Rating: 6 / 10 Surprise marinated with suspicion took hold of my fragile heart as I learned of the existence of a Ramen restaurant in lowly Odesa. A town more famous for it's beautiful women than it's culinary marvels, but nevertheless having been genuinely surprised by the quality of the Khinkali I ate the day before, I decided it prudent to jog down (Read: saunter) and order a bowl. I want all ramen shops to succeed. No matter what. It's like they are all my scattered bastard children and I wish them well despite obstacles and growing pains. Now, that does mean that once in a while you have to administer some harsh words or rebuke, people have to learn and strive if they want to get better. In accordance with universal hype levels, the restaurant was sufficiently crowded but offered me the luxury of solitary dining in an area that was for people like me. I ordered the ramen with pork charsui, and waited tapping my fingers on the bright green paper menu. The second the bowl sat down I knew what was up. This would be a bang average bowl at best. However, not meaning to delay the inevitable I set about my meticulous dismantling of the contents, appreciating and giving space for each individually, before combining and drenching all in broth. As I had already guessed, it was good but not great. The noodles to be fair were wildly overcooked (something I mentioned to the chef, but he definitely seemed to disagree), the broth was a fairly typical dashi with not much going on, the pork was fine and the egg was just bordering on overcooked. All that being said, I left ecstatic, divine joy flooded my very aching soul knowing that someone in this small pocket of arcadia had decided to learn and finance a shop selling ramen, and in doing so, introduce the locals to a taste many of them would never have had, and tho it wasn't a directly spectacular representation it nonetheless deserved credit for the entire enterprise. These recommendations are just personal opinions based on my palate, things change, chefs get fired or replaced, places open-close, relocate, so take it all with a pinch of MSG and discover your own gems too. But please do try a few of these, they have been researched exhaustively.
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"Tastes are subjective, so take everything with a pinch of salty tears"
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