’re seeing with many new restaurants, The Ramen is quick-serve: Place your order and pay for it at the counter then take a number stand to a table of your choice. Someone will bring your food to you when it’s ready.

I selected the Shoyu Ramen, which had Shoyu broth, chashu, aji tamago, naruto, menma, green onions and nori.

Translation:
Shoyu — Soy sauce.
Chashu — Pork belly.
Aji tomago — Soft-boiled egg
Naruto — An illustrated Japanese series about an adolescent ninja. No, that can’t be right. Actually, this should be narutomaki, a cured surimi-like fish.
Menma — Fermented bamboo shoots (also the name of another character in the Naruto series).
Green onions — you can figure out.
Nori — Seaweed sheets.

Missing from the list are the expected noodles that are assumed in every ramen bowl.

The flavors were all good, and I especially liked the pork belly. With the nicely marinated and perfectly cooked egg, this would make a good substitute for a regular bacon-and-eggs breakfast.

The Ramen (the restaurant) is the project of Suichi Tanida, who was formerly a chef at the Japan pavilion at Epcot. There isn’t a lot in the way of decor.

It’s just a place to go and have a good bowl of soup with noodles.

Only this and nothing more.

Nicole came to Central Florida to attend Rollins College and started working for Orlando’s ABC News Radio affiliate shortly after graduation. She joined WMFE in 2010. As a field reporter, news anchor and radio show host in the City Beautiful, she has covered everything from local arts to national elections, from extraordinary hurricanes to historic space flights, from the people and procedures of Florida’s justice system to the changing face of the state’s economy.