Da Big Hunting Diary- Japan

My name is David Chui. I travel, I eat, I play, I eat, I sleep and then I gain weights.


This week, we will be walking on the most energetic street in Austin, 6th Street. The 6th Street is famous for the evening activity at the weekend. However, that does not mean we can only hunt food in this specific time frame. In fact, to my experience, restaurants relies on customers visiting them on the weekend's evening usually have a unique menu serving in the daytime. Also, the restaurant do not serve traditional local food because the menu has to be stood out in order to gain a position on the 6th street. Today, I am going to do a review on a brand-new opened restaurant, Daruma Ramen. 

The name of the restaurant suggests we are looking at Japanese Noodle this week. In Austin, there are others "Ramen" restaurants such as Michi, and Tatsu-Ya (Ramen is a Japanese word stands for noodle) As I mention, if Daruma Ramen is a traditional Japanese restaurant, I don't think the 6th Street will generally accept it so there must be some cuisine fusion we can found in the restaurant.

* Before we have a tour into the restaurant, I want to simply talk about two words which are "Daruma" and " Ramen".

Daruma is a Japanese Doll that has a strong cultural meaning. People in Japan used to treat "Daruma" as granting wishes from their God.

 (Photo credits: Wikipedia)

Notice in the picture, Daruma only has one eye. In Japan, when one make a wish, an eye (Iris) will be drawn on the Daruma. Once the wishes is granted or occurred, another eye will be drawn to complete a Daruma. In addition, the next thing one will do is that one should go to the temple and sincerely thank the god(s).

The other Japanese word Ramen, we already know its meaning as noodles. However, Ramen is originally invented in China and the meaning of the word is hand-made noodle (Pull noodles). As a result, if you order a Ramen (they call it La-Mian) in a Chinese cuisine, you will never get a Japanese style of noodle bowl. This happens when you go into the Korean restaurant. So remember, Ramen is a big word that can give you different dishes in different culture.




Enough of the lecture. Let's talk about this restaurant.

(photo credit: austinchronicle.com )

Yep, this is the entire restaurant. Not so big and not so fancy at all. However, I have to say, the decoration retain the Japanese culture very much. In fact, if you have a chance to visit Japan, every restaurant will look the same as in this picture. Usually surprises do not hide elegant and fancy restaurants. 

This is the Spicy-Miso Ramen. The soup base in traditional restaurant is always salty. But the worth mention item is the half boiled egg. In Japanese, the "correct" way to eat the half-boiled eye is to put the yolk in your soup and mix with a little of the soup base and drink them together. Well, if you are not a fan of that, I do not ask you have to follow the Japanese. Eat as you are pleased always is the best.

The fusion Austin-Japanese style is that instead of serving traditional Japanese sliced pork (Cha Shu), the restaurant serve pulled-chicken. The tender chicken absorbs the soup base thoroughly and becomes juicy and rich in flavor. I also like the spicy soup base because I just like it. (This is a personal thing)  

This is the Shoyu Ramen. This is a different soup base. The soup is rich in Japanese soy sauce. As you can see, the Shoyu has a lighter taste compare to the spicy miso. I recommend you to try Shoyu and Shio for the first time because it always give you a chance to taste the soup base (which usually is broth and pork bone that has been cooked for over 8 hours)
If you are comfortable with the taste, next time you can order a stronger taste such as miso.

In the photo, the yellow long stick is the bamboo shoot. The texture is chewy and has a distinctive taste that no soup base can change it.    

This is the regular miso. The interesting thing about Ramen restaurant is that each different type of soup base Ramen, the restaurant has a defaulted items for each Ramen. For example, you can find bean sprouts in Spicy Miso but not in Shoyu. Feel free to ask the waiter if you can do any substitution. 


One thing I am very regret is that I did not look at the Summer menu after I had ordered. There is one very interesting soup base - Tomato. 

(photo credit: Daruma Ramen)

For myself, you don't even find a tomato soup base in Japan, next time I will just sit in and order the Tomato and see if this a Thai-Japan- Austin Fusion.



Sometimes,  a bowl of ramen just cannot solve the hunger of a man. As always, the Ramen restaurant should provide two options, Extra noodles or Sides. Of course, you can find both in Daruma Ramen.

I would like to share two sides with you. Karaage (Fried Chicken) and Croquette.

 Inside the Croquette, usually is the mash potato with vary kinds of vegetable. The special thing about Croquette is the sauce. This sauce can be also found in famous Japanese dishes such as YakiSoBa, Tokiyaki. The sauce itself is a little bit sweet and sour. This is why Croquette is a very good appetizer because the sour taste can actually stimulate your stomach. 

 Karaage is very different from the North American style deep fried chicken. As you can see, the chicken is more like the size of a pop corn chicken. In addition, the only flavor is either the creamy mayo or the fresh lemon juice. Since the Karaage is very dried, you won't feel the oil and heavy in your mouth. 


Three thing I want to mention.
1. The seats are limited. You really have to be patient as I am told Japanese are so patient that sometimes they don't mind waiting for an hour to be seated.

2. The daily quantity of Ramen is limited. Once their soup are out, they will no longer serve.

3. If you are looking for traditional Ramen, you can also try Michi Ramen.


Details about Daruma Ramen

http://www.darumaramen.com/

Address: 612-B E 6th St, Austin, TX 78701

(512) 369-3897