Nothing beats a rich broth of ramen on a snowy day. It was heavily snowing when I visited Jun-Men Ramen Bar, and a friend of mine wanted to have a ramen to cure hangover from last night. Jun-Men has been on my radar for a while now, and I finally made a visit for a late lunch.
The menu consists of small bites and ramen dishes. I usually eat pork when it comes to meat bun (ever since I fell in love with Momofuku’s pork buns), but Jun-Men also offered one with chicken kara-age. It came with lettuce and jalapeno mayo and was a very good bite. Fried sweet potatoes with umami mayo were also nice starter without too much sweetness going on. The ramen at Jun-Men that everyone seems to be talking about is the one with spicy pork bone broth. It was indeed an excellent ramen with rich and aromatic flavor of the broth that was just melting my heart on a cold day. The noodles had the right amount of firmness in texture as well. I really do think this ramen deserves a bit more attention in this ramen-crazed city, right up there with long-standing institutions like Totto and Ippudo.
The restaurant doesn’t take any reservations and the dining space is relatively small, so show up early or at odd hours like late afternoon (the restaurant does close at 3 p.m. until re-opening at 5 p.m.). There were some sake and beer selections to complement your meal. There are more and more ramen shop openings in the city these days, and Jun-Men is definitely a place you’d want to visit for that rich, decadent broth of pork bone ramen.
KenScale: 8.0/10
- Creativity: 8.0/10
- Execution: 8.0/10
- Ingredients: 7.5/10
- Flavor: 8.0/10
- Texture: 8.0/10
Address: 249 9th Ave, New York, NY 10001
Telephone: (646) 852-6787
Website: http://www.junmenramen.com/#home
