Ramen Misoya, East Village

Another ramen date with Angela, this time at Ramen Misoya in East Village. As the name suggests, this is place is miso mecca. There are 3 different types of miso on the menu: kome, mame, shiro. Kome is the standard miso, made from rice. Mame is darker and made from beans. Of the three, mame is the sweetest and richest. Shiro is a light-colored miso and is the least intense in flavor. For each broth, Misoya offers several different bowls to choose from. If you’re feeling extra greedy, you can add on extra char shu pork. We ordered glasses of plum wine ($6) and gyoza (6 pieces for $4.50) as an appetizer to share. Plum wine is one of my new favorite drinks. Sweet and refreshing. Nice to sip on before the appetizer and entree show up, but I don’t particularly enjoy it with ramen. Something about the sweet and savory flavors just don’t do it for me. Misoya’s gyoza was not as greasy as Kambi’s, but the filling was also less tender and flavorful. All in all, it wasn’t bad, especially at $4.50 for 6 pieces.Angela got the Shiro Miso with Char Shu ($13.80), which had pieces of tofu in addition to the char shu and other standard ramen toppings. Here she is with her new Justin Bieber-esque haircut. :P I decided to go all out and get the richest broth available: Mame Ramen with Char Shu ($13.80). Oodles of thick, curly noodles, 3 gigantic pieces of char shu, bamboo, corn, scallion, bean sprouts and potatoes. The potatoes were a bit odd as a ramen topping. Corn is a bit unusual as well, but works with the miso broth. After the first few sips of the broth, the MSG hit me hard. I wouldn’t say that this mame miso broth offered a more intense miso flavor. Nope, but it definitely offered way more sodium than the average miso broth. There were a lot (possibly too much) noodles packed into the bowl, which helped balance out the saltiness a bit. Not a big fan of Misoya’s noodles. I usually prefer thinner noodles, and it didn’t help that these thick, curly noodles were overcooked.

Char shu pork is a huge part of the ramen experience. Misoya’s pork comes in thick slices, much thicker than even Minca and Kambi, which was a bit of a shocker. Misoya’s char shu is grilled, instead of braised/simmered, before they add it to the ramen. The flavor is decent, and I don’t mind that it’s grilled (for a change), but it was horribly tough and chewy. I suspect that the pork was grilled to perfection, then sat under a heat lamp for a long time before being served. Ugh. Taste-wise, Misoya is average, like Setagaya. Except Setagaya’s prices are much more reasonable for an average bowl of ramen. Misoya offers lots of noodles, very salty broth, tough and chewy char shu, plus somewhat odd toppings. For $13.80? Eh, not worth it. By NYC standards, this is a rather unrefined bowl of ramen. Come here only if you’re curious about the different miso options.

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