 |
 |
Ton Ton Ramen, a closer look
 Ton ton Ramen reviews! |
 Ton Ton Ramen Waipahu on Yelp! |
Aloha!
12/18/10 - Quick one today. Found ourselves out at the Waikele Outlet Stores and figured we'd drop down into Waipahu Town on the very day Filipino superstore Jollibee opened. Expecting a mad house, we didn't dare venture by, opting instead for the Waipahu Town Center, where sits another name grabbing quite a bit of media attention recently, as well!
Judging by a host of gushy reviews from the established media, I had a good deal of hope for Ton Ton Ramen. Unfortunately, having experienced so many top-knotch ramen houses in Japan and most recently having visited Kyushu, where pork ramen reigns supreme and places like Ippudo and Ichiran make any ramen house on the island look second-rate, I guess I'm a bit jaded by now. Don't get me wrong - I do believe there are some great ramen houses here, with spots like Raraya (ughhh! Raraya is now closed!) and several Waikiki locations serving some really good stuff, but when it comes to standing toe-to-toe with the homeland, that's quite a different story.
Ton Ton is a popular shop here in Waipahu, and the owners are even thinking of opening a second location very soon. The interior of the restaurant is simple, clean, and comfortable, adorned with, as most ramen shops, a humble design to reflect the economical, comfort food-type nature of ramen:
The menu is wide and varied, with no less than 16 different types of ramen and a host of other dishes that can include curry, unagi, spicy chicken wings, fried octopus, mochiko chicken, and scallop, shrimp, squid, chicken, seafood, or Spam katsu. Many items, including all katsu's, can be served along with curry.
Today I was in the mood for chicken katsu. Cheap, plate lunch-style katsu is not a craving I'd normally get, but katsu at ramen houses are usually a little better.
Borrowing a page out of a local-style Korean bbq, this portion of chicken was definitely marinated in local-style bbq sauce (shoyu/sugar), giving it a sweeter and very much different taste. Depending on your mood, the effect sometimes works and sometimes doesn't. The flavor this time was fine, but that wasn't the problem. The crust was hard, thick, and slightly over-done, obvious signs of panko'ing product, then holding said products in the freezer for a time. It's just not the same as freshly panko'd, is all.
The gyoza was much better. Priced at $3.75 for 4 pieces or $4.75 for 6, they were relatively plump and filled with familiar but tasty sections of pork, shrimp, and green onion, along with a crispy searing on one side and a soft, tender chewiness on the other.
As for ramen, you'll find familiar choices like a wonton, vegetable, shoyu, miso, seafood, and mabo tofu, but there's also interesting newbies like an ippin, tonton, soft rib, and black sesame tantan, the latter two of which we'll see today. Not sure what a tonton ramen is, but the ippin is simply a shoyu-based ramen with fixin's, including a specially prepared egg that is first boiled, then stripped of its shell and soaked in a shoyu-based sauce that tints the whites a slight brown, darkens the yolk, and most of all, adds a nice depth and flavor. It is also carefully cooked to remain a bit soft on the insides, resulting in a pretty darn good boiled egg. Here's a shot of the same type of egg, only in a bowl of soft rib ramen:
One of the most popular items here, they can sell up to 50 to 60 of these bowls in a single day! The thick, generously-portioned cuts of beef are cooked for 8 hours, resulting in a ridiculously soft, melt-in-your-mouth meat that is flavored lightly to perfection instead of being overly-heavy in shoyu or sugar. If it was offered, I think I'd order these tender morsels in and of themselves, only over a hot bowl of steaming white rice!
Toppings also include choi sum, green onion, fishcake, nori, and what I thought at first glance was bubu arare, but were in fact garlic chips that seemed a bit subdued in taste, but still added something to the dish.
Aaaand... Here's where the good stuff ends. I mean, I really, really, really don't like overly-cooked noodles, and both of our bowls contained soft, mushy strands that just weren't happening. Besides that, the broth was terribly under-flavored. I suppose you could have added shoyu, hot sauces, and perhaps even a dash of vinegar, but then again, a good ramen bowl comes fully contained and well-endowed with a bounty of bold ingredients to render sauces completely unnecessary. Leave that to pho and saimin!
Here's another shot at the soft rib meat and egg, just because at this point, I'd rather return to memories of the fonder variety:
Kumi's order, a black sesame tantan ramen, was much the same story as mine:
The super-soft pork pieces were tender and delicious, but the noodles were waaay soft and the broth, while interesting in its blackened complexion, carried an earthiness that went way beyond being nutty. Though black sesame seeds are heralded for their healthy virtues, including for promoting beautiful skin, the earthiness reached almost dust-like levels, as the toasted, ground sesame seeds were too strong and without a healthy balance of additional flavoring to make it palatable. Tan tan ramen originates in the Szichuan province of China, and is supposed to be spicy and sour, but this one was neither.
I don't know. Though I really wanted to believe in this place, I just can't. Perhaps their curry is good, and perhaps their fried noodles, mochiko chicken, and other ramen types are better, but as for their two most popular bowls, both Kumi and I came out greatly disappointed. I don't think I'll be back for another run, either, so maybe just take it with a grain of salt and try it out for yourselves. You never know.
Like I said, it's gonna be a quick one. Headed for yet more hibachi's with friends and family! Keep it safe, keep it real, and enjoy the rest of the Holiday Season!
Take care, and Aloha till next time!
Aku
Comments:
Kyo H (12/27/10): I was actually thinking of going there too, esp given all the hype, but now I don't think so. Mushy noodles are a pet peeve of mine as well.
Post a Comment or just say hello! Don't worry about leaving REAL names if you don't want to! No e-mails will be posted without consent, last names will be abbreviated, and if you don't want me to post all or any part of your correspondence, please state so! Hope to hear from you all!
