Ramen

Ramen is Japanese wheat-noodle soup with a thousand personalities. The invention of instant noodles in the mid-20th century led to it becoming extremely popular world-wide as a dish that an eater could make as a meal for one with no fuss and at little cost. Not all ramen is budget-starved soup gulped by lone eaters. In Los Angeles, a nice restaurant named Shin Ramen serves what’s called dip ramen, in which the noodles come separately from the soup, ready to be dipped into it bite by bite, thus ensuring that the noodles in each bite remain springy. At Rakiraki Ramen & Tsukemen in San Diego, wok-sizzled yebisu kimchee ramin is a miso-flavored broth in which the noodles are accompanied by pickled egg, pork belly, and crisped tofu. Rakiraki even serves a Ramen Burger, for which the bun is made from woven-together ramen noodles.