I have a serious craving for ramen every once in a while; New York City has no shortage of great ramen places such as Ippudo, Totto and Mu Ramen, but there were a couple of newcomers I’ve been meaning to check out. One such place is Nakamura, helmed by chef Shigetoshi Nakamura who previously opened Ramen Lab that now hosts guest chefs all the time before striking on his own at this tiny place just next to Williamsburg Bridge. My recent visit on a summer Tuesday did quite well to satisfy my craving.
Before you move on with getting one of the ramen options, don’t skip on appetizers. Szechwan chili cucumber was surprisingly delightful with the spicy kick that was perfect to whet my appetite before getting to the main, and gyoza was also more or less perfectly prepared with very nice balance of flavor and texture of fillings inside. I really debated what I should get for my ramen, and decided on the chicken broth-based jidori ramen. I’ve always been very partial to rich and aromatic broth of pork-based tonkotsu ramen, but the one I had tried, which also came with nicely cooked grilled chicken, offered something quite different. The broth may not be as decadent as the tonkotsu counterpart, but its clean flavor more than made up for such shortcoming and the hand made noodle had ideal level of firmness to it that, combined with the chicken, made for a very satisfying bowl.
The restaurant doesn’t take reservations, but you won’t have any problem getting seated at this warm, cozy space that not a lot of ramen aficionados in the city still don’t seem to know about. You can complement your meal with something from a concise list of beer or sake options. Nakamura is the type of place I would really love to have in my neighborhood to satisfying my ramen craving periodically, with an unassuming space and a diverse range of interesting ramen options that I would like to try all some day.
KenScale: 8.0/10
- Creativity: 7.0/10
- Execution: 8.0/10
- Ingredients: 7.5/10
- Flavor: 8.5/10
- Texture: 8.0/10
Address: 172 Delancey Street, New York, NY 10002
Telephone: (212) 614-1810
Website: http://www.nakamuranyc.com/
KenScale 