Momoyama - odesa, ukraine

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.