“ New York warms up to ramen! With training in Japan,

new shops are starting out one after another in NY. ”

　“ Zuruzuruttsu ..... The sound of sipping noodles echoes in the valley of skyscrapers today in New York. The New York ramen boom does not know where to stop, It is said a few doors would be open in a month who trained in Tokyo. Ramen is achieving it’s own evolution. This is hot and could surpass its home.”

　This is an article in the Asahi-Shinbun , and more follows:

　It would be ramen which is receiving the most attention in New York’s gastronomic world. The front page of The New York Times featured a gourmet column titled “While the City Slurps". A map that covers ramen shops was issued, and a taste contest was held. One of the shops that sparked the boom is "Ippudo", which uses a pork bone soup.  There was a two-hour wait to enter the first store when it opened in March 2008. Ippudo is included every year in the Michelin Guide and is also listed in the top 10 on ‘Yelp’, a  restaurant rating site. Noodle manufacturing shop Sun Noodle came from Hawaii and opened a noodle-making plant in 2012 in NY. Currently, they supply product to the majority of the noodle shops in NY. That is over 50 restaurants including the suburbs and the city. Sun Noodle have been supplying the noodles of 10,000 or more meals every day and consultation is given to people who plan to open shops.

　Ramen is not just for Japanese anymore.

　According to the Asahi-Shinbun, ramen shops "Tabata", "Ivan Ramen" and others  in New York serve ramen at a relatively high price. It’s not unusual to see prices of 

$ 12 (1,200 yen) or even more than $ 15 ( ¥ 1,500 ).

　Originally, Japanese ramen is a mixture of chinese noodles and soup. The soup could include soy sauce, pork bone, salt, miso, or butter-flavored soup and also usualls has a combination of various ingredients including chashu ( roast pork ), shinachiku ( bamboo shoots ), boiled eggs and shredded green onions ( negi ). Ramen is a noodle which is made by kneading wheat flour with water. With brine, a chewy, elastic and peculiar fragrant yellow noodle is made. Brine was discovered in Mongolia and it is a mixture of potassium carbonate and sodium alkaline. Ramen is expressed in Chinese characters 拉麺Ryumen,老麺 Romen or 柳麺Yanagimen and Chinese restaurants in Japan were opened in Chinatown ( or Nankinmachi ) near harbors They opened restaurants in the Meiji Era and they spread all over Japan from the Taisho Era. Ramen was modified into Japanese style and developed its own style and became a national dish along with curry-rice at present and became a popular food that is loved by the masses regardless of area, generation and gender.

　I personally prefer shirusoba-ramen ( Tanmen ) of Kobe Botanen ( 元町別館牡丹園)  or salt soup ramen of Osaka Yangtze River （ 大阪揚子江 ）