Ramen is one of my favorite dishes especially for lunch. As many know, its a Japanese dish. I was born in the Philippines so I have a natural affinity towards Filipino food. Especially when I pass by it randomly on the street as it is not as common as other Asian cuisines. Naturally, my curiosity was piqued when I passed by Ramo Ramen Soho. Ramo advertised FILIPINO RAMEN! I had to try it. Here was part of the menu:
…and an up close of the Filipino ramens:
I had the kare kare and my wife had the sinigang.
The portion of pulled oxtail was very generous and tender. The broth was very creamy. The taste was good but I would of liked it if it tasted more like the dish it was trying to emulate. It did not taste like kare kare except for the taste of peanut. More umami from some bagoong (fermented shrimp paste) Also, I would of preferred a vegetable that would be found in kare kare instead of pea shoots (maybe bok choy or green beans). Nevertheless, the broth was good, fairly complex and developed.
As for the sinigang, I appreciated the whole shrimp with the head on. My feedback would be the same as the kare kare. It was good but I wanted it to resemble the original more. More sourness in this case.
Overall, service was good, food was decent, and there were other things on the menu that I might be interested to come back and try. I would recommend someone who was into Filipino food and ramen to try it out of curiosity. Don’t know that I would crave it again though like the “real” thing (ramen, kare kare, sinigang).
nice find FFT. filipinos are cool, the latinas of asia. thank god you skipped the vegan options “…just cuz you put truffle on it, don’t make it right…” because the core of ramen is pork broth, not noodles. if you are vegan, you just should not have ramen – just order a veggie soup, but don’t call it ramen.
like most fusions, sometimes it works, but most of the time it doesn’t work. the best way to serve would have been with side condiment bowl of double fried bagoong