Anuja and I had gone to the Ivan Ramen Slurp Shop at Gotham West earlier this year and enjoyed our meal there, so when Ivan opened a full service stand alone restaurant in the Lower East Side, we were intrigued. Luckily the menu here is quite different from the Slurp Shop which was great because I wasn't sure if I would have gone if they had the same food.
The menu is also slightly more extensive and expensive here. It has around 9 appetizer-like dishes (bites, cold and crisp) as well as slightly larger hot dishes and finally 7 different ramen dishes. I was starving so we started with the Tofu Coney Island ($11) and the Chinese Greens and Garlic ($7) and then I opted for the triple pork, triple garlic mazemen with and egg ($15 + $2) and Anuja got the veggie ramen with and egg ($14 + $2). Yes the prices for the ramen was a bit high and I'm always a bit peeved when places charge you extra for egg but I guess this is what most ramen places do in NYC now. I was a bit skeptical of the Tofu Coney Island because it was described as tofu with mushroom miso chili, yellow mustard and scallions. I wasn't sure how tofu, yellow mustard and chili would taste together but you know what? It tasted pretty f*ing good. I can't explain it but all flavors really worked well together and we cleaned the entire plate. The Chinese greens was a bunch of Chinese broccoli steams in a sweet soy pickle garlic sauce - the sauce was light but had a definite pickled garlic kick to it. While I do enjoy a green stem every now and then, I would have appreciated more leafy greens to the dish.
Lastly, my ramen arrived. The waiter had kindly reminded me that the mazemen ramen is a thick noodle with minimal broth - which I was ok with as long as the flavor profile tasted good. Plus I really prefer thick chewy noodles vs. thin noodles swimming in broth. The noodles were exactly how it was described - thick and chewy and delicious. It does have a small base of tonkotsu broth at the bottom but unlike most other ramen, the broth isn't really the star here. It's the noodles and the nice and fatty piece of pork it comes with. True to its name it's also very garlicky - it really does hit you with each bite. I was surprisingly full from the tofu and greens but I really pushed myself to finish this dish because I really enjoyed each bite. Also true to ramen, the dish was very salty and I definitely got more than my fair share of sodium on this outing. I didn't try the veggie ramen but it was a much more traditional ramen with more of a soupy broth to it.
All in all, I was glad I tried out this place despite it not being a traditional ramen place. Apparently Ivan is quite popular in Tokyo despite being an outsider from Long Island. If you're in the mood for the typical hot salty brothy ramen, I would still go to Ippudo instead but if you're in the mood for some ramen that's different but still tasty, definitely give Ivan Ramen a try. Total bill: $70 for 2 with tip, take and a glass of sake
Photo Credit: Yelp
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