Wow, I always thought I was the oddball for not liking ramen with broth. Never knew mazemen existed till now! What a revelation.
My favorite go-to recipe when using instant ramen packets at home: Drain boiled noodles and add a pat of butter and the packet seasonings. I would then add a splash of soy sauce, sesame oil, chili-garlic sauce and a teaspoon of peanut butter (for a peanut satay-type sauce). Mix well and top with finely sliced scallions and a sprinkle of sesame seeds. Absolute heaven in a bowl.
Wow, I always thought I was the oddball for not liking ramen with broth. Never knew mazemen existed till now! What a revelation.
My favorite go-to recipe when using instant ramen packets at home: Drain boiled noodles and add a pat of butter and the packet seasonings. I would then add a splash of soy sauce, sesame oil, chili-garlic sauce and a teaspoon of peanut butter (for a peanut satay-type sauce). Mix well and top with finely sliced scallions and a sprinkle of sesame seeds. Absolute heaven in a bowl.
I realize this will probably come off as a pedantic, but "maze-men" is a somewhat unusual (though not completely unheard-of) name in Japanese for this dish; "maze-soba" is the much more standard name.
I don't quite understand the premise of this fine restaurant. Am I to believe that they do not, will not and never will supply broth with said noodles? I am plerplexed, confounded and discombobulated.
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@ Margaret Laurence Lakeview
From reading this article it seemed to me that if you want a serving of Japanese traditional noodles with broth, you would better look for a traditional eatery. There one could probably eat the noodles in broth either in a Japanese or Western style.
For disclosure, I am not a fan of either flat or cylindrical noodles, finding that it takes too much effort to eat them.
It's almost like people eat things different ways!
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Yum! Another fantastic spot that's a 10 minute walk from my home. Born in NY and gonna die here too! Where, outside of Tokyo, can anyone WALK to have a delicious bowl of mazemen?
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Would this be as good with some broth in it?
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Baffling. Mostly stellar review, only one star. What's the reason for the stinginess? Lack of white tablecloths? Poor service? No pastry chef on-site?
Seems like a minimum of 2 stars if not more.
If the rating system with stars isn't consistent, it's worthless.
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@foodalchemist. I agree. I thought the review was amazing! I gave it one star.
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Two Martians land in NYC down on the Lower East Side. The first one says, "Hey, you want to try something special?" and takes him Niche for a bowl of mazemen. The second Martian takes a taste, and looks up. "You know what would make this dish really awesome?" he asks. "Some nice broth."
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@bauskern. This was originally a short story in the New Yorker. It was very tongue in cheek. I never read New Yorker fiction. Too dull.
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Isn't ramen without soup spaghetti? Don't get me wrong. I love both of them.
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I read "he would yank them from the boiling water with his left hand" and was amazed. He must have hands of steel or his restaurant is at the top of Mt Everest where water boils at "only" 160 degrees.
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What would "Ivan" say?
I ate here, as a fan of Nakamura's ramen next door. They have a very fun mazemen ‘carbonara’ of sorts that I'm surprised didn't get noted here by Pasta Pete.
Also, it's misleading to say that Niche doesn't have a public restroom. They most certainly do; it's just a slightly awkward walk through their tiny kitchen. But it's got nice soap, a mirror, and seems to be kept tidy for a guest-facing experience.
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A good idea would be to put broth in the ramen, I'm sure it would be good.
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Phew, I completely prefer my noodles/ramen without soup !!!
Always !
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No bathroom, might as well be a food truck.
I don't think NYT food reviewers should cover "restaurants" without a bathroom for customers, because they fail to meet the "restaurant" criteria of very basic hospitality.
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Though I find the idea of brothless ramen appealing, I refuse to eat in a restaurant that doesn't have a bathroom for customers. I know space in NYC is tight, but seriously- how can one have an enjoyable dining experience if one is concerned about one's bladder?
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As I sit here at lunch in rural Thailand, where I've lived on and off for 40 years, I can't suppress a chuckle. Thais are famous for their "guitiaw" noodle dishes -- usually a lunch dish, but occasionally sneaks into breakfast or dinner. There must be 20 or 30 different styles: broad, narrow or vermicelli noodles; curly Ramen, yellow baamee, rice or wheat noodles; pork, beef or blood-rich broth; sweet, savory or sour; sliced meats, fish/pork balls or dumplings; basil, lettuce or onions.
Virtually ALL of those dishes can be ordered in "wet" or "dry" presentations (some of them can even be ordered without the noodles, but that's a different game). It's all a matter of cultural expectations and Americans are awfully new to the noodle "soup" thing. Different dining experiences entirely. The Thais wouldn't have it any other way and its one of the reasons that their culinary imagination leads the world.
