food on Joseph Chen

Wed, 01 Apr 2026 16:24:00 -0500

heytea has a seoul-exclusive drink, at least when i was there in hongdae
it’s a hand-peeled jeju tangerine drink: tangerine pulp sits at the base, topped with a slush of 100% tangerine juice and fragrance-free jasmine green tea, and naturally tinted with beetroot juice.
overall, was pretty good. more of a slushie than the typical heytea drink.

sooyeon had the classic mango pomelo sago, and she thoroughly enjoyed it. was her first time in heytea, and she could not stop admiring how good it was and how appreciatively unsweetened the drink was. i did ask her if she liked it enough to come back again, and she said maybe next year given that the walk was a bit far for her… ps: the walk is only 30 min from campus

higuma — paris, france

Sat, 31 Jan 2026 14:58:58 -0500

after helping gabi shop for gloves, i saw that Higuma was nearby and wanted to try it out for the sake of it. it was heavily-reviewed and sat at a comfortable 4.2 stars. more importantly, the ramen was around 10 euros or so.

we waited about 3 minutes, but when we left, the queue was around the block. the shop, though, was a canteen-style ramen shop, so it was not only big, but also seemed to churn food and people quickly. so, that queue around the block probably would’ve taken 20 minutes to clear. the ramen was alright. i ordered the butter corn ramen, which was a pork-based shio broth. the noodle was a typical thin noodle that i liked, but nothing special and gabi thought it had a store-bought taste to it, which i can’t tell. i felt the broth to be quite light and shallow honestly, which i was expecting due to the heavy shio ramen criticism in the reviews. shio, unlike other types of seasoning, can’t elevate/hide mediocre broth as much. it wasn’t hearty. the toppings were okay, kinda just tossed in without much regard for balance as you’d expect honestly from this canteen-styled restaurant format. the pork chashu was very tender, but gabi wished it was more flavorful and marinated. i thought it was decent by itself. the corn was just corn, nothing inspirational like good sweet corn. however, the amount of butter seemed a bit much? after the midpoint of the meal, the broth just became much too fatty without much richness or depth in flavor. overall, was an average ramen in a pinch. which it scores under an average score of 6, that’s not considering the cost. at 11 euros for my bowl, or 10 euros for a regular shoyu/shio/miso ramen, it hits an average value. the post-meal aftertaste was gray. instead of a cozy, comforting fullness, i felt a bit lethargic and very so slightly nauseous. it’s the butter i swear.

noodle: 6
broth: 5
toppings: 5.5
balance: 5
satisfaction: 4.5
overall: 5.2

refer: ramen review sheet

takesan donabe ramen — paris, france

Sat, 31 Jan 2026 14:23:40 -0500

since committing my mind to this ramen blog series, i’ve been waiting for my next ramen plunge excitedly. somehow, that ended up to be in paris. a bit far, but home of a rich culinary culture and history.

there were a few spots on my list:

Kodawari Ramen (Tsukiji)
Kodawari Ramen (Yokocho)
Hakata Choten
Menkicchi Ramen
Higuma

however, the queue for Kodawari Ramen (both locations) was very long. good thing is that we could just queue online and walk around the area; however, the queue timing was pretty inaccurate, often for the better. it’d say 3 hours wait, but have a seat for you in half of that. but that would mean we weren’t in the area yet… next time for those two! they’ve been mentioned as a contender for the best ramen in europe, sooooo i’ll definitely try them in the near future.

back to Takesan Donabe Ramen. it was pretty solid. the wait was minimal, and the ambience was good. they specialized in miso ramen, but i wanted something light and opted for the tonkotsu shoyu ramen, aka iekei ramen. the noodles were quite thick, like chinese noodles. i didn’t mind them, and they had a nice bite! i just prefer thinner noodles for my ramen, but nothing wrong with these. for toppings, i had bamboo shoots, roasted seaweed, and spinach. no bamboo shoots for me this time again (maybe in future i’ll grow into them bc seems important LOL), but seaweed and spinach was yummy. i love spinach, and it paired nicely. the chashu was sliced thinly and leaned on the fatter profile, but was tender and good. the broth was nice and light, although didn’t have enough depth imo. refreshingly light still. overall, ate it all up and had me wanting more.

