College students always say that the most popular food item they survived off of was ramen. The generic brand being Top Ramen. Well let me tell you that Top Ramen is the epitome of fake ramen. Shin Ramyeon is my go to on a ramen night in, but if I want ramen I want REAL ramen. I want ramen with creamy pork broth, seaweed, perfectly poached eggs, and all of those extra add ons if I’m feeling a little crazy. I’ve been to quite a few ramen places in my time here in WA, so I’m going to rate my top 4 based on three specific criterias: price, flavor, and variety.
Kizuki Ramen
Look at that detail. Kizuki Ramen has four locations in WA. There is one in Northgate, Bellevue, and two in Seattle. What I like about this place is the extreme flavor that comes with this ramen. Their most recommended ramen is the Garlic Tonkotsu Ramen, which is this one in the photo. It comes with an egg, green onions, garlic, beansprouts, and a number of other things I can’t remember off the top of my head. You can definitely add stuff on, but I wanted it just as it was. And even without add ons, it was amazing. There was so much flavor in it that was not too garlicy and all of the flavors from the pork broth, garlic, and meat in general went together so nicely. Easily my favorite out of the five.
Price: 4/5, $12 for their most recommended ramen. Best average price you will get for a great bowl of ramen.
Flavor: 4/5, get the garlic tonkotsu and get ready for a flavor explosion
Variety: 4.5/5, there are 12 different types of ramen choices you can get at a great price including the yummy and interesting Tsukumen Dipping Noodles.
Jinya Ramen
Jinya Ramen is located in Bellevue about 15min from Bellevue Square. I have a friend who works here, so he told my boyfriend and I to have a date night here. If I am being completely honest, this place doesn’t completely rank number two in my book. It is pretty close in ranking to Kizuki in terms of flavor. They also have 12 different types of ramen, which makes it pretty even with Kizuki, however, they do not have tsukumen dipping noodles. Regardless, Jinya ramen has great flavor in their ramen and at every table they include two different types of sauces. They don’t say specifically what they are, but one is a spicy paste (the red you see in the bowl) and a secret sauce that looks like soy sauce but is about five times better. I added both sauces and they enhanced the flavor so much I added about a three hefty teaspoons of each sauce into my ramen. The ramen you see here is the Jinya Tonkotsu Black ramen (the most recommended one). I am not quite sure what makes it “black,” but I am assuming its the spicy oil you see on the side. The flavor of this ramen does pack a punch, so definitely check this place out as well as Kizuki.
Price: 3.5/5, $12.80 for this one. It’s a bit pricier than Kizuki for their #1 rec, but still a good price for how much you get out of it.
Flavor: 4-4.5/5, it’s really competing with Kizuki on this one.
Variety: 4/5, also has twelve different ramens just like Kizuki
Ashiya
Ashiya is a little restaurant that is in Lynnwood right on the other side of the popular boba place “Pochi’s.” It’s right in the little restaurant area that is usually passed up when people drive to the mall or specifically to Pochi’s for a boba. This place, however, you shouldn’t. It make look a little run down on the inside, but the food is definitely not. This Korean family owned restaurant is a little restaurant with good food for cheaper prices than the prior places I mentioned and tastes like your Asian mom’s homemade cooking. Their curry is my personal favorite, but at time me or my boyfriend will order one of their ramens. Our favorite is the spicy kimchi ramen. It has a kick from the kimchi that isn’t overpowering and comes with a fried egg, tofu, and the best part: bulgogi. It’s basically a Korean style ramen. The quality is not as rich as the other restaurants, but their food has a more cozy and comforting taste and feel to it which is the main reason why I love coming here.
Price: 4.5/5: $9.25 for a nice bowl of ramen with a lot of love
Flavor: 3.75/5: not bland, but not insanely flavorful
Variety: 4.75/5, if you don’t want ramen at least try their curry or donburi (rice bowls), they’re pretty amazing
Hokkaido Ramen Santouka
Last but not least, we have Hokkaido Ramen which is in Bellevue and the first actual ramen restaurant I visited here in WA. It was also the first time I had been to Bellevue. The thing with Hokkaido is that it isn’t not good. It tastes authentic and has an interesting taste because of the amount of emphasis they put on their bamboo shoots and seaweed. They had quite big bamboo shoots and other sizes of the other add ons as you can see. It was good for a first ramen place. In my opinion, it’s a beginners ramen place that isn’t so overwhlemingly flavorful place, but one to get a good idea and taste of what ramen is.
Price: prices vary from about $8-$12, not bad
Flavor: 3/5, not super overwhleming, but doesn’t have quite the amazingness I’ve been craving
Variety: 4/5, 10 different types of ramen including tsukumen like Kizuki
Hopefully this post helped you guys out with your ramen craving. There are a bunch of other places in WA that I’m sure have great ramen, but I’ll just have to do some exploring before then. If you know any other great ramen places let us know here on hercampus. Happy eating!