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It's alot of mangia for not a lot of lira....
I stopped reading after "...there is no public restroom on the premises." I was curious and so found the NYC law: " Food establishments with 19 or fewer customer seats are not required to provide bathroom access to the public." With a "...dozen or so stools arranged along one narrow table." Niche lives up to its name and is able to follow the city's bathroom requirement, but not mine.
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It’s no bathroom for the customers. The cook(s) will have a one with a sink in the rear.
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I will stick to ramen with broth. It is good for the stomach and soul. Don't you?
Never knew what ramen was until my 11-year-old self-proclaimed foodie nephew attempted to school me on it. Admittedly, for the last few decades I really thought they were the bagged noodles one mixed with boiled water whenever they were financially broke. Oh, how wrong I am.
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How can there be no washroom, is it not legal to have one?
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Not having a bathroom for the customers is pretty common in NYC, especially in Manhattan. The cook(s) will always have one along with a washing station in the rear of the restaurant, which customers may not use.
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@Arlene Customers may use the bathroom in Niche's sister restaurant, which is right next door.
@Covfefe Restaurants with more than 19 seats are required by law to provide bathrooms for customers.
https://www1.nyc.gov/nyc-resources/service/2360/restaurant-bathroom-requirements
I
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"Broth is the most expensive and labor-intensive part of a bowl of ramen ...:
And for me it's the whole point.
In Portland we’ve had the pleasure of choosing the brothless ramen for years at Pai Men Miyake. It’s what I order because with broth it’s too much and the other ingredients taste better without dilution.
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@John Golden Me too! I always tell myself I'm going to order something else, but I can never resist the Tokyo Abura.
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@Ellie Jones. I agree.
One package of ramen wasn’t filling enough and the sodium content of two packages is out of the question. So I prepared the broth of one package and used the noodles from two. It came out oh so good with an oily sheen on the noodles. Concerned about the amount of hydrogenated oil I was eating I make it one package at a time now, eat just the noodles and discard the salty broth with the hydrogenated oil floating on top.
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I don't understand the "fuss" over "dry ramen". As some others point out, serving ramen without it swimming in broth is known and has been done for years even centuries.
It is also very similar to what the Chinese have also done for centuries - serving alkali-treated pulled wheat noodles (which is what ramen is; the name "ramen" is the Japanificated "lamian" (in Chinese) and is indeed derived from lamian) with a sauce and perhaps vegetables and some form of slices of meat and whatnot or other dressings, and NO BROTH. Even wonton noodles is pretty much like ramen, it also being alkali-treated wheat noodles; and these have been served in "dry" form as, for example, "kon lo mein" for many, MANY years in the cuisine of Southern China and elsewhere in the Chinese diaspora. You may get a bowl of soup alongside e.g. wontons in soup, or some clear broth), but one does not dunk the noodles in the soup.
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@huiray. I read this several times, I think four times, still didn't understand it. It could be just me.
This sounds good, but how about serving ramen with 1/2 as much broth??? Btw you don’t have to buy dry noodles at the grocery store; the high end grocery stores here in Seattle sell packages of frozen ramen that comes with a broth packet that you add boiling water to. I found out about it from a native of Japan after I raved to her about my ramen feasting in Tokyo. Only $4.50 for two servings.
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And one of the best ramen makers in Japan and US, Sun, sells fresh ramen and delicious packaged broth in tonkotsu, miso, etc. at many local stores (e.g. Misuwa)
@Thump Thrump. I never knew my life would dissolve so badly that I actually research ramen noodles on line when my publisher is demanding another masterpiece. Nothing like a firm noodle.
The City Beer Hall in Albany has been doing mazeman for over a year. Glad to see the river is running in reverse!
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Lard? I'm don't like eating anything that's even briefly touched lard. Occasionally I get a craving for a 69 cents package of Ramen Noodles. Decades ago I had the best noodles of my life in a little Chinese cubbyhole down an alley near or just off Tokyo's Ginza. That such a noodle existed was a wonder to me. Thanks for the article.
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@Redsetter119. I don't eat anything that's been even looked at by lard.
Like the Doughnut Burger, Blisters On My Sisters, and the Glazed "Black Cod", this interesting dish sounds awesome. Looking forward to getting over to Niche. Thank you NYT
"The toppings for the Russ & Roe mazemen include smoked salmon and two kinds of roe: cod and salmon."
