What's New Restaurants: Ippudo

Was ever an egg so beautiful? Cross-sectioned and exposed, the creamy, tangerine-orange center – encircled by the purest white – floats atop a dark slick of charred garlic oil. This is the Special Akamaru (RMB 55), a formidable tonkotsu (pork bone) broth cloudy from fat and splashed with a carmine red miso paste, julienned tree ears, chopped scallions, two sheets of seaweed, six slices of pork, and that stunning half of egg on black oil.

Ramen should be about extremes and at Ippudo, it is. In time: A broth that takes days to prepare, but noodles plunged in boiling water for 20 seconds, tops. In taste: the complex, layered flavor evoked by a salty broth against the clean simplicity of wheat, salt and water. In texture: the smooth liquid of soup and the firm, chewy pull of the noodle.

Eat every other bowl on the menu, and then the classic shiromaru motoaji (RMB 39) will strike you as elegant and understated when your first impressions were: intense, deep and rich. What is really all those things, though, is that sublime akamaru, which elevates the tonkotsu broth into something almost fit for ablutions. If the idea of bathing in pork bone broth bores you, take solace in the options of the Sapporo tradition of miso-based broth or Tokyo’s more modern soy sauce base (shoyu).

The ritual of ramen at its finest means extra noodles for the hungry – a practice called “kae-dama” (RMB 3, 80g; RMB 5, 135g) – and toppings galore. Indulge in these, perhaps a concessionary order of chicken wings (RMB 30) and caramel pudding (RMB 16), and don’t fret skipping the rest.

Ippudo
Daily 11am-10pm (last order 9.30pm). B23a, B1, Kerry Centre, 1 Guanghua Lu, Chaoyang District (8529 8771)
一风堂：朝阳区光华路1号嘉里中心地下1层B23a
300m southwest of Jintaixizhao station (Line 10)

Also try: Wuxin Ramen, Invincible Ramen

Photos: Courtesy of Ippudo