My First Taste of Yatai Ramen
Intro
This is the first time I’ve run into the awkward situation of not really knowing how to review a bowl of ramen. Last weekend, I think it was, we went to try Yatai Ramen in Yilan. We got up bright and early that day and arrived at around 11:28.
Yatai Ramen started out as just a little one-person food cart, but a few years later they’ve got their own brick-and-mortar shop now.
When you arrive you have to grab a number ticket at the entrance first. I couldn’t believe how many parties were already lined up before the place even opened, so I’m glad we came early. There’s a seating area outside where everyone waits for the staff to call their number, and a nice touch is that the seating area has a rain canopy, so you don’t have to worry about getting baked by the sun or soaked by the rain.
Overall thoughts on the noodles and toppings
After waiting 32 minutes, we were seated at 12:00. The interior is really spacious. About 10 minutes later the green curry ramen I’d ordered was ready. Since it’s a creative ramen, it’s honestly hard to judge whether it’s good or not. This place uses thin noodles, and the first bite of the green curry ramen hits you with the milky flavor of coconut milk, with a tiny bit of heat that quickly fades away again — a very restrained, just-a-touch kind of spice. The char siu is the thin-sliced kind, but unfortunately its flavor leans pretty bland. The soft-boiled egg was average, on the firmer side. The flavors of the wood ear mushrooms and chopped scallions were completely buried, so they didn’t really add that extra layer of flavor they were meant to. As you get further into the bowl the heat gradually builds up, but it never reaches the point of being seriously spicy.
The shoyu ramen has the same toppings as above, plus a bit of pickled bamboo shoots and seaweed, but no wood ear mushrooms. The broth has a faintly salty taste with a slight sweet aftertaste, but it just doesn’t have much of its own character.
The tonkotsu is on the light side. If you like lighter, more Taiwanese-style tonkotsu broth, you might enjoy it. But if what you’re hoping for is a rich, creamy Japanese-style tonkotsu ramen, you’ll probably be a little let down — the noodles can’t really soak up the broth’s flavor, so it ends up feeling a bit disjointed. As for the spicy tonkotsu, I personally wouldn’t recommend it, because the heat overpowers every other flavor, leaving the tonkotsu unable to show off its character.
Overall, Yatai Ramen leans toward flavors that Taiwanese folks tend to like — lighter across the board. And they’re really willing to try things other places wouldn’t dare to, though the recipes could probably use a bit more tweaking.
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Yatai Ramen location info
Yatai Ramen on Google Maps: https://goo.gl/maps/mSjQKrn2KDrwXNrf7