I suggest a schmeer of cream cheese in the bottom of the bowl for fusion perfection, .
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I have been to Japan several time and greatly enjoyed the local food, both the traditional washoku and yoshoku the Japanese adaptation of western cuisine.
Mazemen is not among such delights, it is an uncommon dish and often oily to make up for the absence of the broth, and Italian-style mazemen, with anchovies, salami, olives and tomatoes.? No thank you.
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Well, just give me that ramen broth with all the toppings and hold the noodles. Don't care for the noodles so much.
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In the summer I enjoy Hiyashi Chuka--it's a cold noodle dish with toppings and a dipping sauce. I've been eating it for decades. This idea that ramen without broth is somehow a new concept, seems wrong.
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Looking at the photo, I don’t think that’s puffed rice, but rather “tenkasu” (天かす), bits of fried dough that are the byproduct of making tempura. Also, there is a word for soupless noodles with a dipping sauce: tsukemen.
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Tsukemen is not exactly the same: The noodles are in fact served with soup, but the soup is on the side, and one dips the noodles in it before eating.
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@KFM
You are totally correct! Apologies to Mr. Wells, buy the photo in question shows 'tenkasu'
However, "tsukemen" and "mazemen" are slightly different concepts ("tsukemen" comes with dipping sauce and "mazemen" is relatively dry in a single bowl -- as referenced by APH herein!
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When I was a kid I used to make my Top Ramen by boiling it, then draining off the water, then adding a little butter and finally that delightfully salty salt flavor packet.
I know that is nowhere near as classy as what you are discussing here, but it was much better without the broth to me. I would probably like this.
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@Kate That's how I made it, also, but with just a fraction of the flavor packet. I still prefer it that way :-)
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@Kate I'm big on ramen noodles, not so big on salt and butter. I put in half of the flavor packet, then drain off the water. I save the other half of the flavoring--it does taste good!
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@ Kate Oregon
I am curious, how did you eat the buttered noodles?
A good, authentic ramen that makes you stand willingly in line for 35-45 minutes or longer is about its broth: home-made 3 plus-hours boiling from real bones for the milky and opaque finish. I see why this tiny place takes the mazemen shortcut. However, the other side of the equation is the noodles - they're definitely not house-made, but are they fresh and sourced from a house-made shop?
The chef gets the hang of favors for nailing a star by the food critic at NYT; from business perspective, I commend his shrewdness. For the whole-package esp. for the bang for the buck, a No No for me.
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@Susan Exactly... well said.
@Patrick. And Patrick you well said as well.
Lox mazemen — eventually, it had to happen, American-Jewish food marries a Japanese dish that is itself a recent spinoff of more traditional Asian fare. Keep dumping those immigrants on our Blue cities, Donald. We reap the benefits with cross-overs like this.
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@JBL lox mazemen = an excellent American-Jewish-Japanese marriage! Can't help comparing Niche to Lucky Lee where the owner is Jewish-American cooking only "clean" Chinese food. Lucky Lee is a not-so-excellent marriage of food culture.
@JBL while I certainly agree with your sentiment wholeheartedly, it should be mentioned that Manhattan had Jewish-Japanese fusion as early as the 1980s (cf., Shalom Japan in SoHo).
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@JBL
Are you really "reaping the benefits" with illegal immigrants, or doling them out to the detriment of citizens who qualify for them?
Ugh. Why ruin beautiful foie gras with truffle oil?
Looking forward to the day when otherwise-decent chefs finally stop using that stuff.
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@ Seth Gordon New York, NY
Chefs always seek novelties and new schemes (Ecclesiastes 7:29), sometimes reinventing the wheel without an acknowledgement of the greats of the past.
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Mr. Nakamura has boldly departed from the Japanese tradition of noodles in broth that are slurped with the aid of hashi (chopsticks) and the broth drank from the bowl.
The menu is eclectically inviting, but I would put some black caviar on the sliced raw scallops.
All the guests eating at one communal table may not appeal to all the lovers of dry ramen.
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@Tuvw Xyz. I've been a lover of dry ramen since I was knee high to a grasshopper. I often depart boldly when I leave a station, usually tired and cranky at the destination.
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Are these noodles fried first, like packaged ramen?
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@Grittenhouse Generally speaking, noodles for mazemen (as for tsukemen, ramen where the noodles and broth are served separately) are boiled, not fried.
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@Grittenhouse . they are not fried.
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@ Shirokuma Toyama
Thank you for the lesson in Japanese!
I can even write in katakana mazemen, tsukemen, and ramen. :-))
thanks for sharing. sounds interesting, loved reading about it.
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