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Menkui Tei – My Love for Ramen

Like I said a long time ago in my post on alphabet city’s ramen joint, Minca, Menkui Tei on 3rd avenue between St. Marks and E. 7th street has a special place in my heart (it’s actually technically Cooper Square). I have been coming here with Thomas since freshman year of college. Located just a little ways from NYU’s jazz building, Menkui Tei offers some great ramen at a much better price than our good friend, the overpriced Ippudo.

So what’s to love here? Pretty much everything. The wait staff is ridiculously nice (they always remember me!) and I love the wooden environment + mix of 90’s hip-hop and pop music. My two favorite ramens that Menkui offers are the Kyushu Ramen and the Sutamina Ramen. The Kyushu Ramen, pictured above, is a “Special Menu” item that happens to always be on the menu – this is a good thing. The Kyushu features sprouts, bamboo, fried garlic, scallions, a half a soft-boiled ehh, and of course – two thick and tasty slices of pork, along with thin noodles in a delicious pork bone broth.

The Sutamina Ramen has a spicy miso-based broth with sliced pork, egg, garlic and scallions. Yum! I need to get a photo of this one because it’s quite wonderful.

Anyway, I love Menkui Tei and you should too! Among pricier places like Ramen Setagaya, Ippudo, and Minca, Menkui Tei is a delicious and affordable contender in the ramen market. They also have a really good mabo tofu and pitcher deals that come with hot wings!

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Nha Trang Centre – Vietnamese Goodness

Nha Trang is one of my favorite Vietnamese spots in Chinatown since Gao Di first took me here when we both worked in Chinatown. This place offers some amazing meals and I figured I’d point out a few of my favorite dishes.

I was recently turned on to the awesome pho at Than Brothers in Seattle but…. in New York, Nha Trang is some great pho! I particularly like their Pho Dac Biet, a gigantic bowl of rice noodles in soup with beef brisket, eyeround and tendon. $5.75 for a ridiculously large bowl of soup? So awesome. Throw in some bean sprouts, basil, fish sauce and sriracha sauce and you got a good meal. An overlord of noodles and beef, mmmmm.

Another of my favorite dishes is the Com Suon Bi Cha, which is barbecued pork chop, shredded pork, and a steamed egg cake over rice. Nha Trang has delicious pork chops and the additional shredded pork goodness make for a good porky meal. The onions make for good additional flavor, as well. I have gone back and forth on whether or not I actually like the egg cake, but I think it’s pretty good and complements the meal pretty well. This one’s $6.50 and quite worth it.

My Nha Trang adventure would not be complete without my favorite waitress asking me before I even sit down if I want fried spring rolls- BECAUSE I ALWAYS DO. Nha Trang’s fried spring rolls (Cha Gio) are sooo good. For anyone who doesn’t know how to eat these, rip a piece of lettuce, throw in some mint and carrot, wrap it around the spring roll, and dip in the fish sauce. YUM. – $4.50

Mmm, so satisfying. Nha Trang also has a Baxter location, literally a block away, but I happen to like Centre’s ambiance (or lack thereof) more. Friendly service that always remembers me is always a plus. My waitress treats me like a son and is always wondering if I’m too cold or getting sick, awww.

Nha Trang is located on 148 Centre Street between Walker and White St.

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Minca – Alphabet City

Minca is a small ramen shop I stumbled upon when I lived in alphabet city. It’s located on East 5th Street between Avenues A and B. Minca and Kambi on 14th st are apparently owned by the same person but I think Minca is far superior. Minca is small and because the place gets packed it can feel very cramped even though it seats a few more people than tiny ramen shop Rai Rai Ken. The wait isn’t too bad but you certainly do feel awkward when you stand around waiting for your seat because it’s too cold outside and end up hovering over diners’ tables.

Aside from the lack of personal space, Minca offers a nice ambiance and seats at the bar get a nice view of the open kitchen. I have had some of the more extravagant ramens here but this time I kept it simple with the Minca Shoyu Ramen and Pork Gyoza.

The menu at Minca is simple, they pretty much stick to ramen and gyoza. The pork gyoza is really, really good with a nice thin skin and tasty pork filing. An order equals 6 hand-made dumplings for $4.85, highly recommended to complement your meal (pork overload yes!!!). Minca’s website states “We Take Pride in Our らーめん” (Ramen), and they do. It’s obvious the love and care put into these ramen bowls. The minca shoyu ramen features a pork & chicken mix broth with a soy sauce flavor  and is ridiculously delicious- thick and meaty! The charshu pork is amazingly fatty and tender, it seems to melt in your mouth. It’s such a shame you only get two pieces- lucky for me Eileen isn’t so down with fatty pork and gifted me with some extra pork- YUMMMMM. The ramen is also topped with a soy sauce infused half of a hard-boiled egg, scallions, mushrooms, seaweed, and bamboo shoots. This ramen is, simply put, fucking delicious. Also, the bowls seem to be pretty low on the MSG and I never leave with that weird after-taste MSG gives you. The standard Minca Shoyu Ramen is $9.50, a better deal and better tasting than Ippudo. Some of the more intricate ramens at Minca range up to $14.

Minca is an amazing, authentic ramen shop and places in as one of my top places for ramen noodles in the city. I’m also a big fan of Menkui Tei and Ramen Setagaya and will get to reviewing them at another point! If you know of any amazing ramen places in New York that I may not have heard of please leave me with a suggestion!

Minca can be found at 536 East 5th Street between Avenues A and B in Alphabet City.

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Wonton Garden

What better way is there to usher in the new year than eating and writing about it. Hello 2010!

I simply cannot stop eating asian food these days. New Wonton Garden is an awesome spot at 56 Mott St between Canal and Bayard. I want to say that the service is terrible, but it’s not, it’s more like the servers are just rude. Either way, I’ve never had a bad experience there, I don’t take it personally, but I can see how someone would be offended by the general attitude of the servers. They yell at you, but I don’t think they mean any harm by it… or maybe they do. Moving on…

My current favorite thing to get here is B9 – Beef Stew & Wontons in Noodle Soup. Alexa and Gao Di are in love with C18, which is basically the same thing except with the beef stew, wontons and noodles served on a plate with the soup on the side for dipping.

B9 is delicious. The stewed beef is tender and savory. The wontons are also  good, although my father says the wontons were much better when he was younger, and the combination of beef stew and wonton make for an incredibly fulfilling meal. Can we take a moment to revel in the generous portion of beef and wontons provided in the meal? Overall Wonton Garden is pretty heavy on the MSG and hours later I had that awkward MSG feeling left in my mouth- amazing while eating but irritating later. Anyway, my big bowl of noodles was $6.50 well spent.