Kanji Ramen

        It's been a long 3 years since the last our post and much has occurred since; GM filed for bankruptcy and was bailed out, The New Orleans Saints won their first Super Bowl, Eyjafjallojokull, the Iceland Volcano, erupted causing major travel headaches, the world population reached 7 billion people, and the Space Shuttle Discovery made its final launch...among other notable events. But this blog isn't about national or world events its about FOOD and places to get said food.  And on that note...here we go.

      Kanji Ramen  (http://www.kanjiramen.com/) is located on the first floor nestled in the next building adjacent to BB Rovers Cafe and Pub.  Don't blink or you'll miss it and end up circling the parking lot and running into Pizza Hut. This humble little north Austin ramen shop, as small as it may be, delivers some pretty decent ramen.  Kanji doesn't have a huge menu, but then again what true ramen house does?

      To the left, your small plate / appetizer / shareable starters menu.  And to the right, 8 different varieties of ramen to quell your craving for noodles in rich Japanese broths.

 

     Let's start with the Crispy Tofu: "Fried starch tossed tofu with house made vinegar soy sauce."  The tofu was served on top the house made vinegar soy sauce topped with fried Julian cut sea weed and dried shaved fish flakes. The tofu itself was lightly seasoned and prepared beautifully with a slightly salted, crispy, fried outer skin with a moist spongy, silky interior.  The house vinegar soy sauce can be described as bold, but mostly sour.  At first the sauce complimented the tofu quite well, but as the tofu sat and absorbed the sauce, the sourness overpowered the subtle flavoring of the tofu. The fried fish flakes, I believe, in my honest opinion, was completely unnecessary.  The overall "aroma" of the flakes did nothing to compliment the tofu and actually made it difficult to stomach, especially after the tofu had been soaking in the house sauce. I think this plate would have been more palatable if the sauce would have been placed on the side and the fish flakes completely left off.  The fried sea weed strips added a contrast of color to the dish, but the sauce and the flakes masked any flavor contribution that the strips might have added.

   Second small plate, the Shabu-Shabu Wrap: "Paper sliced boiled round bee and veggies, wrap with rice paper deep in the peanut butter sauce."  I was really wanting to like these wraps and I was imagining something similar to a Vietnamese spring roll, but I was disappointed.  The boiled round beef tasted bland and needed salt and or some sort of seasoning.  The veggies, were underwhelming, so much so that my sister and I can't even remember which exact vegetables were used...Romaine lettuce (for sure), maybe cucumber, maybe a carrot stick or two, there could have been a bit of green onion....and to be perfectly honest, I'm probably not going remember.  The only flavor that was to be gleaned from this dish came from the peanut butter sauce.

The sauce tasted of creamy peanut butter and soy sauce and though I can't confirm the ingredient composition of the sauce, I can say that it was the overall best part of the Shabu-shabu.  And who knows, maybe the chef wanted the wraps bland so that the peanut sauce would stand out more, I'm not a mind reader (Though I think that would be pretty cool at times).




   And now, the items that you've all been waiting for (maybe)... the Broth and Ramen !!!  My sister and I decided to go with the Tonkotsu Ramen and in order to compare Kanji's Tonkotsu to that of other Tonkotsu's at other Ramen Houses.
I must apologize for the low quality of the photos in this blog, I'l try to do better next time.  But what this fuzzy picture, with the not so great color depth, is trying to show is Kanji's Tonkotsu Ramen: A Creamy Pork Bone Soup with Salt Based Seasoning (2 Chashu, Ajitama Egg, Wood Ear Mushroom, Nori, Fred Garlic and Green Onion."  Let's break down this dish by its four main components.
    Chashu by definition, is braised pork belly that originated as a Chinese dish but was eventually modified with Japanese flavorings.  The Chashu had just enough fat and enough umami taste to complement the savory and saltiness of the pork itself.  Though I would have liked the chashu to have been cut into thicker slices, the chashu will surely not disappoint.
   An Ajitama egg is a specially prepared soft boiled egg that has been boiled in a solution of soy sauce, some sort of water soluble sweatener and various types of rice wine or sake.  The egg yolk is slightly gelatinous with a somewhat sweet flavor while the egg white tastes lightly of soy sauce with a firm texture.  (As an aside, I love Ajitama eggs and I'm not even sure I could write anything negative about them if I wanted.)
   The noodles were an egg noodle and I'm not quite sure if they were hand made, but they tasted like they were.  The starchiness of the noodles were able to hold onto the broth, much like the bark of a tree and its inner cambium.  (I apologize for that analogy, I obviously have been in school way too long).  The only suggestion that I would make to the chef (not that I expect them to ever read this) would be to warm the noodles prior to placing them into the bowl and pouring the broth over.  The reasoning, the broth cools down slightly as it contacts the cold noodles and I know that the noodles were cool, because they were stuck together like left out spaghetti noodles. I will say, that once the broth warmed and had a chance to permeate through the bundle of noodles, the combination was most satisfying.
   Now for the broth ...How does one describe something as all encompassing in flavor?  Do you say that the pork broth has so much infused flavoring (from the fat extraction of pork bones) that if you had your blood drawn after its consumption, the lipid panel results would show that you should've died five times over of atherosclerosis...but with a smile on your face?  Or would it be more appropriate to describe a broth that was ALMOST good enough to have it substitute champagne during a commemoration toast.  I'm not actually sure, so I guess I'll just describe it as ...being adequate as far as Tonkotsu broth goes.  I'm not saying that there aren't better (which there are...), what I'm saying is that if you want to have decent ramen in the north Austin area, you should probably check out Kanji Ramen.
    If you're still reading this...thank you, I know its been a long blog.  In closing I'd give Kanji a 3.5 to 4 out of 5.  It's good, but not without its flaws.  So until next time...I bid y'all happy eating.

-Henry