For the past month the weather has always been either rainy or just plain gloomy. Perfect bed weather, the warm comforters or thick blankets, and most especially the hot soups and bowls of noodles make the rainy days a little bit cozier and warm. Just like any other day, today was just as gloomy, despite being a Muslim holiday, the day wasn’t particularly festive but it was the perfect opportunity to buy a piping hot bowl of noodle soup. Not wanting to go down south, Tricia and I decided to meet in the middle at the swanky SM Aura to try Ramen Nagi.
It’s been awhile since I had a bowl of ramen, the last time was Ikkoryu and before that it was Yushoken. Ramen Nagi sure did not disappoint, though we waited for a while since we came during the lunch hour, the wait was well worth it. Seated in the midst of other people all waiting for a hot bowl, our server gave us a cute clipboard with a simple menu for the ramen. The menu was simple: just four different types of ramen, your preferences of spiciness, the degree of hardness or softness of the noodles, and the add-ons to the meal.
As mentioned earlier, the four types of ramen Ramen Nagi serves are: Original King (Butao), their shio tasting ramen; Black King (Kuroo), a squid ink and black pepper soup; Red King (Akao), a spicy noodle soup; and finally, the Green King (Midorio), a basil based ramen. As usual, I went with the tried-and-tested Original King while Tricia was again the more adventurous type, having the Black King. Despite waiting for half an hour to get a seat, our order took less than 5 minutes to arrive.
Apart from the original king ramen, I also ordered a tamago and a whopping huge sheet of nori to go with my ramen. As expected, my ramen tasted like any ordinary shio ramen, the broth was just right and the flavors and spices were a bit on the bland side, my pork was soft but not tender enough to be easily split by my chopsticks. On the other hand, Tricia’s black king ramen, looked delicious, and it was. For once I made the wrong decision by playing it safe. The black broth may have been off-putting but one slurp of the noodles and one gulp of it was more than enough to get me hooked into it. Thank goodness Tricia didn’t have a voracious appetite, I was able to have some more of her ramen.
All in all, the whole dining experience was a good experience. We may have waited for quite some time since we came during the lunch hour, but the speed of Ramen Nagi’s service more than made up for the waiting time. I especially liked their menu and how I can (sort of) create a ramen that suits me without having to adhere to the strict standards of traditional ramen houses in the country.
Ramen Nagi has branches in SM Aura, SM MOA, SM North EDSA and Robinsons Magnolia.
They are open from 10:00am to 10:00pm
You may contact them at SM Aura (8286793) and SM MOA (5502394)
Or visit their Facebook page here.
They are open from 10:00am to 10:00pm
You may contact them at SM Aura (8286793) and SM MOA (5502394)
Or visit their Facebook page here.