March 16, 2009

• Dinner @ Menkui Tei

  Menkui Tei PH: 212-757-1642

  60 West 56th Street New York, NY 10019

  
  

  I’ve actually been going to Menchanko-Tei alot lately for my ramen fix. However, due to a fire at Onigashima (upstairs), the water damage that trickled down took out Menchanko-Tei and Five Guy’s burgers (temporarily, from what i’ve heard Five guys is open again, Menchanko will open soon, but Onigashima (which i really really wanted to try for their daily fresh made soba) will be a couple of months )….so i wandered to the other side of the block to Menku-Tei, as i’ve heard good things about this place.

  Décor:

  the inside is a simple setup of some tables in the back and front and a ramen bar for the quick eaters. My accomplice was quite famished, so we opted to get quicker seats at the bar…which later on i realized wasn’t such a good idea…seeing as i always order/get the larger table since i always order alot…

  Menu

  
  

  click for larger menu.

  Sustenance:

  
  

  Started off with a seaweed salad, which isn’t on the menu, but you can order it and they’ll bring it from next door. The salad was quite fresh and i loved how they shredded the ingredients and generously doused it with the flavorful dressing.

  

  Cha-Shu: Roast pork slices served with soy and dab of spicy radish sauce. I agreed with my accomplice that it would have been better if the slices were served hot instead of cold. but the dabs of spicy radish added to it made it quite enjoyable. $5.95 (of course this was later remedied when our ramen came and we happily buried these slabs of meat into the bottom of our ramen bowls, which readily heated them up.)

  

  
  

  For $3.00 you can get a small curry rice. I wanted to try this since i read people ‘raving’ about the curry at Menku-Tei. Lo’ and behold, it was pretty damn good. a nice flavorful sauce with bits of meat complimented by the ‘gooey’ hot rice. It did have a tiny nip of spice in it, just a small nip that might go unnoticed by connisoirs of spicy. I mean its nothing like mums, but for 3 bucks, its not bad, i’d definitely wouldn’t mind trying the entrée sometime.

  

  
  

  Menkui Ramen: Seaweed broth flavored house special noodle soup (3pcs of Roast pork, bean sprout, bamboo shoot & scallion). This was my accomplice’s entrée. I tried it, and felt it was pretty good, but i felt it didn’t taste that different from mine. $8.00

  

  
  

  Shoyu Ramen: Soy sauce flavored noodle soup (2pcs Roast pork, bean sprout, bamboo shoot & scallion) Again i felt that the broth tasted pretty much the same as the menkui ramen. the noodles were firm and held medium flavor. the broth set the tone, and the rest of the ingredients i felt didn’t really become a part of this dish…like they were just there to show attendence. $7.00

  

  Gyoza: Fried pork dumplings, where somewhat bland…however when you dipped them into the supplied soy sauce it really opened it up. These were actually quite enjoyable once dipped in the sauce. $4.50

  

  
  

  Summation: Hehehe you can see how we filled up ‘our side’ of the ramen bar. Well these are definitely midtown prices. My accomplice liked her ramen/soup better than Menchanko-Tei, which i begged to differ. It was a good meal in whole, and i’d probably come here again to try other dishes (ahem ahem curry) but nothing about the joint wow’d me. And yes, i still feel Setagaya has been the best ramen i’ve had….especially how they cooked the perfect egg….*droool…i think its time to pay Setagaya a visit soonz….

  • 12:08 am
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