Takumi Düsseldorf, Rotterdam: April's month special Pork rib ramen
Lately, I made tremendous progress with going through my vacation pictures in Japan and writing blog posts about them (pats myself on the shoulder). Looking at the pictures of the delicious food I ate (if you want to feel the same way as I do, you can click here, here, and here), made me crave for some Japanese food again and for me, the best place for Japanese food in Rotterdam city center is still Takumi Düsseldorf. Yesterday afternoon, I went there for ramen again and I was surprised to see that there was no line in front of the restaurant. I just walked in and immediately, got a table for two.
Besides satisfying my cravings for Japanese food, the other reason for my visit was that I wanted to try their first ever month's special ramen, the Pork rib ramen, before they change it to another ramen.
As toppings, you get a handful of bright red saffron, half of a soft boiled egg, a large piece of pork rib, spring onions, bamboo shoots, bean sprouts, fried onions, and two large leaves of bok choy. The piece of pork rib was a lot bigger than I expected. It was about 1 cm thick and almost as big as the bowl. It was cut in bite-size strips and there was no bone attached to it. It was very well marinated (you could taste the sauce deep inside, even though the meat is so thick) and really tender. The meat seems to be fried, but it doesn't have a crispy crust made of batter. So, I think they just coated the marinated meat with a very thin coat of flower, before they fried it. Initially, I was a bit put off by the saffron (tasted a bit like soap), but after soaking it in the soup longer and not being totally raw, it tasted a bit better. Similar to a fragrant, red bell pepper.
The soup broth has the strongest meat flavor of all the ramen that I have tasted at the Takumi Düsseldorf Rotterdam shop. For someone that doesn't like meat that much, it was a bit overwhelming, but the saffron, spring onions, and bok choy acted as the refreshing notes. The soft boiled egg was perfect this time, soft and a little bit runny. The bean sprouts, fried onions, and bamboo shoots were great as always, but I miss the flavor of the bamboo shoots that I had at my first visit. They were perfectly marinated and I would have come back for that alone. Almost forgot to mention it, but the ramen noodles were perfect this time, chewy and not too soft. Keep up with the good work!
Recommendation: mix everything up. In the beginning, the broth tasted like a one-dimensional meat broth, but after soaking the fried onions, saffron, spring onions, and meat in the soup longer, it became more layered and rich. It also isn't too salty.
Besides satisfying my cravings for Japanese food, the other reason for my visit was that I wanted to try their first ever month's special ramen, the Pork rib ramen, before they change it to another ramen.
Pork rib ramen (€14.50)
As toppings, you get a handful of bright red saffron, half of a soft boiled egg, a large piece of pork rib, spring onions, bamboo shoots, bean sprouts, fried onions, and two large leaves of bok choy. The piece of pork rib was a lot bigger than I expected. It was about 1 cm thick and almost as big as the bowl. It was cut in bite-size strips and there was no bone attached to it. It was very well marinated (you could taste the sauce deep inside, even though the meat is so thick) and really tender. The meat seems to be fried, but it doesn't have a crispy crust made of batter. So, I think they just coated the marinated meat with a very thin coat of flower, before they fried it. Initially, I was a bit put off by the saffron (tasted a bit like soap), but after soaking it in the soup longer and not being totally raw, it tasted a bit better. Similar to a fragrant, red bell pepper.
The soup broth has the strongest meat flavor of all the ramen that I have tasted at the Takumi Düsseldorf Rotterdam shop. For someone that doesn't like meat that much, it was a bit overwhelming, but the saffron, spring onions, and bok choy acted as the refreshing notes. The soft boiled egg was perfect this time, soft and a little bit runny. The bean sprouts, fried onions, and bamboo shoots were great as always, but I miss the flavor of the bamboo shoots that I had at my first visit. They were perfectly marinated and I would have come back for that alone. Almost forgot to mention it, but the ramen noodles were perfect this time, chewy and not too soft. Keep up with the good work!
Recommendation: mix everything up. In the beginning, the broth tasted like a one-dimensional meat broth, but after soaking the fried onions, saffron, spring onions, and meat in the soup longer, it became more layered and rich. It also isn't too salty.
Mala ajitama tonkotsu ramen (€13)
I don't take spicy food that well, but I was quite curious about the spicy Mala ajitama tonkotsu ramen that the other person ordered. It is a ramen with mala sauce, half of a soft boiled egg, three slices of cha sui, pickled ginger strips, bean sprouts, black fungus strips, and coriander. I took a sip of the soup before everything was mixed and it has a bland tonkotsu flavor (bone broth) with a slight hint of spiciness. To me, it wasn't that spicy, but after stirring through the soup and noodles more, the soup did get spicier. Still, it wasn't super spicy, so adding a few drops of the hot chili oil that you can find on your table is fine too. I think they did this to appeal to a larger crowd, as you can't make the noodles less spicy, but you can ask the customer to add more hot chili oil to their own liking.Appetizers
As appetizers, I ordered 5 pieces of gyoza (not pictured, because I was hungry and the first dish that arrived to the table). The gyoza were a little bit overcooked (the skin was a little bit soggy and not chewy and the filling was slightly dry). For almost 1 euro per piece, I cannot help but expect them to be perfect. However, the teriyaki chicken (5 pieces, €4.80) was great. It had a nice sticky, sweet teriyaki sauce and the chicken meat with skin was tender and chunky. The chicken is on top of a bed of bean sprouts, which don't have much flavor on its own, so you might leave some teriyaki sauce for that or just put the bean sprouts in your ramen soup. I actually got the teriyaki chicken at around the same time as the ramen (a little bit after the ramen, almost thought they forgot about it), so I could eat them together with the noodles. I have to add that I seriously don't mind the order of the dishes, just bring out whatever is ready to eat. No need to strictly hold onto the three course meal feeling with pauzes in between, when dishes are cooling down or noodles are getting soggy. But let's get back to the teriyaki chicken. On the side of it, there was also a dollop of mayonnaise, but I just don't think the flavors match very well together, so I left that out.
