DAEGU EATS | Japanese Ramen at Asara Ichidai (아사라 이찌다이)

Just above our local grocery store and below a towering high-rise apartment building are a cropping of restaurants, shops, and cafes practically hidden from plain view. After a morning of grocery shopping we usually pop upstairs to one of the local restaurants for a bite to eat. One place in particular always catches our eye: Asara Ichidai, a Japanese style ramen restaurant.

I don’t know how many times we walked by the unassuming and somewhat hidden Asara Ichidai, peering into the windows out of curiosity, mentioning to the other that we should try it one of these days. To be honest, we weren’t exactly optimistic about the ramen. For one, it’s hard to find decent bowl of ramen outside of Japan (or outside of major cities with Japanese ramen chains) and second, Korean restaurants have a tendency to “Korean-ize” foreign cuisine so that it’s more suited to Korean palates.

One cold and rainy early afternoon we walked upstairs in search of coffee and instead found ourselves in Asara Ichidai, anxiously awaiting two hot, steaming bowls of ramen.

Sly ordered the “All in One” ramen: wakame, roasted pork, green onion, and gooey soy egg, in a creamy chicken-based broth with homemade noodles and topped with crispy fried garlic.

The presentation certainly caught our attention. But would it taste like Japanese ramen or would it be more Korean-fusion?

We each took a sip of the broth and our eyes immediately rolled to the backs of our head. The chicken broth was rich and creamy without being overpoweringly greasy or too salty. Lighter bodied than a Tonkotsu broth, but definitely not lacking in flavor.

The noodles were equally delicious: firm and chewy, just the way we like it. Asara has a noodle making machine. I didn’t see it making noodles while we were there, but I’m going to assume that if they have the machine then the noodles are fresh.

When chefs can execute two seemingly simple components — chicken broth and noodles– perfectly, and top it off with fried garlic bits, then you know you’re in for a treat.

Caramelized pork belly topped with crispy fried garlic pairs wonderfully with the lighter chicken-based broth.

And can we please talk about this egg? I am an egg fanatic so any time I can find eggs with gelatinous yolks, I’m pretty much in heaven.

Forget the ramen, I’ll just eat a plate of eggs. With a bowl of fried garlic chips. Thanks.

I’m not much of a pork eater so I ordered the Asara Veggi Tan-Men, a chicken broth topped with mushrooms, cabbage, and green onions. I added the egg as a side, because duh. See above photo.

When Sly’s bowl of ramen came out, I had a little bit of envy, but I certainly was not disappointed by my bowl of veggie and chicken broth ramen. All of the veggies were perfectly seasoned and married well with the broth. I didn’t miss the pork slices at all.

As a bonus, I actually finished my entire bowl of soup (without feeling completely wrecked after), which I sometimes find difficult to do when eating pork slices in a rich Tonkotsu broth.

We love ramen, and love trying ramen restaurants wherever we go. It’s cheap, quick, delicious, and comforting. We have eaten ramen in Vancouver (where Asara’s chef is from), NYC, and most recently in Japan and we both agree that Asara holds its own. It’s a damn good bowl of soup. We can’t figure why there isn’t a line of foodies out the door. At least, not yet.

 

DETAILS

Asara Ichidai (아사라이찌다이) | CUISINE: Japanese style chicken broth ramen | COST: approx $10/bowl | LOCATION: Beneath SK Leaders View apartment building in Suseong, near the Starbucks and above HomePlus. See map here. | DESCRIPTION: I’m not exactly sure how to classify Asara Ichidai’s ramen. I suppose it’s most closely related to Hakata style, but with a chicken broth instead of pork. It seems as if there’s also a Shio type broth on the menu, but we have only tried, and loved, the chicken broth ramen.  I love that the focus of this restaurant is on the food, not in being some trendy overly-hyped place that is trying too hard. Simple ingredients + carefully executed = delicious food. The restaurant itself is casual, modern, homey, and completely unpretentious. The chef/owner previously lived in Vancouver (? I think I heard that correctly), a city with an amazing Japanese food scene. He speaks English well and there are English menus available. You might want to refer to the above image when ordering as the English menu is not as extensive as the Korean one. | VERDICT: Without a doubt, the best ramen we have eaten in Daegu, and so far the best local Korean-made ramen we’ve had in Korea. We first came here about a month ago and since then, Sly has been back at least five times! He brings his work friends/clients here. At first we thought that maybe our opinions were skewed because we were just desperate for ramen — any ramen — but our fellow Japanese-food-loving friends have all agreed that Asara’s ramen is the real deal.