This is a neighborhood ramen shop headed by Fumihiro “Foo” Kanegae, who is a renowned ramen master and executive chef known for creating hundreds of ramen variations. He was formerly a master chef at Ippudo, but has sinced opened his solo restaurant here. As a lover of ramen, I had the opportunity to check this out and see if it matches my palate. As I walked in, I noticed the chef has many special soups and ramen types, so I already felt this might be a repeatable place.
Ambiance & Service
The interior has a lot of exposed brick, as if you’re in a hipster and trendy small restaurant. There are a lot of posters all over, and it reminds me a bit of it’s just trying to present the chef’s interest and personality which was seemingly pretty cool and low-key.
Food
August 3, 2026 - First Visit3
October 2, 2026 - Second Visit4
October 16, 2026 - Third Visit2
August 3, 2026 - First Visit
The Choya Premium Yuzu Soda ($5) was actually a pretty good deal. It was non-alcoholic with yuzu’s flavors and aromas. Unlike the other brand I’ve had a lot, Kimino, this offered a better bang for the buck. The yuzu flavors were quite prominent and very refreshing.
The single order of Tsuke-Men ($22.50) was no.490 ramen variety. It came with dipping ramen served separately from a hot shoyu-tonkotsu broth. It was topped with pork chashu, menma, scallions, naruto, nitamago, and nori seaweed. I asked for the noodles to be hot, so it was served within this broth. The broth was not as fatty as I thought it would be, and there was an element of subtlety in it. The noodle portion is not a lot, so if you’re interested in more starchy, I’d probably order the double. For me, this was sufficiently enough for a late evening dinner. The noodles are also the thin kind, but they had a nice bounce to them. The side ingredients were all very good.
This is the dipping broth served to the side. The flavor of this was pretty delicious with some vinegary tastes accentuated by the fish powder on top. As expected, it was quite salty eaten alone, but when you mix it with a little of the tonkatsu broth, the flavors were elevated and very tasty.
October 2, 2026 - Second Visit
The Choya Premium Ume Soda ($5) was bright and also more tart than the yuzu. Like the yuzu, I thought this was a pretty reasonable deal for the amount of soda they served.
The Botan Wings ($14) came with 5 pieces, and they were fried chicken wings with chef’s spices and sauce. The wings were cooked closer to well done, so the meat was both dry and moist. The seasoning had a distinct glaze that was fried and turned out to not be too sweet. There was also a slight seasoning of white pepper that worked well too.
The Okonomi Corn Dog ($6) was a happy hour special. The corn dog was drizzled with the classic okonomi flavors served on okonomiyaki, which is a Japanese cabbage pancake. The sauce was sweet and thick with flavors of soy sauce and worcester.
The Paint It Black ($21) is a special ramen that will have a shelf date and came with rich pork bone broth combined with special black garlic oil (mayu). The mayu is made by slowly charring garlic, which adds a unique roasted aroma and deep flavor to the broth. The broth is thick and very distinct. It came with chashu, green onions, menma, and nori seaweed. I added a seasoned boiled egg (+$3.50). The ramen noodles were not too thin but also not as thick as the tsukemen. What was nice about this broth was that it was legitimately very flavorful. The garlic definitely adds a certain umami and character to it, such that even my partner, who normally despises ramen soups, actually enjoyed this.
October 16, 2026 - Third Visit
The Botan Sandwich ($12 for 2 pieces) came with Japanese pork katsu, crisp shredded cabbage, creamy mayo, and a rich tonkatsu sauce. This was served surprisingly cold. I thought this was be more warm to say the least. It felt like they provided a refrigerated pork katsu, so it wasn’t even crispy. I would say this is a hard skip.
The Zangi Nanban Don ($25) brings a golden cutlet of original Zangi fried chicken, glazed with house-made Nanban vinegar sauce and crowned with original tartar sauce. It’s layered over white rice and shredded cabbage. This was a special rice bowl, and it was pretty good. I like the flavor of the Zangi sauce which resembles a sweet, vinegary, worcester-like sauce. I wished there was more tartar sauce and shredded cabbage. For the price, I think the ramen would’ve been better, but the bowl itself was nicely put together.
Overall Impression
I was quite impressed for a neighborhood ramen joint, and I plan to return to try their other offerings. There are some notable ramen restaurants in the city that I am keen on, and for me, this one should be included. I wouldn’t recommend a special trip, but if you’re in the Cobble Hill area, this is a no-brainer.
Yelp & Google Jabs
I was disappointed since reviewers said that the broth would be very rich but it did not have much flavor to me even after using their house chili sauce… I did not use the miso paste as I did not love the aftertaste, which admittedly could be why the broth lacked flavor to me!
This Elitist rated their main ramen bowl a 3/5, but also self-admitted that they didn’t add the paste that was supposed to accentuate the flavor. If you ever watch anyone make soup, the tonkatsu pork base is rich, but its flavors is often under seasoned because it relies on other condiments to round out the flavors. So this Elitist is basically admitting that they don’t know much about ramen soup.
My ramen was too salty and for their most “popular” ramen that my husband ordered, the first thing that you notice is a pure oil in your mouth.
When I read these reviews, it’s pretty obvious that the Yelper did not mix the soup with everything.
Revisions
- Oct 16, 2026 - Third visit.
- Oct 2, 2026 - Second visit.
- Aug 3, 2026 - Initial revision.