ramen on Joseph Chen

신구멍가게24 — seoul, south korea

Fri, 03 Apr 2026 05:32:00 -0500

i have quite the number of ramen reviews to catch up on, i think 3?! i really need to work on them… can’t just keep them in my head and scattering of notes, else i’ll forget them all.

anyways, i somehow found myself on a quick solo-trip to seoul this past week. i was pretty hesitant about it, especially as my outflow last month exceeded my net cash inflow by a bit over 100%. quite horrendous. but, it was forecasted to rain in chicago this past week + i wanted to see w/ my friend sooyeon + i haven’t been excited about or interested in solo-trips in a worrying while. needed to see for myself why that was the case. so, i pushed myself to go, even though that desire to stay home was bordering victory up until i received a seat on my korean air flight to incheon. it was only then that i actually committed mentally to go.

that’s the context behind why i was, and still am, in seoul. my dear friend sooyeon, when i asked her what ramen spot i should check out while i was here, directed me to convenience store ramen. truthfully, i also did not see any ramen places during my 4 days of city exploration thus far either. regardless, instant ramen seems to be such an integral part of the ramen culture in south korea, and it only made sense to experience it firsthand.

i went to this 24/7 unmanned instant ramen spot near sogang university. there were plentiful amounts of snacks, drinks, and other goodies all around the whole store; every purchase was reliant on trust, although i’m sure shoplifting has more serious enforcement and consequences in south korea. in the corner was the ramen booth—its walls infilled with columns and columns of different instant ramen brands and flavors. for my first ramen, i chose a pretty safe bet: 농심 사리곰탕면 (Nongshim Sarigomtangmyun). based on gomtang, a traditional korean beef bone soup, it tasted pretty decent. not as rich and flavorful as the real thing, but it was nice, clean, and soothing with notes of garlic, green onion, and pepper. definitely not a go-to option for visitors as it wasn’t even part of the instant ramen leaderboard (last photo) sighs. for my second ramen, i opted for a popular one on the board: 오뚜기 진라면 순한맛 (Ottogi Jin Ramen Mild). honestly, i could’ve and should’ve gone for the spicy version. the mild was quite mild, although packed much more flavor and richness. there was a little bzzbzz on the lips, but very mild spiciness overall, esp. for koreans i bet. noodles seem thicker, which i do like quite a bit!

overall, what a cool experience! it is still instant ramen though guys…

noodle: 4
broth: 4
toppings: 2
balance: 5
satisfaction: 5
overall: 4.0

refer: ramen review sheet

monster ramen — chicago, illinois

Fri, 20 Mar 2026 20:31:00 -0500

anna had suggested we try this all together next, so here we are! the wait was zilch because anna had walked in ahead of time to grab us a spot (thank you anna)

this spot is pretty well-known in chicago. it’s a small, but cozy venue. they specialize in beef-based broth, which is a switch-up from the typical tonkotsu broth. gabi had the shio house which is gyukotsu, beef jam (seemingly ground beef), shio tare, yuzu, sesame oil, and sesame seeds. anna and i had the shio tokusei, which consisted of the same, but with beef chashu, red onions, menma (which i donated to gabi), and ajitama (also donated to gabi, sorry im a picky guy).

i honestly quite enjoyed it. the broth is quite good and complex with a good balance of oil. the yuzu helps add some acidity and slight citrussy, while the sharpness and slight sweetness of the red onions did a banger job imo. i do wish i wrote this earlier, as i do forget that was the enjoyable part for sure. the noodles were not bad. they were hakata-style, which i enjoyed, but was a bit bland. the weakness here was the beef chashu… it was quite dry, and the beef jam did a much better job at adding umami, although it did essentially still taste like marinated ground beef haha. the aftertaste of the meal was a slight saltiness, nothing some water and drinks wouldn’t fix.

perhaps the beef chashu was a one-time issue, but will not know until i try it again. however, i would likely come back again for the uniqueness of the broth itself (unless future spots deem it unnecessary). the other ramens in their menu seem to have their own charm as well, but the gyukotsu broth itself already breaks the occasional monotony of ramen broth i’ve had thus far.

noodle: 7
broth: 7.5
toppings: 4.5
balance: 6.5
satisfaction: 7
overall: 6.5

refer: ramen review sheet

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