36025 Sat Apr 30 17:23:03 -0700 2005 1 1 San Francisco Bay Area 0 165613 Last weekend William met me in Newark to check out the new Shanghainese-owned ramen joint. The interior has sleek, modern lines and color scheme with an assortment of Japanese tchotchkes thrown in to try to look more authentic. The menu is illustrated with photos of the ramen choices and combo meals. Prices are low here, $6.50 to $6.75 for bowls of ramen. We started with an order of gyoza. Barely fried on one side, William thought the dumplings reeked of frozen cabbage odor. He had the spicy pork ramen, made with ground pork flecked with chili, similar to the meat in mapo tofu. I had the plain cha siu ramen with pork broth. The half hard-cooked egg was just plain with no seasoning. The bamboo shoots were straight out of the can without marinade. Bean sprouts were fresh. Sliced raw cabbage was the vegetable filler here. Noodles were too similar to Chinese egg noodles and cooked too soft. Yet, we thought the cha siu had good flavor and texture and while the greasless and mildly salted stocks were on the thin side, they had good depth of flavor and freshness. The tonkotsu-style pork broth was pale-colored and milky and tasted more like chicken than pork. I had a slight preference for the mapo tofu version, spiced to medium warmth with good balance of flavor. We agreed that the soup noodles were tasty, but they lacked the special salt nuance of Japanese seasonings. We’d go back again for an inexpensive and warming bowl if we were nearby. PERSONAL RAMEN RANKINGS 1. Ramen Halu, San Jose 2. Santa, San Mateo 3. Ryowa, Berkeley 4. Himawari, San Mateo 5. Ryowa, Mountain View 6. Maru Ichi, Mountain View 7. Tanto, Sunnyvale 8. Do-Henkotsu House of Tokushima Ramen, San Jose 9. Gen Ramen, Fremont 10.BY Grill, San Francisco 11.Masa’s Sushi, Mountain View 12.Oyaji, San Francisco 13.Maru Ichi, Milpitas 14.Tomoe, San Rafael 15.Ringer Hut, San Jose 16.Ogi-San Ramen, Cupertino 17.Kaimuki Grill, San Mateo 18.Okazu Ya SF (Noriega), San Francisco 19.Ramen Club, Burlingame 20.King’s Garden Ramen, Newark 21.Sushi Bistro, San Francisco 22.Lakuni, San Mateo 23.Iroha, San Francisco 24.Manpuku, Berkeley 25.Tanpopo, San Francisco 26.Sushi Yoshi, Newark 27.Suzu Noodle House, San Francisco 28.Oidon, San Mateo 29.Katanaya, El Cerrito 30.Sapporo-ya, San Francisco 31.Tokyo Ramen, Milpitas 32.Hotei, San Francisco 33.Bear’s Ramen House, Berkeley Link: http://www.chowhound.com/topics/show/35779#164048 Image: http://home.earthlink.net/~melaniewong/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/kingsgarden.jpg Sat Apr 30 17:23:03 -0700 2005 0 Melanie Wong 1 165803 Melanie! How funny, I had ramen at King's Garden on Thursday and was going to post my report today. In fact I was looking for your previous post asking about it so I could reply to it. I got the Chasu ramen, $6.50. It's not the same as yours, since mine was not milky at all. In fact I wanted yours, and asked which ramen has tonkotsu broth and the waitress looked at me like I was an alien. I asked for the difference between the ramens and she said there's brown broth, red broth, and white broth, and half pointed at which was which. I asked which was the white broth, and she said Miso ramen, which confused me because in the picture (and from past experience) it seemed like brown broth. So I just ordered the Kings Garden cha su ramen, thinking if it has their name, it must be their specialty. I totally agree the noodles are too soft and the broth too thin and not as flavorful as Japanese ramen. In fact it was like I ordered chinese noodle soup. At least it was not too salty nor too greasy. And like you I liked the cha siu, it was soft and not too fatty. I took a half-bite of the bamboo shoots before I smelled the canned smell and fished them all out, but too late, some of the noodles in that part of my bowl had the smell. And I had no egg in mine, but I had canned corn. Same sliced cabbage, scallion slivers, and small rectangle of nori. A small detail I noticed: I don't like slurping soup out of their plastic black spoon; I can taste that kind of plastic. What I really liked, and would return for, is the kimchi! It was pickled to just the right degree, had a good balance of sour, spicy & salty. Most of all it had that tangy tingle on the tongue (say that 5 times real fast!). Now watch it be totally different next time I visit (as kim chi can be). After I finished my ramen I was still hungry, so I went over to Huong Lan and got a pork bbq & pate banh mi. Still the same shattering crispy roll, and still maggi in the mayo. Yum yum. Mon May 02 15:12:41 -0700 2005 165613 0 Alice Patis