C and I have recently started our search for the best ramen in town. We crave for good ramen whenever we want to have good dinner, but one that wouldn’t necessarily leave us feeling guilty for eating far too much.
On one of our dates, we chanced upon Kenji Tei Ramen House in Greenbelt 5. It was a Friday night, and not unexpectedly, it was packed! Good thing they had a table for two left for us. I liked the modern Japanese interiors of the place, although I felt that the tables were too near each other, not allowing enough space for private conversations. The slightly cramped space can also be a source of discomfort for diners like us who tend to order more than usual – and end up squeezing our bowls and plates in a small table.
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| I thought the logo was cute :) |
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| I liked the interiors, but I wish there was more space |
For starters, to get our metabolism going while we waited for the ramen, we ordered the Crunchy Kani Maki. It was a very generous serving of gorgeous looking maki topped with crunchy bits of tempura breading, some strips of kani dipped in Japanese mayo, and roe. I loved the added texture coming from the tempura breading as well as the flavor coming from the mayo. Each piece was literally a mouthful. I had to think twice about how I would make it fit in my mouth. My only criticism about this dish is that it wasn’t too intact and would break apart fairly easily.
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| Crunchy Kani Maki (P288) |
Now, who would've thought cheese and gyoza would go well together? The Cheese Gyoza certainly put a cheesy twist to your ordinary gyoza. Inside the fried wrap was ground meat and cream cheese, which when dipped in the mayo dressing tasted delicious. It could use more cheese though, because I found myself having to take a couple of bites to get to the cheese.
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| Cheese Gyoza (P198) |
Finally, our ramen was served. The owner of Kenji Tei (who incidentally was C's acquaintance) humbly suggested to try any of the miso based ramens because these were specialties of the house. We ordered the Miso Butter Corn Ramen because after all, who could go wrong with butter? It completely slipped my mind that I don't like eating corn when it's mixed with other kinds of food. For me, it's best when eaten alone. In any case, I was willing to give it a try.
The bowl looked appetizing and smelled lovely when it arrived. C and I were quite disappointed with the taste, though. There were lots of different flavors coming from the dish, but they didn't quite mix well together. The miso base was decent but not so flavorful and so I expected the flavors of the other ingredients to compensate. But the combination of the subtle miso flavor, the taste of the corn, plus the flavor coming from the beansprouts and the other vegetables didn't sit well on my tongue.
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| Miso Butter Corn Ramen (P348 - large) |
Because I enjoyed the kani maki and the gyoza, I think this restaurant has potential. I dunno, maybe we just ordered the wrong dish. I'm willing to come back to try their other ramens. If it changes my first impression (or even if it doesn't), I will most definitely let you gourmandes know :)
For reservations, see below:
THE GOURMANDE'S SCORE: 3.5 out of 5 - Great maki and gyoza, but the ramen could be so much better
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