Ramen is common all over the West Coast, but in Chicago, the only place I have heard of getting it at is the Slurping Turtle in River North. The Slurping Turtle is a popular restaurant that brings ramen to the city and puts a fusion on all of its items. They have everything from amazing appetizers to ramen and rice bowls to sashimi! Everything is really fresh and the entire restaurant looks like it has been transported from Japan. With its sleek and modern interior and great seating that overlooks the street, it is a great place to take friends or even go on dates!
I came here with a bunch of friends and we ordered three appetizers to share and I got one of the noodle dishes for myself. We had the pork belly snack, kani croquettes and duck fried chicken. The pork belly snack tasted like something I had eaten in China before and the portion is so large that splitting it with a friend is the only option. The best choice is the duck fried chicken, which is an even larger portion than the pork belly and also comes with a great spicy mayo dipping sauce!
For Ramen, I got the Tan Tan Men, which is their spicy ramen. They make all of the ramen noodles in-house and it includes pork meatballs, pork, bok choy, snow peas and bean sprouts in the delicious broth. Their noodle bowls are really beautiful and they give you generous portions just like the other dishes. I didn’t even eat breakfast and I couldn’t finish it! I wish that it had been a bit spicier, but only because I prefer eating whole jalapeños to not having any spice at all.
Looking around at what everyone else was eating, it seems that the rice bowls are really popular. However, I highly recommend their Bento Box if you have already eaten the Ramen or rice bowls before. The Bento Box is $18 and it comes with the Sashimi of the Day, Tapas of the Day, Tempura Shrimp and Vegetables, Steamed Rice and Miso Soup. Considering how large their portions are for just the noodles, I am sure this would also be extremely filling.
I highly recommend the Slurping Turtle and all of River North is filled with great restaurants like XOCO. It isn’t too far of a walk from Michigan Street and I think that it is worth the wait if you go during busy times of the day.
Shameless plug, but always check my food blog for other updates and I hope you guys can make the trip out to some of these amazing restaurants!