noodle: 7
broth: 5.5
toppings: 7
balance: 7
satisfaction: 7
overall: 6.7

refer: ramen review sheet

akahoshi ramen — chicago, illinois

Tue, 20 Jan 2026 00:21:12 -0500

this shop is widely known as one of the top, if not the top, ramen spots in chicago. did not realize that, tbh, until gabi and i went on a saturday afternoon. they open 5-9 everyday, and we were there by 5:15. by then, despite over half of the tables typically reserved for walk-ins, there was a large queue which took us 2 hours to overcome. i was starving, but i honestly wanted to get ramen and we were already there.

but, soon enough, we were sitting down in a long bench and quickly got our food. i ordered the standard Akahoshi Miso ramen. to be honest, im no ramen connoisseur by any means. i just really like ramen without much understanding about its complexities. i don’t know exactly what kinds of ramen i like and what kinds i don’t, but this new #category is what im here to discover for myself.

so, back to the miso ramen. honestly, it was the best ramen i’ve had in months. the noodles were bouncy and had a good, squiggly texture. the chashu was absolutely amazing: tender, balanced, charred, wonderful. definitely one of my most memorable chashu place along with Ramenwell in SF I had years ago. the other toppings were great: bean sprouts kept a nice crunch and the green onion provided the needed freshness and balance. the broth, though, was a bit light—surprising for this mixed miso broth as i thought it’d be more heavy, fermented, strong. other than that, great!

overall, would definitely revisit and try a different tare ramen. i don’t think im a huge miso ramen guy but they did it well enough that i enjoyed it without any issue. the owner/chef seems like a great, helpful, and warm part of the ramen community (esp. on reddit as u/Ramen_Lord) and knows his craft well + has a soothing humbleness from what i can read.

noodle: 8
broth: 6
toppings: 9
balance: 7
satisfaction: 7.5
overall: 7.5

here’s my newly-started ramen review sheet

Mon, 21 Jul 2025 15:18:46 -0500

ended up making some broccoli in the morning; one batch simmered in mirin and broth, the other wok fried with salt and pepper + some garlic (the latter batch was tastier)

Mon, 21 Jul 2025 00:02:24 -0500

meal prepping for the second week of full-time work!! gotta make some veggies but it’s midnight already so it’s time to zzz

Thu, 03 Jul 2025 23:08:24 -0500

absolutely crazy! found a book-themed bar and inside was a drink called KALADIN STORMBLESSED!!!!!! literally just finished Book Five of the Stormlight Archive series (Wind and Truth)!! ngl not a bad drink, vibes are good here, would recommend! music is very solid

Novela 662 Mission St, San Francisco, CA 94105

Fri, 09 May 2025 13:38:20 -0500

me 🤝 american breakfast

Wed, 26 Mar 2025 05:29:19 -0500

there’s a Venezuelan food spot in Brickell that’s really good and well-priced! gave us some chicken soup on the house too 😭 also gave Joe’s Stone Crab a go & it was good! for the ambience and history, the value is still quite good there—1/2 chicken for like $9 and lowkey I quite enjoyed the free bread (ate it before the camera did 💀). The hashbrowns were really good (but tbf I love hashbrowns), and I ordered a large after sampling some, and our waiter downgraded it to a half-size on his own accord and thank goodness he did 😭 the half-size was very much more than enough for me alongside my other two dishes LOL (both of which I needed help finishing). Evan and Gabi said the crab is good and quite conveniently pre-cracked, but not like to die for, but solid. at the end, we were all very stuffed and satisfied.

El Sitio Coffee Bar 19 NE 2nd Ave, Miami, FL 33132

Joe’s Stone Crab 11 Washington Ave, Miami Beach, FL 33139

Mon, 24 Mar 2025 13:43:18 -0500

brunch @ coconut grove! the cast iron pancake was too much 😭 I warned Evan beforehand but alas he did not heed my advice. otherwise, it was solid & enjoyable. Evan says 7.5/10.

Chug’s Diner 3444 Main Hwy Suite 21, Miami, FL 33133

Sun, 23 Mar 2025 16:02:59 -0500

Vizcaya Village Farmers Market + Vizcaya Museums & Gardens were both successes! The farmer market had a lot of good & diverse food, and we had a bunch of empanadas as well as fresh Floridian orange juice and sugarcane juice. The museum and gardens was really pretty and was overall a fun time! Lots of lizards abound in Miami 🦎