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Daiichi Noodle Cafe, a closer look
 Lyle Galdeira and Sam Choy on Daiichi! |
 Daiichi Noodle Cafe on Yelp! |
Aloha!
11/11/10 - Sam Choy plugs Daiichi Noodle Cafe on a large poster out-front. Lyle Galdeira plugs Daiichi Noodle Cafe on the internet. Yelper's from far and wide post mostly beaming reviews on Daiichi Noodle Cafe. That being said, however, I don't care if Chef Morimoto and Chef Nobu themselves went around raving about the virtues of this place, I would still respectfully disagree. Perhaps if there wasn't a Japanese name involved, and perhaps if they replaced all their soup noodles with more local specialties similar to those already carried, such as mochiko chicken, fried rice, beef curry, and mahi, shrimp, or chicken katsu, all would be well. In fact, the overwhelming number of diners I'd seen passed altogether on ramen or noodles and instead chose plates of this particular genre, all of which looked pretty darn good, actually. When it comes to Japanese food, however, especially ramen and noodles in general, I can't remember ever being more disappointed.
Let's face it - with around 20 varieties of ramen taking-up almost half the menu, Daiichi is a ramen house with other dishes on the side. However, this is definitely one case in which the secondary performers take the show, as the two bowls we tried were absolutely horrific. I wouldn't even call them ramen anymore.
I don't even know where to start. Messing up miso or shoyu ramen in a ramen house is like screwing-over both kalua pig and lau lau in a Hawaiian food eatery. The noodles, first of all, were waaay overcooked and soggy. The broth was very bland and tasted like a bad, somehow slightly tangy miso soup (very different from miso ramen broth!), with no trace whatsoever of that typical complexity coming from added tastes and textures like chili oils or pastes, toasted goma, and fats of various types, including pork.
I couldn't eat more than a third of my bowl, and only finished that because I felt bad for hurting the feelings of the owners. Other than that, I'd have probably left it altogether.
Now, you all know that I'm not the most PC of guys, so I'm gonna let ya know exactly what was happening in our minds throughout this entire process. We could already tell by the menu items and the non-Japanese owners and cooks that though these bowls had every chance of tasting great, it probably wouldn't be authentic at all. And so, we not only went with the staple of any good ramen house, a miso ramen, to empirically test authenticity ourselves (can't go on hunches alone, ey?), but also a Thai-style ramen, only because we figured if it wasn't really gonna be Japanese, then better to search for great tastes from a different angle!
Our take on the first type already told, here's a couple of shots of our Thai-style ramen:
Actually, we both had higher hopes for this particular bowl, even as it landed upon our table, its deep-red, spicy-looking broth looking very much exotic and delicious. The same goes for its mound of kamaboko fish cake, corn, bean sprouts, marinated bamboo shoots, and green onion. One taste, however, and we found it even worse than the miso ramen! Not only were the noodles just as over-cooked, but its broth, though looking spicy and full of flavor, wasn't spicy at all and was instead completely bland in taste. There was also a kind of burnt taste to it, as if actual bits of charcoal were thrown-in. Amazed that such a dish could be served anywhere, we couldn't help but leave with almost the entire bowl intact, hurt feelings or no hurt feelings notwithstanding!
Another kicker was my little niece's bowl of udon, a dish that she devours at least twice a week with relish. All of three years old, we were surprised to find that after a single bite, she refused any more, choosing to play with her fat, white noodles instead of eat them! We couldn't believe it until we tried them ourselves, and what we found was a noodle that wasn't half-bad, but a broth that completely lacked in the salty/sea dashi flavor udon needs.
Our next dish was easily the best noodle we had here, although it still came with a few problems of its own. Called a fried noodle plate, it was basically a yakisoba plate, coming with the same type of flavorings and added vegetables, meats, and garnishes, only much lighter in taste. The one big gripe we had was the amount of bean sprouts and cabbage - waaay too much!!! After all, if you prefer lots of veggies, you're better off with a stir-fried vegetable plate! Me, when I order noodles - I want noodles!
And along these lines, the Aku has been making a grand mistake for quite a while. All this time, though I already know ramen is made mostly from wheat powder, I thought the distinctly yellow coloring in some ramen noodles came from egg. Apparently not!!! Thanks to one of the most respected food journalists here in the islands, John Heckathorn, in his very interesting and informative look on local ramen spots, I learned that the yellow coloring does not come from egg, but from a chemical reaction that occurs when wheat flour meets salt! Yes, there are Chinese and other Asian restaurants that really do use egg noodles, but as for ramen, it's all different mixes of wheat. Thanks John - I stand corrected.
But departing from noodle talk, there is a light at the end of the tunnel here at Daiichi. As stated earlier, the few non-noodle dishes we tried were excellent, and the plated items we happened to catch glimpses of on other tables sure did look great! The katsu, in particular, looked perfectly cooked and golden-brown, as is done in a good restaurant as opposed to an over-cooked katsu from a typical plate lunch house. Their fried rice was excellent, too, coming without excessive extra's (unlike the yakisoba!) and with an unmistakeably Chinese taste and texture:
The most popular ramen side-kick, gyoza, is also well-represented here, one $4 order coming with 6 pieces, but this one coming with only 4 because it was part of a combination special that also included both the earlier-seen miso ramen and the fried rice, all for only $8.50! BTW, $8.50 is the most you'll have to pay for any one order here, making prices another attractive reason for coming.
The pieces were reasonably large, crisped nicely on the bottoms, chewy-soft on top, and with a good stuffing of pork, shrimp, and various vegetables:
If you should ever decide to try this place out for the first time (but don't do ramen if you know anything at all about a good ramen!), they are located in the Aiea Town Square, in the same section as Young's Kalbee.
Before parting, here's one last shot inside the dining area, which is large and simple, but comfortable. I heard it used to be a dump with sticky tables and cockroaches all over, but I believe it's been renovated since, and I found it relatively clean and nice:
You win some, you lose some, and some, you just pull draw's. But either way, the important thing is, you did it! Instead of hunches and pre-conceived notions, it's always better to find out yourself! If you win, you win big, if you lose, you still win because you did it!
Have a great and wonderful week! I'm headed to the new Morimoto's tonight, so the sun is definitely shining, the stars are bright, and it's aaalll good for me!
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