The Ramen Shop I Keep Coming Back To, Again and Again
Is there a bowl of ramen out there that you just can’t forget after eating it, the kind of flavor that keeps pulling you back for more? For me, this is the place. This is the shop that first opened the door to the world of ramen for me, and the one that left me unable to forget that taste every single time I ate it.
Eagle Ryu Ramen – Jijiang: Location and Details
Eagle Ryu Ramen – Jijiang on Google Maps: https://goo.gl/maps/B7zgLpiChygM4w9g9
We got to the shop at 17:54 today. It was already pretty packed, but the four of us managed to split up and get seated right away to dig into our ramen! And about six minutes after ordering, the bowls were already on the table. Pulling off that kind of speed during peak hours? All I can say is, hats off.
The Flavor
A lot of people ask me what’s so special about Jijiang Ramen, and I think it comes down to its simple, in-your-face brute force. It’s a tonkotsu broth, but the pork bone flavor is so rich you can’t ignore it; they’re not stingy with the garlic at all; and the extra noodles will fill you right up, guaranteed! Today I went with what I think is the best value option, the Niku Dakdak SP (extra pork). When it arrives, you can’t even see the noodles or the broth, just slice after slice of pork piled on top, covering the entire surface of the soup like a summer swimming pool, leaving your chopsticks with no idea where to start.
The Char Siu and the Noodles
The thin slices of char siu are mostly lean meat, with just a layer of fat around the outer edge. They’ve got a nice chew without being impossible to bite through, a properly solid char siu. Since this is the extra-pork bowl, the veggies are a little on the light side, so if you like more greens, you can go for the wild-vegetable version instead. There’s a small dollop of minced garlic on top, plus a little smuggled into the broth itself. Yep, the golden rule of tonkotsu + garlic = delicious never fails. There is one small downside though: if you’re new to eating this and don’t properly mix the garlic into the broth, it can hit you so hard you’ll question your life choices. Fellow Mydondon readers heading there, take note.
The noodles are the fairly common thicker ramen type, while the extra portion comes as thin noodles, maybe because they’re cheaper? This shop’s signature is its genuinely rich broth, and there’s more fat floating on top than at other places, so if your stomach can’t handle a lot of grease, you might want to think twice. The rest of the toppings are about the same as at other shops. Anyone who hasn’t tried it yet, go check it out tomorrow!
Next up: take a guess, which ramen shop is this!
