The place is pretty tiny with only communal seating and a few seats at the bar, so if you're not one of the first 20-25 people in line, you will have to wait at least another hour. The menu here is fairly simple, 5 appetizers and 4 different ramens. My first impression was that the prices were a bit high considering that we were in LIC - the ramens ranged from $15-18 and if you wanted extra toppings they were $2-4 more. But we were already here so we just went to town. I had to get the U&I (MP which was $24 that day) even though Janet wasn't a huge fan of it. We also got the Okonomiyaki ($14) and the "MUssels" ($14) while I got the Tonkotsu ($15) ramen with an egg ($2) and Janet got the MU ramen ($18) with an egg ($2). I'll start with the U&I which is the primary reason I gave this place a 3.5 fork rating vs. a 3 for rating. If you like uni, this dish is exquisite. I mean, it's something I would want for one of my last meals ever. Yes, it's offensively priced at $24 for a small bowl but you get 3 fantastic and fairly large sized tongues of uni that are incredibly creamy and briny and heavenly. It's paired with ikura (salmon roe), spicy maguro (spicy tuna), sushi style rice and sprinkled with sesame roasted seaweed. I've had uni before in my life but never in 1 bowl of deliciousness as this one. It's what really saved this meal for me. Next we got the okonomiyaki which was deep fried chicken wings stuffed with foie gras and brioche. It tasted like the salt and pepper chicken dishes I've had in Asian restaurants before and while I love anything deep fried, this one was a bit too salty for me. It was good but the combination with the foie gras as a bit too much for me - it didn't really need the froie gras nor did it add a whole lot to it. Next were the mussels which was sauteed and served with a spicy dipping sauce. It was a solid bowl and the mussels were a good plump size - I just wish for $14 that there were more of them.
And finally we move to the ramen. Mine was basic pork based ramen with pork jowl, bamboo shoot, mushrooms and scallion. Listen, it was a good ramen, the noodles were soft and the broth was light but flavorful. I really enjoyed it but I don't think it's really worth $17 and a trip out to LIC when you can have just as good ramen in the city for less and that's closer. Janet's ramen had an oxtail and bone marrow broth topped with brisket, pickles, bamboo shoot, cabbage and scallion. The brisket looked like corn beef and while she enjoyed it, she also echoed the sentiment that it was overpriced (her ramen was $20!) and that she still liked Totto Ramen and Ippudo better.
All in all, I'm still glad I checked this place out and for me, it was worth the trip to for the uni dish. I thought that the appetizers were better than ramen dishes here. In a place like LIC where they still don't have a huge selection of restaurants, I'm surprised that they didn't lower their prices to make it a more neighborhood friendly destination. It felt like everyone there had trekked from the city or Brooklyn to try it out, so I'm curious after the hype dies down, how many locals will continue to support a $18 ramen? Who knows, but maybe as long as they serve that uni dish, there will still be people lining out the door. Also on a good note, it looks like they changed their policy from cash only to accepting credit cards which is great because you can easily run up a pretty hefty tab here. Total bill: $117 for two with tax and tip
Photo Credit: Yelp
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